We got up early since LA is a few hours behind New York it wasn’t so bad – and had the one and only free breakfast of out trip.

A taxi ride to Burbank and we arrived at the Warner Bros tour for our tour. After a short and boring video, and lecture about not recording anything or feeling their wrath, we were herded into a long golf cart.

The tour’s locations are determinded by which areas are in use, our first stop was the “Jungle” which has been used for many things: Jurassic Park, Fantasy Island, ER, True Blood and more I already can’t recall.

We headed to an “inner city” area where “Cold Case” was being filmed. Mostly background stuff but it was easy to see how unused sections are totally “stripped”, even doorknobs and locks are removed!

Next up was the “suburbs”, used for many things such as The Drew Carey Show, the “Buffay” house in friends, Gilmore Girls and again even more. Here was also a courthouse and town hall section currently dressed for “Eastwick” but had seen use in “The Waters”, “Seinfeld” (the small town in the final episode), etc.

Just around the corner was a section used for the “Paris” flashbacks in “Casablanca” and some of “Rick’s Cafe”. That was what I found most intresting there. Justine “oohed” at the Gilmore Girls references.

The guide got on the radio and headed to a “Museum” of sorts which had the original Batmobile (from the Tim Burton/Michael Keaton Batman movie) and the most recent one (Christian Bale/Heath Ledger). Here was also the General Lee, a Ford Anglia (Harry Potter), “Shaguar” (Austin Powers), “Nerd Herd” car (Chuck) and Lincoln Contentenal (The Matrix).

We whizzed among some of the sound stages, stopping at the carpentary section. Hidden away is the original “Central Perk” set from “Friends” in its original configuration. We were allowed to sit on the famous couch and have our photos snapped, which Justine seemed to to enjoy a lot.

As filming on “Chuck” (a show we enjoy) was taking place we were able to tour the “Buy More” sound stage, since it wasn’t scheduled today. It’s an entire, full-sized electronics store, but not, at the same time. Pretty cool and the guys there showed us some in-jokes and stuff you’d never notice watching the show. It’s obvious these people are here for the love of it; not everyone wants to be a celebrity.

The tour over, we walked to a nearby bus stop and saw the bus pull away. We waited for a bus or taxi to come, all the while dodging wasps hovering around a bin and managed to hail a taxi back to Hollywood.

We hopped on another tour bus and rode it down to Santa Monica. The weather getting cooler (though still extremely nice) as we got down to the beach.

From the Santa Monica Pier (itself a famous movie location – there is still a Bubba Gump Shrimp Co here) we walked along the beach (Baywatch), stopping only for a taco break. I had chicken taco s—which the girl didn’t even know was on their menu—after they realised they were out of steak.

We made it all the way to Venice Beach, where the feel changed completely into a seedier place. Not that it was bad. Just… eclectic. People who want to be themselves when that’s not what everyone else wants to be.

We strolled for a while, brought some original art from someone (John Gary Art) who very obviously gets influnced from something illegal, and headed back to Santa Monica. Next, the bus back to Hollywood.

It must be possible to see a premiere every night in LA; there was one for Bruce Willis “Surrogates” tonight. We stood for a while hoping to get a glimpse of someone famous.

Justine decided to fit in some last minute shopping at H&M. I decided I’d rather not so stayed put. Moments later, screams announced Bruce Willis’s arrival. Obviously feeling plucky, he stopped traffic (or rather had it stopped for him) and made his way over to great some fans. He stopped six or seven feet from where I was standing and thanked the crowed for coming out. Quick as a flash he was off saying “hi” to others.

We had a good sampling of LA’s traffic on the way to the airport, terrible. As the airport is undergoing renovations, there is virtually no shopping to be had, so we hunted for some food. Finding nothing, we headed to our gate. We passed a couple and the lady gave me a odd look. It turns out it was the couple we were chatting with when our first flight were delayed at the start of the trip! What an odd coincidence but not the first time.

I bought a couple of bags of Cheetos Flamin’ Hot to cap off our trip. If the seat in the front wasn’t broken causing the guy to lean way, way back, I’d try to get some much needed sleep. Maybe I’ll add Qantas to the same list as Delta.

Tweets from today:

• 7:34 AM – Heading to the Warner Bros lot for a “VIP” tour. I feel very important.
• 7:40 AM – On Mullholland Dve. The crappy part.
• 10:34 AM – Just popped into Central Perk and shopped at the Buy More.
• 10:44 AM – Unfortunately no @zacharylevi or @wilw floating about at the Warner lots.
• 1:56 PM – Delicious tacos at Santa Monica.
• 6:47 PM – Just caught Bruce Willis pimping “Surrogates” at the El Capitan.
• 10:31 PM – OK, we’re boarding. See you early Saturday, Melbourne.

Photo statistics:

• Photos taken today: 505
• Photos taken so far: 8,086
• Justine’s photos taken today: 323
• Justine’s photos taken so far: 3,571

Where we went:

A small, empty backstreet in Venice.

Even after a short amount of time in Venice, you learn that it’s not just the water, the boats that make Venice what it is.

It’s the distinct architecture that makes shots like this still exude Venice even though there’s no trace of water or water-going vessels. Plus the old-style washing just pushes it over the top for me. I really enjoy seeing washing hung in this manner since it feels so “old world charm”.

Venice’s Grand Canal, looking out from the Rialto Bridge. Taken just after a massive downpour, though it was still raining slightly as I took these shots.

As we walked down the bridge (to the right-hand side of frame) we were surprised to see how quickly and how much the streets were flooded. People were eating meals in restaurants, while lifting their feet into the air. Waiters had donned galoshes and were continuing to go about their every day business.

The number of people you have to fight at the top of the Rialto bridge just to get a photo is insane. I had to lean quite far over the edge of the bridge just to make sure I didn’t get anyone else’s arms or other protruding objects into my photos.

It seems as though people were much taller in ancient Venice.

Obviously the large door — or what might have once been a door — has a far smaller door now nestled within. For scale, there is a person standing (and two other people nearby, who appear to be tourists).

Why the door and/or frame was this big in the first place? I have no idea. I also have absolutely no idea where this was, beside it being Venice, which makes it difficult to find out more about the location.

Shortly after we arrived in Venice, a massive downpour soaked us to the bone. This shot is the calm after the storm, where the water was amazingly still.

While we were in Venice, we learned about it’s history and architecture. Since I knew little of Venice, other than it being famous for it’s water, and sinking to due being built on sand, I learned a lot.

Something I didn’t know — and something that is evident in this photo — is that Venice (as a port) originally serviced the Middle East and not Italy. Because of this, a lot of Venetian design is Middle Eastern. Look at the windows right in the centre of the photo, you’ll see rounded outlines reminiscent of Turkish and even Russian design.

Much later, Venice began servicing Italy, which they saw as a lucrative market, which is why it now looks more Italian. Examples such as this are everywhere in Venice and it’s fun to try and spot them (since you’re lost all the time, may as well try and have fun with it!).

Taken shortly after our arrival in Venice. We’d arrived on the train and made our way to the apartment rental agent in order to pick up our keys, but he wasn’t open yet!

Since the streets were mostly empty, Justine waited around while I took a few photos in the early morning sun. Justine is only just out of shot (in fact, she’s in the original uncropped shot) while I took this shot from a bridge.

The man in frame apparently stared Justine down as he walked past. Dirty old Italian geezer!

With our shoes mostly dried from the day before, we headed out in the direction of the San Marco church, considered the “must see” in Venice, besides the water.

The line was incredibly long for San Marco and when a lady approached us and offered for 10€ to give us (and others) a tour and to skip the line, we agreed. The lady gave us an interesting history of Venice and decent tour of the church. Even though we have seen plenty this one is very different. The entire roof is lined with mosaic glass and gold leaf, and took 300 years to decorate. The sight is extremely impressive, but they ban photos (I took a couple anyway; another lady beside me whose flash fired was asked to stop).

While we were inside the church the rain began to fall again. The church actually floods and today was no exception. They are well prepared though, and have wooden boards for people to walk on.

Outside of the church, the whole plaza was flooded. People were weaving along the thin dry parts, and when we saw the line for the tower we decided just to get lost again.

With our map once again proving useless, we walked around looking at the masquerade masks, glass shops, and other Venetian things. As we looked in one glass shop, we saw the man inside making a blue glass cat. When he was finished we entered and bought the very same cat. It was still quite warm!

Later, Justine bought a papier mache mask and I bought a small (fake) bronze winged lion, which is a Venetian symbol.

We bought some packet pasta at a market along with a bag of mixed dry herbs and porcini mushrooms which seem to be the Italian equivalent of a jar of sauce. You fry the herbs and mix with the cooked pasta. Again Justine cooked; we mixed a jar of chunky tomatoes with it all too. Not bad.

I had a reasonable night’s sleep on the train again — I highly recommend it unless you are scrimping and saving and can sleep in loud environments. Breakfast on this train was a tad better than the previous overnight train’s meat spread, though it was just yoghurt and juice for me.

As we had booked our tickets in Prague the tickets actually terminated the station before you cross over to Venice itself but the stewardess was kind enough to let us stay on until Venice.

The directions I had written to get us to the office to get our apartment’s keys were good, though we had to wait 20 minutes for the owner to show up (9:20am). Since our apartment was in another place, we still had to get there. They say that getting lost is all part of the experience in Venice, and it’s easy to see why you get lost. Numerous dead ends only a long jumper could cross, street names that change, street names that are all the same except for one small prefix and maps that are pathetically inaccurate. On every street people have large maps open. It’s fun wandering unless you want to go somewhere specific. The it’s maddening.

Still, we managed to find San Marco, even though it had closed before our arrival. In the large square there are literally thousands of pigeons being fed by people. They climb all over people, on their heads, arms, hands. We don’t get why people like it, pigeons are like flying rats!

Lunch was a single slice of pizza larger than our heads (seriously); Justine had margherita and I had salami and mushroom. Both were followed with gelati.

Dinner was bought from a supermarket — fresh gnocchi from a deli with a jar of sauce, which was much better than at home.

The best thing about Venice though, is the lack of cars. It’s so quiet here, even with all the tourists and boat motors rumbling.

Earlier in the morning, as we’d left our apartment, a massive thunderstorm quickly started. Lightning was so loud and so close, and sounded so crackly that we both jumped. The rain came down hard and even though we both had umbrellas our feet were both drenched.

It’s warm (and humid) here though, and I was wearing shorts. When the rain stopped, he waterways were so flooded shops closed, streets were flooding, people were in chairs outside restaurants holding their feet up out of the water. The rain was on and off for the rest of the day.

We approached a few guys about getting gondola rides. The most expensive wanted 200€, which is close the the cost of three nights accommodation in Rome!

There are heaps of mostly black people and Indian people selling knockoff bags, belts, sunglasses and more. Gucci, Armani, Fendi; you name it. In some areas there are so many it is actually difficult to walk.