Day 275: Los Angeles
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Tuesday May 10th
My first full day in Los Angeles, the city of sunshine and health, so how did I start my morningÉ With a run along the famous Santa Monica beach of course! I joined all of the health conscious Angelenos on the strip stretching north from the Santa Monica Pier, basking in the sunshine hitting my bare white limbs for the first time in over six months! My running wasn`t that great – again, six months in snow will do that to you – but I returned to the hostel feeling refreshed for the day ahead.
Harriet, my English dorm mate, joined me in the kitchen for a free breakfast of toast and yoghurt and then we decided to hit up Santa Monica beach together. She was meeting a friend at midday, whilst I wanted to spend the day exploring the local area and planning my itinerary for the rest of the week. Before hitting the beach though, we made a very important pit-stop: the two English shops close to the hostel. I`d seen them the previous night on my walk, and they supposedly sold Australian chocolate!!
The first store was a disappointment – good English souvenirs, but no Aussie chocolate except for Violet Crumbles, which didn`t get my heart racing. But the second store had … Top Deck!! And Tim Tams! I was most impressed with my conservativeness though, only purchasing one block of Top Deck. Harriet also indulged a little, happy to see UK chocolate after 12 months working in Australia.
We walked along the beach for an hour or so, checking out the gymnastic area with rings and balance beams; marvelled at the Route 66 End sign on Santa Monica Pier; and checked out some hot English boys riding go-cart like bikes, for whom we happily obliged when they asked us to take their photo.
As it was nearing midday, I left Harriet and walked to the Third Street Promenade, the main tourist and shopping street of Santa Monica. I started at Kitson, a well-known celebrity shop, and then treated myself to a `PinkBerry` yoghurt (see, I`m fitting in well with the health-conscious Angelenos!) The street was lined with all of my favourite stores – Zara, H&M, Forever 21 – but I was all shopped out from Edmonton!
Next I made my way to the local organic grocery store and then the normal grocery store to pick up a few items – the hostel had a massive kitchen which I wanted to take advantage of. From there, I returned to the hostel for respite from the heat, but only for an hour. Montana Avenue called – the so-called `Rodeo Drive` of Santa Monica. `Rodeo Drive` was overkill – there was no Gucci or Prada here – rather, it was lined with independent stores and cafes, and the 34 block return walk was a disappointment. Back on Third Street, I finally located Lululemon and purchased the shorts I`d seen in Edmonton whilst with Amanda.
On my way back to the hostel, I booked into a `tour` of Disneyland the next day. I`d done some research at lunch and found that public transport to Disneyland took about two hours using multiple buses and trains. It was much simpler, and almost as cheap, to arrange for a local tour company to transport me out there on a combined transport and ticket package.
Harriet was in the dorm room when I returned, and after a quick touch-up we headed out to the English pub around the corner. (Can you tell there`s a large British ex-pat community here) It was very much an authentic English pub, with English staff and traditional English meals like bangers and mash and butter chicken. When we ordered our drinks, both of us were asked for our ids. I had my passport on me, but Harriet didn`t have anything. The waitress told us to ensure we always had our passports on us for proof of id – this was crucial to getting served in any establishment in the US. Lesson learnt!
My first full day in Los Angeles, the city of sunshine and health, so how did I start my morningÉ With a run along the famous Santa Monica beach of course! I joined all of the health conscious Angelenos on the strip stretching north from the Santa Monica Pier, basking in the sunshine hitting my bare white limbs for the first time in over six months! My running wasn`t that great – again, six months in snow will do that to you – but I returned to the hostel feeling refreshed for the day ahead.
Harriet, my English dorm mate, joined me in the kitchen for a free breakfast of toast and yoghurt and then we decided to hit up Santa Monica beach together. She was meeting a friend at midday, whilst I wanted to spend the day exploring the local area and planning my itinerary for the rest of the week. Before hitting the beach though, we made a very important pit-stop: the two English shops close to the hostel. I`d seen them the previous night on my walk, and they supposedly sold Australian chocolate!!
The first store was a disappointment – good English souvenirs, but no Aussie chocolate except for Violet Crumbles, which didn`t get my heart racing. But the second store had … Top Deck!! And Tim Tams! I was most impressed with my conservativeness though, only purchasing one block of Top Deck. Harriet also indulged a little, happy to see UK chocolate after 12 months working in Australia.
We walked along the beach for an hour or so, checking out the gymnastic area with rings and balance beams; marvelled at the Route 66 End sign on Santa Monica Pier; and checked out some hot English boys riding go-cart like bikes, for whom we happily obliged when they asked us to take their photo.
As it was nearing midday, I left Harriet and walked to the Third Street Promenade, the main tourist and shopping street of Santa Monica. I started at Kitson, a well-known celebrity shop, and then treated myself to a `PinkBerry` yoghurt (see, I`m fitting in well with the health-conscious Angelenos!) The street was lined with all of my favourite stores – Zara, H&M, Forever 21 – but I was all shopped out from Edmonton!
Next I made my way to the local organic grocery store and then the normal grocery store to pick up a few items – the hostel had a massive kitchen which I wanted to take advantage of. From there, I returned to the hostel for respite from the heat, but only for an hour. Montana Avenue called – the so-called `Rodeo Drive` of Santa Monica. `Rodeo Drive` was overkill – there was no Gucci or Prada here – rather, it was lined with independent stores and cafes, and the 34 block return walk was a disappointment. Back on Third Street, I finally located Lululemon and purchased the shorts I`d seen in Edmonton whilst with Amanda.
On my way back to the hostel, I booked into a `tour` of Disneyland the next day. I`d done some research at lunch and found that public transport to Disneyland took about two hours using multiple buses and trains. It was much simpler, and almost as cheap, to arrange for a local tour company to transport me out there on a combined transport and ticket package.
Harriet was in the dorm room when I returned, and after a quick touch-up we headed out to the English pub around the corner. (Can you tell there`s a large British ex-pat community here) It was very much an authentic English pub, with English staff and traditional English meals like bangers and mash and butter chicken. When we ordered our drinks, both of us were asked for our ids. I had my passport on me, but Harriet didn`t have anything. The waitress told us to ensure we always had our passports on us for proof of id – this was crucial to getting served in any establishment in the US. Lesson learnt!
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