Chateau - 5

So on our last day we packed and had someone come for our luggage while we went for breaky again, this time I steered away from the eggs and had bagels and lox, it was great!

their so funny there, when you order a latte it arrives in a soup bowl

after breaky we took a tour around the outside of the Chateau on Marmont Lane, that is were the paparazzi usually hang out as they are not able to get onto the grounds

this is the outdoor terrace where all the action is day and night

looking up

if you wanted drinks inside you could sit here

cottage #3 where John Belushi OD'd

Lindsay Lohan lived in Cottage #3 for a year, apparently it cost her over 1 Million Dollars!

this is what it looks like on the other side that we can't see

I wish so much I could have had a look

I popped my camera into the door hole but this all I could see

T got an even better pic on her camera that shows a red entry door, sorry though I don't have the pic

and this is the inside jungle entrance, although we had a key for almost everything we could not enter into the private backyard, but this is the entrance from our cottage area, it was just steps away

the entryway is hilarious, you feel like your pulling into a parking garage, and you are really. there is no street entry so they can be very careful no one can just walk in. when you drive in the valet parks your vehicle, then you go up the stairs to a little landing and turn left into the elevator/stairs area. you go up one level to the reception/terrace area. so funky there is nothing but parking on the street level from the front and no other entrance you can get into that does not require key access

so behind us you go to the left for the Chateau and through the gate on the right behind the big palm for all the cottages and bungalows

the elevators have solid brass doors, they were lovely

they had some pretty niffty cars in the carpark

so then we waited for our cab to take us to Universal Studios. we haven't been there in years but T put in a request to go this time

one of the employees named frank who was so nice took this pic for us. we put in a customer satisfaction card for him, he deserved it

I never clued into this in our past trips because I don't drink beer but imagine at such a family park you can buy and drink beer right in the lineups

not even thinking that this was a long weekend I was pondering wether I should just buy day passes or front of the line passes. the day pass for us both was around 160 and the front of the line around 280. we decided that all we were really interested in was the studio tour so I got day passes. BIG MISTAKE, I suggest anyone going get front of the line

we waited in line for the studio tour for over 2 hours and it turned out to be the only attraction we saw. granted that was all we wanted to see but we would have liked more time to shop around

the Back to the Future clock tower, now this town square is used in amongst other things The Ghost Whisperer town square

Jaws I tell you to this day that movie freaks me out

this is the oldest set that is left, dates back to very early 1900's. things have changed over the years since we were last there, there have been 2 major fires that have wiped certain things out and they had to be rebuilt. for instance the original King Kong attraction is gone but now replaced with an awesome King Kong 3D feature from the newest King Kong with Naomi Watts

our favorite favorite part was going down Wisteria Lane

we really did love the tour, while going through all the sets they show movie snipetts that were fillmed there dating so far back its hard to actually imagine because things look so different in old black and white horror movies

Wisteria Lane the last time we came was the home of the Munsters house which has been altered to now one of the Wisteria Lane homes, also it housed the Animal House and the Leave it to Beaver house. Its fun to see how they change the roof lines to change the appearance

thats all for now, more later

Chateau - 4

So after our dinner at Bar Marmont we went back next door to the outdoor terrace and had a couple. lovely way to end the evenning. I was just bagged from the months leading up to this and all the walking and flying that day

Saturday we got up reasonably early and went for breaky, little did I know ....

our plan the second day is always to go to Santee Alley, its this huge outdoor market like in China but with all Mexican vendors. you can get anything and everthing there, its quite fun

as soon as we got out of the cab I lost T immediately so I started to shop. once I found T and she was shopping at the same vendor I started to feel like, hey whats wrong with me. well I found out pretty quick, food poisoning!!!! here I was crammed into an alleyway with people everywhere, it was about 90 out and I was wearing all white, go figure

I told T to find me a bag and I sat down on the side of the road throwing up. I found out later that both times T got me a bag she had to buy something because no one would just give her a bag. at any rate I knew I was going to crash pretty quickly so I gave T a bunch of cash and went to find a cab back to the cottage

when T got home hours later she was pretty happy to see me standing. I had gotten us on the private guest list for the club Skybar and she was thinking we were not going to be able to make it. I was really lucky and only had a mild case of food poisoning. after I emptied myself and slept for a few hours I was fine.

luckily I had already purchased a couple of track suits and T for my birthday bought me these

crushed velvet track suit in black


and she had heard me mention I wanted Chanelesque type sandals. oh and thats the Chateau's resident kitty, so loving

she got sooooo much stuff, I really missed out, I wanted to get some fun halter items and dresses, oh well there is always next time which I am busily plotting away. I booked the cottage for this trip 9 months ago, you gotta book ahead to get just want you want it all books up very quickly

so now its night and were off to the Skybar, its a club that surrounds a pool with cabanas, couches, tables, beds and chairs that is high on top of a building with a killer view, which I didn't take any pics of for some reason

I tell ya we got so lucky that night, I got us on the guestlist but wasn't prepared to pay the 800 fee to reserve a table. its funny in LA if you don't reserve a table you basically stand all night. at any rate there was an open cabana table when we got there so we took it. the waitress said sure no problem but when the people who reserved the table showed up we would need to move. fair enough, they never showed all night heh heh. we met tons of people as always, T is such a chatty cathy. this fellow however stands out to me his name is Poya. he sat with us all night and we chatted up a storm, he's a lawyer and has just branched out and started his own firm

after Skybar we went back to outdoor terrace at the Chateau for a night cap, that is one happening place! everyday we ate breakfast right next to one of the band members of INXS, there were producers and directors and actors all the time. T was especially pleased when Lindsay Lohan showed up. its very exclusive and actually fairly small the outdoor terrace so you can see everyone. the atmosphere feels surreal

now an update on my house selling, hasn't happened yet ##!*F&@%K

yikes it is sssooo hard to keep the house so clean everyday. there have been about 7 or 8 showings now but no offers. twice I had to take the dogs out for about 2 hours for double showings. poor Carter who I lovingly call fatty almost had a heart attack yesterday. the first time we were out for so long I walked for an hour and sat in the park for the rest. yesterday I walked for 1.5hours and that was the breaking point for Carter. at one point he just laid down in the middle of a trail. I was like oh no you get up if your going to drop it will be at home not in the woods! poor guy

so i'll keep moving forward, as usual I feel like giving up because it feels too hard to stick with it, BUT I WON'T, not this time

send me all the good wishes you can please

Chateau - 3

Once we unpacked we headed straight for the pool

there are several ways to the pool but this is the first one we found

you walk through a courtyard and past a budda

then through this little area

quite inadequate in size for a hotel of this caliber but very kiche

we met these two great gals from London. they were sewing away the whole time we were there. the girl on the left owns a design company called PRISM out of London. she started with unisex glasses that the likes of Britney Spears wears. then branched out into sunglasses and now bathing suits. both girls are wearing one of the suits, they have a built in underwire in the tops, how clever!

they were preparing the suits for a photo shoot around the pool and hotel for the next day. here is a pic of that, the model was absolutely stunning and they worked a long hard day all over the grounds

after that we went shopping and star gazing along Hollywood Boulevard where you could see the Hollywood sign

I bought this outfit and was too lazy to change so I wore it right out the door, these are jeggings, they are leggings that look like jeans. to tell you the truth i've been against jeggings but they are sooooooooooooo comfortable!

this ring is my favorite find of the trip, and what a crappy pic but I just love it. it reminds me of vintage Chanel

then back to the cottage to get ready for the night out, we went to Bar Marmont which is a bar and restaurant that the Chateau owns just on the neighbouring property

this is what I wore

this is what T wore

these pics are of our dinner at Bar Marmont, sorry for the poor quality it was so dark in there

the best homemade chips and yogurt dip i've ever had