28 December 2006 - LA

Up fairly early and on a bus for around an our down to Venice Beach. The bus ride was interesting. At one stage, there would have been approximately 50 people on the bus, and myself and Libe were the only caucasian people on it, the rest being Hispanic, black or asian. And the bus driver was amazingly aggressive and cranky. She reminded me of the lady from Seinfeld, Rebecca DeMornay, who walks into Elaine's muffin store and complains that the homeless don't like their muffins without the muffin top.

Venice Beach was pretty quiet, given it was winter. This place felt similar to like what I would expect Mexico to be, including plenty of street vendors (where I was able to rid myself of the need for sunglasses for $8, a good result). We walked up the beach to Santa Monica and its popular pier, which was packed with people. The pier itself includes a large funpark with a number of rides for the kids. It was quite a contrast to Venice Beach, a lot more upmarket. From there, it was a short walk into the suburb of Santa Monica itself and its large shopping district. I much preferred Santa Monica to Venice, although Venice did have its 'quirkiness' attraction (I'll have to quote Lawson on that).

A bus ride back inland was terminated at Rodeo Drive, probably the most expensive shopping district in the world (with some shops requiring customers to be invited into their stores). Fair to say, if Libe's credit card financier had known of where she was, there may have been some nervous moments. After cruising the street and venturing into one or two stores, we settled in for a feed at a very affordable (and nice) restaurant at the corners of Via Rodeo, Rodeo Drive and Wilshire Boulevard