On Mike's birthday, 20 Feb, we flew from Texas to Los Angeles, California. Without too much fuss we made it to our hotel on Venice Beach and were initially struck by how bright and attractive the place was - can definitely see why it's called the sunshine state. The view from our hotel window was amazing (the beach was just across the car park). For the entire stay I think we were a little awe struck every time we opened or closed the blinds (we took a lot of photos from that window - sunset, sunrise, with carpark, without carpark, etc).
We immediately went exploring. Venice Beach was buzzing with street performers, market traders selling all kinds of stuff (mostly tat, rubbish and tattoos to be honest), loads of people on wheels (skateboards, rollerblades, bikes and 1 guy in a big wheel) and a real mix of people. We had a wander down to muscle beach where the good, the bad and the ugly were strutting their stuff in anything from jeans to shorts to really short shorts (and they were the ones who really were old enough to know better). We ended the day with an early tea and an early night.
We started the next day with a walk down the beach, the pier and around the Venice canals. It was bright and pretty stunning. We watched the ducks, the surfers and saw a bloke catch a starfish (strange but true). From there, we walked the couple of miles to Santa Monica along the seafront looking at the various shops, stalls and entertainers. Once at Santa Monica we had a wander down the pier then headed back.
We spent our final day strolling down the beach with a large fruit salad (freshly prepared by a street vendor). The fruit and juices were very tasty, fresh and the perfect thing for a hot, sunny day especially before an overnight Greyhound to San Francisco.
Venice Beach could not have been more different to the other locations we've visited in the USA. Alongside larger than life street artists and performers there are Zen massage shops, spiritual journey bookshops, organic vegan restaurants and "medical marijuana" (whatever that is). The only thing we didn't get to see was the Freakshow which apparently contained human oddities (such as the electric woman) and two-headed animals (we did see the two-headed turtles - weird - apparently there was also snakes, lizards and others - glad we missed it really). A real eye opener. Next stop San Francisco.
Kelly and Mike