Sara Hammerzmith

So, I woke up in the middle of the flight, or I guess it wasn’t actually the middle as we were approaching our destination. Got fed some real nice breakfast to enjoy, not as good as the Swedish one we had on our previous, but it did well!

We landed around 16 in Sweden, and I was hoping I’d catch the bus at 16.55, but of course, the luggage decided to be late, and to really poke it in my eye, it decided to arrive no less than at 17.05. Just to make fun of me you know. So I found myself spending another two dead hours at Arlanda, the place I’ve already spent sooo many hours on in my life, but why not. Got some work done.

Got on my bus home, took the back single seat and I just love it you know… When you build your little temporary crib on the bus and then just lean back and relax, or in my case, work, for the next four hours… Looking out at the lights… Dreaming back at what once was.

This trip was beyond amazing. Thank you all of you involved – Firstly, my partner in crime Nathan – What would I do without you? Secondly Lordi – without you, Mr L, Hella, Amen, OX and Mana – we wouldn’t have done this in the first place. Thanks to the crew for keeping them on the road. Thanks to Warcorpse, Aeonic Impulse, Black Magic Beach Party, Towerguard and Dûrion for amazing support, Thanks to Danse dE Sade for two amazing evenings, I cannot describe the feelings I’m starting to get for you. Thank you to the people we met along the way – Buddy, Alex, Lizzy, Aly and Jeffery – Thanks to you, we have amazing memories.

Thank you, and till next time!

// Sara

So the day was here. The very final day. We checked out the place we stayed in, and hit the roads. We walked down to the recordstore again to pick up some last minute things – a totebag for me. My original one from Sweden Rock have disappeared and the Lordi one is falling apart. So it had to be done. Then we walked down the Melrose Avenue again to check out a store again, because Lime Crime cosmetics. Then, we took an UBER to the busstation and said one last good bye to L.A. as we headed back toward the airport.

Once at the airport we got checked in and then settled for KFC before heading to Nathan’s gate. It was actually the first time I had it, it was nice. After saying good bye to Nathan I started wandering about the airport looking at stuff before finally settling down to get some work done and then reading a bit. My travelreading right now is “Divergent”, as I don’t read it at home it’s kind of been left on it’s own.

After some wait, my plane arrived and I boarded. It wasn’t a superbusy plane, which was nice, so I wasn’t super crammed. Sadly the plane left a bit late, but it got made up with some delicious flight food!

After dinner I fell asleep in the wait to come home to Sweden. I do love long haul flights. I don’t know what it is – if it is the feeling of that this will be your home for a while, or if it’s something else, I don’t know, but it’s just something about them.

// Sara

So, the last day for us in the US came to a start, and it was somewhat heartbreaking to think about that today is the last day. Today is the last day we’ll be walking up and down the Sunset Strip, tonight is the last night we have to sleep hearing the sirens and cars on the busy road outside.

For this day, we went down to the music shop – The Amoeba music store, the biggest CD shop I have ever seen. I left the place with Battle Beast’s selftitled album, FINALLY, I have it in my possession! I loved this place though. It’s the biggest recordstore I have ever seen, and the selection was perfect!

We then continued on to Hollywood Blvd in search for good touriststuff. Yes, I’m a real sucker for that because it is important to me. We also took the chance to take a glimpse of the Capitol Records building. It’s mighty.

Later in the afternoon we headed off to the Grove again and the Cheesecake Factory for some last day dinner, but not completely alone – we were being joined by my Icelandic friend Tinna that I got to know all the way back in 2005, but had yet to ever meet. Nowadays she lives in Los Angeles, so we took the opportunity to meet up. It was unreal and weird to see her in real life, after all these years! But better late than never, huh?

We had a great meal, and then parted ways. Nathan and I headed home and got changed and headed off to the Rainbow for some drinks. But not just any drinks.

Today marks the five year anniversary of Otus death, and we figured we had to go out and have drinks for him. So there we were, in Lemmy’s Lounge at the Rainbow toasting for Otus. We miss you, buddy!

We ran into some, for me, fellow Swedes and had a good party going on until some sort of celebrity walked in. I had no idea who it was, and the guy even waved to me and I was like “Hi…” and once we’d left the place, I was told this was former pornstar Ron Jeremy. Interesting. The more you know, huh?

Once home, we packed and eventually went to bed preparing for tomorrow… the travel home day…

// Sara

Today we did a little bigger trip – over to the Santa Monica Pier. Not a too big of a trip from Hollywood, but enough to make us set it out as a daytrip. And when we got to the beach it was just… so great.

We strolled down the pier checking out most booths, and had delicious ice-cream down on the beach, taking it easy, chilling, grasping the sun, talking about the matter of life and death… Normal things you know.

After enjoying our ice-cream and crashing a musicvideo recording, we ended up on the Third Street Promenade. I was stupid and forgot my hoodie at home, so we found the first best clothing store and picked out a nice navy blue cardigan. I don’t have a picture of it sadly, but it did keep me warm. We stopped by a candyshop as well before deciding to return home to have some In-N-Out burgers before returning home to a good nights sleep.

// Sara

Today was another one of these more “lazy” days – I’m guessing because of the show the night prior. That and the absolute downpour prior to it which gave us both a slight cold.

What we did though, is walking down to the farmers market down by the Grove, which was more like a market square if you ask me. On the one side, with the fancier buildings were the more high end store side – it looked like it was taken from a fancy movie or something, and with the music and dancing couple it felt like I was sent back to the 50’s. We walked around the stores for a while before going to the other side of the buildings, where a big market blew up.

It was a whole bunch of different stands with different kind of food from all over the world. I guess it’s called a world market for a reason, no? It was amazing walking around between all the different cultures and smells and take it all in.

After walking the long way back we sat down with a glass of wine enjoying some episodes of “Pretty Little Liars” trying to recover. These past days with all the walking took out its right on our feet.

// Sara

On the agenda for the day was the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

For the first time since we got back to L.A. we got some bad weather. However, it looked only cloudy as first so we thought “Eh, we don’t need to take our raincoats”. Of course, it started pouring like there was no tomorrow as we walked the hour long walk down to the Walk of Fame. And to make it even worse, we accidently passed it on top of everything. What are the freaking odds of that.

But, it wasn’t in vain though – walking too far led us to the biggest recordstore I have ever set my foot in – Amoeba Music Store, and we didn’t even know where to start when we got in there, but soon enough we found the metal section and started morphing about. I need to get back there to pick up an album, but couldn’t exactly do it this time.

We finally figured out where we went wrong, and after a quick stop at McDonalds to avoid the worst of downpour, we continued our journey. We finally found our destination, and it was fun to watch the stars, and doing occasional stops whenever you found a star with an interesting name on it.

But what really DID catch my attention, aside the stars, were all the alternative stores lined up by the streets! Ran in and out of every store, constantly, finding all kinds of things. We also got to the Chinese Theater, the Hollywood-sign lookout and the close by shoppingmall… And as we were about to go in Forever21 we noticed the streets has been shut off by police, blocking the streets, and the next thing we know we are being evacuated. Apparently, a suspicious package had been found at the metro station. Bummer.

However – I finally got a hand of a U.S. flag for my jacket now – the first flag on the other side of my jacket. It always feel strange when you add a new flag to your jacket. Surreal feeling.

Well, we made our way home in order to get ready for the evening, when we were about to catch Danse dE Sade at the Viper Room.

To be Continued

// Sara

This day was superslow. Because of all the shenanigans from last night, we didn’t get to bed until 5 or something in the morning, so we got up around 14 or so. Concert hungover, or whatever you want to call it really.

So basically, all we actually did today was walking all the way down the Sunset Strip down into Beverly Hills and walked around the houses. Magnificent architecture, if you ask me, and I got so inspired looking at all the houses, and the conversations were mainly about whether the houses were too big or not for our taste. Or as Nathan said it – “You know you are rich when you have a separate gateway for deliveries and guests”. And I agree.

On our way back as we passed the Rainbow again we noticed the inscriptions in the wall from various bands and artists.

It’s a pretty sight, walking down the Sunset… I’ve been here for a couple of days now, but it still hasn’t sunk in for me. That we are here.

We spent the rest of the night chilling out and taking it easy, trying to recover from the concert and planning tomorrows shenanigans. Nice, slow, day.

// Sara

The following day we got up at about seven in the morning in order to catch the bus back to Los Angeles, which proved to be easier said than done. Of course, as the previous days it was raining loads, and then we struggled to check in our bags, but gladly, everything worked out and the bus was a wee bit later so I even managed to buy myself the most delicious cup of caramel coffee I ever had.

The good thing about this bus is that it would go straight way to Los Angeles – no transfers, nothing, just one long busride that allowed us to finish up a lot of things in the mean time. Makes a hardworking person like me really happy! But I cannot deny the fact that it got boring at times.

Once in Los Angeles, I had my first experience with UBER that went wrong. Not the UBER, but I accidently booked it too early. But gladly, it was no harm done. He drove us to the apartment a friend of ours has lent us, and it’s so beautiful. I know already when she told us about it, but it was even more gorgeous.

We settled in pretty quickly and then we headed down the Sunset Strip toward Whisky and the Rainbow. It was so surreal in a way… To just simply stroll down the Strip, the Strip that was once so important to the music scene once, and still are to this day.

And dining inside the Rainbow was a surreal dream come true. To sit inside and just know that, this is one of those places. Those place you have heard about, read about, and now you are here yourself. It was hard for me to grasp, no lies.

After dining we went home and crashed into bed right away. And tomorrow… Tomorrow is the big day.

// Sara