Last time we were in Los Angeles, we took a VIP tour of Universal Studios. This time, we signed up for the VIP tour of Paramount studios. The most amazing thing we learned was how many massive scenes have been crammed into the tiny lawn in front of Lucille Ball’s office. Dr. Phil’s dog was being walked there while we were visiting, but that little postage stamp-sized lawn has been striped off and used as a football field. The tree in the background on the right? Where Greg Brady (The Brady Bunch) smoked his first on camera cigarette. Yes. Exciting stuff.

I refrained from photographing Dr. Phil’s dog, but this is the lawn she was walking on with her two handlers.

Paramount served us a delicious gourmet lunch. I should have taken a picture, but I was too busy enjoying it. We each got to pick a movie poster. Unfortunately, we forgot them on the train when we got home to San Antonio. I hope someone likes them.

The highlight of the tour was the dead body. No. Not a real dead body, silly. This is television. They needed a dead body for one of the series filming, so the dead body delivery company had one in the back of a pick up truck just waiting for its scene. (Clicking “Read More” will reveal pictures of the fake dead body. Don’t click if you don’t want to see.).

Thank you for visiting for the April A-Z Blogging Challenge. Today’s entry is “Grand Tour”-themed, about our Amtrak trip we took last month. I’d love to hear your thoughts or questions in comments. If you don’t want to miss an entry, please enter your email address below, press sign-up, then check your inbox to click the validation link to get these blog posts in your inbox.