Day 4 - Venice Beach, Santa Monica and a rant

Today we didn't have to get up super early - Simone chose to go to the gym in the morning for an 8am session and we met back at the hotel to go out. First we had brunch at our usual place (can you have a usual place after only 3 days??) - Simone had the omelette and I tried the fish tacos, which were quite tasty. I have taken a liking to the hot sauce they have there too, it's very different from Tabasco in that is isn't as aggressively spicy, but rather a more flavourful spicy.

After a long ride on the bus (1h20m) we arrived at Santa Monica pier where we had a bit of a look around. Photos are from both of us, so they may be doubling up of subjects. Speaking of photos, Simone's D5100 has packed it in with the same dreaded shutter error she had out of the box with her first model. That's pretty shocking. The camera is still under warranty but actually claiming it whilst traveling could present some challenges. We'll see how that works out.

Her immediate replacement will likely be the D3200 which has just come out and will serve her purposes the best.

 Simone had to take a photo of the Big Dean Cafe of course...

 From the pier we made our way to Venice Beach on foot, which was quite a pleasant walk. The whole beach front area is really well developed, with toilets/showers, volleyball nets, basketball courts, plenty of parking, shops etc etc. Cottesloe seems pretty pathetic in comparison. And the walk path is separate to the bike path so you stay out of each other's way. Heaps of people on bikes and rollerblades/skatboards.

Below are some photos from one of the shops there that have artists' displays in front of them. There are also heaps of medical marijuana dispensaries and hippies are everywhere. It's a show just sitting down and watching the weirdos go past. One of those preaching guys was not making friends when he stood yelling in front of people who just wanted to have catch some rays on the grass in the sun. I'm surprised he didn't have things thrown at him.

After the walk and a bit of a mission to find a shirt that Simone wanted but no shop had in her size or quality she was after, we made our way to downtown LA to have dinner and catch the movie Ted. An R rated comedy about a guy and his Teddy bear.

Spinach and Cheese dip

I had the BBQ chicken salad (shock horror!!) and no I did not eat that tower of fried onions they put on top. The salad itself was really yummy and plenty to go around.

Simone had what she thought was a single slider and sweet potato fries. Turns out she got 4 sliders. She had two, I had one and we left one.

The movie was good, but I could not believe how many very young children were in the audience. This is not a kids movie! Parents, you are idiots if you think your 4 year old child is ok to see an R rated movie that contains heavy swearing, sexual references, sex scenes and tits as well as violence. But I guess if these are the kind of parents who would say the F and the C word in front of your 4 year old, then I'm not surprised you are unfit to make an appropriate movie choice for your child. Things like that annoy me greatly and it's no wonder that kids these days grow up to be self centered assholes. Now get off my lawn!! God I feel old sometimes *sigh*.

Tomorrow is of course the 4th of July and Simone has chosen a good location to go to to catch some celebrations and the fireworks in the evening.