Day 279 - Los Angeles
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Saturday May 14th
After a few long days of hardcore sightseeing (don't you feel sorry for me?), it was time for a quiet one. After a lie-in and breakfast, I spent a few hours on the internet. With a quality signal for once, I cheered the Crows onto victory against the Gold Coast - good game, boys! Ready for Collingwood next week ...
I decided I shouldn't really spend all day watching football - as tempting as it was - and headed out for the walk to Venice Beach. It was a good 45 minute walk - hiring a bike was a popular option to cover the distance, but walking allows for more sightseeing and people watching. And there was definitely plenty to see - being a Saturday morning, the beach was packed. Every volleyball net was taken, with buff guys and girls in bikinis playing friendly matches. People were rollerblading/'scootering'/playing roller hockey/walking dogs - any activity you could imagine!
As I approached Venice Beach, market stalls started to line the pedestrian path. Venice Beach was actually a bit sketchy, and I didn't feel comfortable taking out my camera for photos. There were heaps of 'medical marijuana' doctors here - something you see advertised all the time; and lots of 'rasta' guys. There were a lot of freedom of speech signs along the strip as well, with anti-government or, conversely, pro-USA messages. There were even cat-ladies - homeless ladies covered in garbage bags and cats all around their necks!
The infamous Muscle Beach - the gym where Arnold Schwarzenegger used to work out (as I write this, news has just broken about his love child) – was a disappointment – a partly covered, empty gym, that looked decades old. In all, Venice Beach was a disappointment to me – even the food stalls looked like they belonged at a funfair, selling churros and hotdogs.
I took a different route back to Santa Monica, walking through an area of Venice similar to the Venice of Italy, with canals and gondolas. All this just one street up from the beach!
After another hour back in the hostel, I decided to hit up a movie, Bridesmaids. It had just come out and was written by (and starred) the girls from Saturday Night Live, and was billed as a female version of the Hangover. It truly was a fantastic movie, laugh out loud funny (albeit a bit crude at times), and well worth the $11.75 entry fee (seriously, everything is much cheaper in America than Australia!)
After a few long days of hardcore sightseeing (don't you feel sorry for me?), it was time for a quiet one. After a lie-in and breakfast, I spent a few hours on the internet. With a quality signal for once, I cheered the Crows onto victory against the Gold Coast - good game, boys! Ready for Collingwood next week ...
I decided I shouldn't really spend all day watching football - as tempting as it was - and headed out for the walk to Venice Beach. It was a good 45 minute walk - hiring a bike was a popular option to cover the distance, but walking allows for more sightseeing and people watching. And there was definitely plenty to see - being a Saturday morning, the beach was packed. Every volleyball net was taken, with buff guys and girls in bikinis playing friendly matches. People were rollerblading/'scootering'/playing roller hockey/walking dogs - any activity you could imagine!
As I approached Venice Beach, market stalls started to line the pedestrian path. Venice Beach was actually a bit sketchy, and I didn't feel comfortable taking out my camera for photos. There were heaps of 'medical marijuana' doctors here - something you see advertised all the time; and lots of 'rasta' guys. There were a lot of freedom of speech signs along the strip as well, with anti-government or, conversely, pro-USA messages. There were even cat-ladies - homeless ladies covered in garbage bags and cats all around their necks!
The infamous Muscle Beach - the gym where Arnold Schwarzenegger used to work out (as I write this, news has just broken about his love child) – was a disappointment – a partly covered, empty gym, that looked decades old. In all, Venice Beach was a disappointment to me – even the food stalls looked like they belonged at a funfair, selling churros and hotdogs.
I took a different route back to Santa Monica, walking through an area of Venice similar to the Venice of Italy, with canals and gondolas. All this just one street up from the beach!
After another hour back in the hostel, I decided to hit up a movie, Bridesmaids. It had just come out and was written by (and starred) the girls from Saturday Night Live, and was billed as a female version of the Hangover. It truly was a fantastic movie, laugh out loud funny (albeit a bit crude at times), and well worth the $11.75 entry fee (seriously, everything is much cheaper in America than Australia!)
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