Monday, September 12, 2011

US Holiday - Day 3 - Santa Monica and Venice Beach


Day 3
Woke up a little bit later than normal. The body was feeling a bit average. I think a combination of sitting on the plane and all the walking over the past couple days. Started out with a ridiculous breakfast. Should have looked at the menu a little bit better than what I did. Tried to get through as best as I could but there was a certain amount of wastage.

Packed the cameras and then headed up to Wilshire Boulevard as I thought that the buses from there were going to take me down to Venice Beach. But on looking at the timetable and route it appeared to be different to what I had read on the Big Blue Bus website. So I started to walk down again to Santa Monica which took about 20-30 minutes. Popped into a chemist to get some nail clippers as the feet were getting sore from the walking. On asking one of the people for where I should look for the clippers there is a moments hesitation as they realise "this honky is not from around here".

Kept on walking down towards the sea side and took some video of a fire truck with sirens blaring. I will burn this onto a DVD and give it to my brother Damian. Certainly the quality is there for it to cover all birthday and XMAS presents out to 2015.

Got down to the pier at Santa Monica and started the walk towards Venice Beach. The day was absolute perfect for it. Whilst overcast at first, by about 11.30 the day cloud had burned off and was replaced with blue skies. The walk along the beach was pleasant with a lot of white and latino "culo" to look at. The beach along side the path was full of volley ball games and even caught sight of a strange game of "touch footy" being played. Looks like it must have been some expats.

Eventually got down to Venice Beach with lots of stalls along either side. One of the first stalls was for a pet psychic and that pretty much set the town for the rest. Heaps of homeless and the odd performer plying their trade. If I can offer a comparison it is a combination of Paddy's markets a dash of Byron Bay and a sprinkle of Centrelink. Ventured past the Muscle Beach Gym and then turned around and headed back towards Santa Monica. Dropped into a Starbucks and had an Ice Mocha recharge before catching he bus back to the hotel.


Caught up on a few emails and then got changed and headed back into Santa Monica shopping district in the early evening. Had a look at a couple of shops and made some purchases. Went for a bit of a walk and found a couple of people holding up signs saying that 9/11 was a government conspiracy. There were also a few unhappy campers giving them a mouthful and to be honest I think it is a low act to host this type of event on such an important anniversary.


Caught the bus back to the hotel. Had the pleasure of a drunk NFL supporter sit next to me for the length of my journey. To finish the evening I had a steak at the restaurant next to the hotel before booking a cab in the morning. It will be an early start to the day as I fly onto Newark airport to stay with Pete and Maggie.

No comments:

Post a Comment