So we arrived in the morning and got on board with a nice family from Houston and a confused family from Austria. The tour itself was, basically, the same kind of thing as the Universal Studios tour except that we got to get out of the tram. It's the same kind of stuff, though - huge sets that get redressed and giant studios with sets inside.
It was cool to see certain stuff - the fake bricks that make up the sets, the way squibs work, backdrops for certain sets, and a bunch of famous cars from several movies (both Batmobiles, the Mystery Machine, Shaguar from Austin Powers, etc). The Warner Bros. museum was cool - it had the costumes from the Dark Knight and costumes/props from several other movies. They even had an entire floor for Harry Potter stuff. I've never read/seen anything from Harry Potter so it wasn't that big of a deal to me, but there was a really creepy doll of the little girl from the movie.
Then there were the sets that we were allowed to visit - the exterior set from Chuck and the entire soundstage for The Big Bang Theory. I've seen both shows a couple of times, but I wouldn't say that I'm a loyal viewer. I did get to see the Central Perk set from Friends, though - that was pretty cool. Although they build it in a way where the set "shrinks" when you get closer to the door. So the only part that really looks real is the part in the front - the rest is just for show. That was pretty cool.
What sucked was that you couldn't really take pictures anywhere. I have one picture from Central Perk, but the other sets were off limits. They said it had to do with concerns about plot details and royalty stuff, but I just thought they were being jerks.
From there, we went to the Autry Museum - it's a museum of Southwestern culture in Griffith Park. My aunt works there, and she was really excited for me to go there (it also gave her an excuse to get some work done). One of the tour guides (Nick) took me around and showed me a behind-the-scenes look at the museum - including a couple of exhibits that haven't been unveiled yet. It was pretty cool - and if you talk to me in person, I can tell you a really cool one that's supposed to be a secret.
After that, I went up to the Griffith Observatory. I'm a bit of an astronomy dork, and I think it's really cool to look up at the stars and wonder. I went during the day, so I couldn't really see the stars, but they did have a telescope that looked at the sun which was pretty cool.
Griffith also has a view of the Hollywood sign and a great view of downtown LA. Apparently, on a clear day, you can see all the way to the ocean. It wasn't a clear day the day I was there.
But, again, Margaret had the hookup. The husband of a friend of hers took me around and showed me the ins and outs of the observatory. Apparently their big telescope is pretty outdated and doesn't serve any research purposes - also, the benefactor of the museum was a crazy man who ended up embarrassing himself to the point that LA couldn't take his money until he died.
They had some cool little exhibits and a Tesla Coil, but the coolest part was the planetarium show. It was called "Centered in the Universe" and dealt with the evolving view of Earth's place in the universe. And just like with Alia on the Universal Tour, I developed a bit of a crush on the woman presenting the show. She presented it very passionately and made it all very interesting. I guess I just have a thing for charismatic women.
But what was interesting was the fact that the show wasn't just your typical "here's a recreation of the stars" kind of thing. They had that, sure, but they also had little bit of CGI animation to help push the point across. It made me a bit motion sick, but it was still awesome.
After the show, I just sat and looked out on the city, soaking in the fact that I was alive and on vacation and in a strange town. It was one of those moments when you forget about your life and remember that you're alive. That's how cool this planetarium show was.
After that, I went back to the Autry for their "Sizzling Summer Nights" happy hour. Every Thursday night, they have a salsa dancing happy hour with margaritas, tacos, and salsa dancing. It was really interesting people watching, and while I didn't dance, I did think about it. Salsa dancing seems pretty cool, but I was having trouble deciding whether it's complete improved or if there were specific steps.
All in all, it was really fun. We finished off the night by going to Casa Bianca in Eagle Rock. Just a short drive from Occidental College, it was the favorite pizza place of President Barack Obama growing up. And since I was there, I figured I needed to order the Hawaiian pizza - the president's favorite pie.
I'm not a huge fan of that type of pizza, but it was pretty cool to eat the same pizza that the president used to eat. It was a nice little way to have my last dinner in Los Angeles.
And, with that, I went to bed for the last time in California. The last day involved some hiking, some celebrity searching, and some breaking news. Apparently California wasn't quite done with me yet.
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