A long but uneventful flight – but I probably only got 30 minutes sleep all up. Queues on arrival at immigration – about an hours wait, and then another hours wait at the hire car place. Luckily I rented a GPS – what a godsend. It has taken me a couple of hours of driving around LA – mostly missing turn offs – to learn to drive on the wrong side of the road, but I’m getting quite good at it now, and the GPS (once you get used to it) means you don’t have to worry too much about getting lost. The first hour the poor thing had to constantly re calculate the route to the point where I was cracking up laughing. Luckily, the LA traffic on a Saturday afternoon is pretty laid back
Lunch at Venice Beach – very bohemian. There is probably million dollar properties, but many of them look like beach shacks or stucco. Lots of places for rent on the beach front.
When I got to Santa Monica, I had a flat tire. I pulled into a parking lot and looked everywhere for the jack – in the boot, in the engine compartment. Finally I found the owners manual and found the jack is under the drivers seat. Changing the tire, two guys asked if I needed help after 20 minutes of struggling with the jack and tires. I would have had 20 people ask me If I was moving the car because they wanted my spot, but until those guys came along, no one offered to help or asked me if I was ok.
Checked into my hotel – different, unusual, different – the view out the window is of the airconditioning plant and it sounds like a jet liner. Oh well – I have not been asleep for about 30 hours, so I think I will sleep well tonight.
I walked around the pedestrian mall for 2-3 hours tonight – just amazing. There are expensive boutiques, a million crappy coffee shops, lots of picture theatres. Some things that have struck me so far:
Lots of buskers from the crazys to great guitar players, wrap dancers and dancing jews celebrating chanaka and joined by the wrap dancers
Some sightings and thoughts:
Lunch at Venice Beach – very bohemian. There is probably million dollar properties, but many of them look like beach shacks or stucco. Lots of places for rent on the beach front.
When I got to Santa Monica, I had a flat tire. I pulled into a parking lot and looked everywhere for the jack – in the boot, in the engine compartment. Finally I found the owners manual and found the jack is under the drivers seat. Changing the tire, two guys asked if I needed help after 20 minutes of struggling with the jack and tires. I would have had 20 people ask me If I was moving the car because they wanted my spot, but until those guys came along, no one offered to help or asked me if I was ok.
Checked into my hotel – different, unusual, different – the view out the window is of the airconditioning plant and it sounds like a jet liner. Oh well – I have not been asleep for about 30 hours, so I think I will sleep well tonight.
I walked around the pedestrian mall for 2-3 hours tonight – just amazing. There are expensive boutiques, a million crappy coffee shops, lots of picture theatres. Some things that have struck me so far:
Lots of buskers from the crazys to great guitar players, wrap dancers and dancing jews celebrating chanaka and joined by the wrap dancers
Some sightings and thoughts:
- Lots of dogs in shops - go to the third floor of borders - they are there!
- lots of polite and fairly clean and neat homeless people- perhaps just the santa monica homeless are designer
- lotus taxi
- power yoga
- childrens gyms
- Lots of shops
- the mall is pumping at night - but at 9.00am sunday the only thing full is Dr Dance's studio with the beatiful people
- the jack in a toyota yaris is under the drivers seat
- I love my rental gps - its got me so far otherwise I would still be driving around in LAX
- Sunday morning you dance or yoga in santa monica
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1 comment:
thanks for the update lin, we hope you got a good night's sleep. weather has deteriorated here but we are fast returning to our usual activities. keep safe, love, mum and dad.
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