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Got up a little later today, as we had planned to take it easy and do a bit of shopping. Headed out just before midday and headed over to ‘Five Guys’ – a renowned burger joint recommended by Chris. It was a little on the expensive side – however, on receiving the food, it was clear why. We both had cheese and bacon burgers with everything on, with a coke each and a large fries to share. Everything was massive. The burgers were double burgers, standing about 4 inches high and the fries filled a small bucket (at least, a large drink cup). It was all very nice - very filling - costing about $30.

After lunch, we decided to head over to Macy’s and ended up popping into K-Mart en route. In K-Mart, we saw a small wheelie suitcase for $39.95, that we thought may give us a little  luggage space for the journey home. We also saw some Lego we liked, but decided to leave both until later in the week.

From there, we headed to Macy’s, which seem to be running a one-day sale. We spent some time looking at the men’s wallets, as they were between 30% and 50% off. I eventually chose a Tommy Hilfiger one, as mine is looking a little tired. I also had a quick look at belts and, on the way to cosmetics, spotted a yellow leather Fossil wash bag, which I liked, and decided to think about it. We had a quick look at the luggage on the top floor to see how it compared to what we had seen; it turned out that their cheapest cases were about twice the price of the one we’d seen, so we decided to move on. Took us a while to find the women’s section of the store, as the whole shop is split over two buildings and only certain floors are connected. Eventually found the Clinique counter and Dani bought some bits as they are a little cheaper than back home.

After Macy’s, we headed along 5th Avenue to look at some of the shops. Along the way, we turned off to go and look in Grand Central Station and stayed there for a while to take some photos. Them we continued up 5th Avenue, dropping into Saks to look at some very expensive clothes ($900 for a small blue cardigan). We also stopped in Abercrombie and Fitch and the large underground Apple store. We finally reached Bloomingdale’s, having realised it was on Lexington Avenue, not 5th. Again, Bloomingdale’s was very expensive and very difficult to navigate. Once we managed to make our way out again, as it was already late afternoon, we decided to head back to the Rockefeller Centre in time for sunset. We caught the subway there as it was much faster and saved our legs – it was only $2.75 each.

We got to the top a little before sunset; it was very busy and you couldn’t really get towards the edge. I was also annoyed by the Kodak photographer, who asked us to move at one point, as we were in the ‘perfect spot’ for a photo! What cheek! As it got darker, it did get a lot quieter and the views again were spectacular. Took lots of photos using the gorilla pod and admired the lights across the skyline for ages as the sun went down.

Headed down a little after 9 PM. We went to nearby Applebee’s for a light dinner, sharing nachos (which turned out to be massive) and a Blue Ribbon Brownie and ice cream for dessert (as it turns out, ‘light’ dinners don’t really exist in the US!). It was about $50, including beers. After, as we walked back to the hotel, we stopped to take some night shots of Times Square on the way. Did some journal before bed.

Dani set her alarm last night in an effort to get us moving a little earlier. We snoozed in for quite a while before eventually getting up at about 9 AM. We put some clothes on and headed down to Starbucks with the journal and some postcards to write, whilst we had breakfast. I had an orange juice and a chocolatine, whilst Dani had a blueberry scone and vanilla latte. After breakfast, we headed up to get dressed and showered, ready for a day out. I spoke to Mum for a bit on Skype whilst we were getting ready; she was just having tea. We picked up the car from the car park and headed out towards Beverly Hills.

The plan was to drive up Rodeo Drive, home to all the expensive shops. Once there, we decided we would park up and have a walk around for a bit. We tried an underground car park; there were no spaces, but then we happened upon a multi-storey car park that was free for the first two hours - bonus! It was opposite the Warner Brothers media gallery. It was on the road running parallel to Rodeo Drive. We spent about an hour and a half wandering up and down. The weather was lovely and warm and there were lots of expensive looking cars buzzing around with open tops, blacked out windows, etc. We saw a Bugatti Veyron (a very expensive car) parked outside a shop on Rodeo Drive. It was getting a lot of attention and lots of people were taking photos, including me. On the way back to the car, we stopped at ‘The Ice Cream Lab’. The ice creams were five dollars for small tubs, but they made the ice cream fresh, on the spot, using dry ice, I think, to freeze it. I had Mulholland Mint, with chocolate chips, and Dani had Blue Velvet,  which had little tiny cupcakes with cream frosting mushed into it. We sat outside to eat and watched the world go by. After, we headed back to the car to drive to our final destination for the day - Santa Monica.

We joined the Santa Monica Boulevard almost immediately, as it was just around the corner and then ignored the SatNav, as it kept trying to get to turn us around, despite Santa Monica Boulevard being a straight road into Santa Monica - funnily enough. Tried a car park that turned out to be full, so parked in a space on the road, before realising that said car park suddenly had spaces again. We managed to get a space right near the entrance as someone was just leaving. It was three hours maximum parking, but the first 90 minutes were free! Amazing!

We wandered down towards the beach, which wasn’t far, as the car park was only on 4th Street. We found a spot near the lifeguard station and ate leftover pizza from yesterday, by way of lunch. We spent a while looking out to sea at the yachts and swimmers. There were also a couple of planes that kept looping around, advertising Bud Light. Dani went for a paddle and some pelicans flew over head in a flying V. We then started walking along the front, to the pier, which turned out to be a little disappointing, with lots of tacky theme-park-type attractions. We followed the pier back into town, looking for postcards, but in the end didn’t bother.

There were a number of street performers along the front, including a guy with lots of parrots who was giving them to people to hold; one girl was cradling a parrot like a baby! We walked back along 3rd Street Promenade - the pedestrianised shopping area. There were a number of street performers and also a number of monuments to recognise contributors to the Santa Monica Education Program (they were cast in bronze; one was a pile of books, another was a desk - they looked very good). We had a quick look in a gadget shop before heading back to the car. The parking cost $1 as we had only been 2 1/2 hours. Bargain!

The drive back was pretty straightforward and we were back in the hotel by 7 PM. The car park was very full as there was a wedding in the hotel and a concert nearby. We parked at the back of a double space where we would be blocked in. The valet attendant said there would be someone to help us in the morning.

We dropped our stuff and went to Little Tokyo for tea. There was karaoke in the main square which was quite funny, and some popular songs were getting murdered by a range of keen amateurs. A lot of the restaurants were quite busy, and we eventually settled for one in the back corner, where we took a number (32) and waited to be seated. I was a little anxious, so Dani did the ordering. I had chicken teriyaki with vegetable tempura and Dani had the beef version, but with a mix of vegetable and shrimp tempura. We had soup to start and green tea ice-cream to finish. We did a grand job using chopsticks and I only dropped the tempura into the dipping sauce by accident a couple of times. It cost about $37 and was very nice, apart from the ice-cream, which we both left the majority of.

We headed back to the room and Dani did some packing, whilst I watched TV. A little later we tried to visit the Japanese roof garden again, but it was closed due to the wedding. Instead, we went to the little minimart around the corner again, where I got an ice-cream and Dani had an almond Snickers bar. We had a beer, watched telly and went to bed.

After a fantastic break in Liverpool, we went for a day trip to Brodsworth House on the way to see mum. Brodsworth House is managed by English Heritage, so if you're a member it's free entry otherwise it's fairly reasonable at £10.90 for entry to the house and gardens. Being a bank holiday weekend, we were treated to a brass band who were playing a range of jolly pieces to the assembled audience!

We spent a while wandering through the gardens, which are beautifully maintained and vary from rose gardens with blooming vines, to a fern 'dell', apparently stocking the largest collection of ferns in the north of England. Some of the gardens have almost an Aztec look about them, with lots of looming cliffs and rock gardens with succulents (possibly nothing like 'Aztec' landscapes, but it made us both think of it). From there, we had a quick look around the house - it was getting on for closing time. It is currently undergoing a serious renovation program. It was taken over by English Heritage in the 1980s but had previously not been really looked after since its heyday in the Victorian period. The conservation work seems to be taking the form of preserving the decay, which I'm always a bit uncertain about as you don't get a 'true' idea of what things really looked like but it is what it is. As it is, they do have an array of interesting objects from the Victorian period, such as an exercise horse and (what's left of) original wallpaper. 

All in all, a good day out!