From the serenity of the forest to the craziness of LA in a day. It was a bit of a shock. The first clue was the manic driving on the freeway and the Google Maps diversions to avoid the remnants of car crashes. But it was exciting to visit somewhere I have heard such a lot about and Pete was revisiting after 20 years. First stop was Hollywood, first to see the iconic sign.
Then to Hollywood Boulevard to see The Walk of Fame.
There was a strange collection of superheroes, beggars, religious preachers, street sellers and scammers to avoid in the process making it rather like a computer game.
And then we headed to Santa Monica for a more chilled cycle along the beach front. And a sunset visit to the famous pier.
Day two here takes on Venice Beach. We cycled along the beach from our motel in Santa Monica. On the way we stoped to go into a bike shop and the owners parents’ only retired to the Isle of Man from Canada – small world. We cycled through Venice Beach and onto Marina del Rey where we saw the biggest seal I’ve ever seen making himself comfy on the pontoon between the fancy yachts.
Coming back we walked through the Venice Canals and the sun came out. It was so serene and would be a beautiful place to love – if you don’t mind a load of tourists peering into your back garden.
Then back to the craziness of Venice Beach. I have never seen so many homeless people in one area. I thought Athens was bad when I visited there a couple of years ago, but this actually was ten times as bad. So sad to see.
Homeless people in front of Santa Monica Pier
We stopped as Muscle Beach but unfortunately the drizzly weather must have put off all the muscle men. So just little old me in there.
We did a little more exploring on our bikes around Santa Monica.
Next we headed into the Santa Monica Mountains for a short walk around the King. Gillette Ranch which was built for the creator of Gillette razors in the 1920s.
We decided to stay up in the mountains for the night and the next morning headed to the Getty Villa. The J Paul Getty trust fund runs this Roman replica villa and antiquities museum for the public to enjoy.
We had a guide named Phyllis who was mad as a box of frogs, very knowledgeable, but a bit all over the place. We loved the ending to the tour when she said “Oh I’ve run over and I’ve got to return this headset thingy. Goodbye” and walked off. What a finish 😀
