Time to get up and get to the International House of Pancakes for breakfast - well, we had to didn't we? It was good, pancakes for breakfast with egg and bacon and maple syrup, you'd never have it at home but when in the USA - get on with it is what I say!
After breakfast, fit for the day, we decide to get the free shuttle bus to the world famous Santa Monica beach and walk down to the pier, which is an amazing sight. Not only is the sky blue and the sun is shining brightly and it's warmer than I've felt in a long time, it is so different to all other impressions I've had so far in the USA - it's like a whole new world and I like this one!
Slowly walking along the pier, enjoying the sights and watching it start to fill up with visitors and stall holders, is really made us glad to be there. We walked to the end and started to wander back, stopping to admire the view towards Venice beach just along the coast. Sat on the bench enjoying the warmth of the sunshine we caught sight of a dolphin swimming a short distance from the pier and just sat and enjoyed that feel good feeling you get when you see these beautiful creatures. A man came to stand nearby with his fishing Ross and started casting the line and before we knew it, we were chatting with him like old friends. He lived along the beach and enjoyed coming down to the pier most days for a couple of hours of fishing, obviously made his money and enjoying the benefits, he to,d us about his son's screenplay for a film which was set to be made and we felt like we were part of the whole celebrity air that the place has! By the time we left, he knew all about our family and was telling Becky not to worry about finding someone to spend her life with, plenty of time yet (not sure she was convinced)
We moved on eventually and decided to walk along the beach towards Venice beach and Becky found a couple of poles (metal, not people from Poland) to wrap herself round and throw herself up against, good job I only had to take the picture for her to send back to her pole dancing friends and not actually join in! It was as well that she couldn't hear my giggling whilst she was trying very hard to do a headstand in the sand but she did it and that's a lot more than I could ever do!
After walking some way and not seeming to gain on Venice Beach at all, we decided to turn around and head back to the pier and have lunch at Bubba Gump's - wow, it was good. A cocktail and mixed shrimp and fish platter did the job nicely, yummmm
Wandering back through Santa Monica looking at the lovely shops, we phoned and arranged for a lift back to the hotel using the courtesy bus and then spotted a postal service so stopped to get things posted back to the grandchildren and the helpful lady ripped me off good and proper paying a mere $46 dollars postage for two small items (still, it is a long way I suppose - I just hope they arrive)! We got back to the hotel feeling full still from lunch. New people in the room next door very noisily let us know about their "pro-cee-durre" (using a Texan type American drawl), their dogs, their family and their tattoo on their butt which was twice the size it used to be - too much information. There were three in the room but there was one woman who was particularly vocal. Fortunately they finally shut up about 11p.m., maybe one of the other two had killed her, or they might all have been asleep!
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