Thursday April 16: Beverly Hills and Santa Monica

Today was a leisurely day. We started off with breakfast followed by some lounging by the pool trying to decide what to do with ourselves now that we've done everything we'd planned. Eventually, we settled on checking out the Farmer's Market that we'd spotted in a brochure. It was an uneventful drive up to West Hollywood where the market is located, mostly due to some ace navigating by yours truly.

At first I was very disappointed in the Market. Not a fruit or vegetable to be seen, just a walking boulevard lined by designer shops. It seems, however, that we'd accidental wandered into The Grove, and after some mindless wandering we found what we had come looking for. Chris laughs at me often about my preconceptions which inevitably result in disappointment. I had pictured in my mind something akin to the St. Jacobs farmers market, or the market in Stitsville (Ottawa). And though there was a grocery store, and many, many restaurants, there were no individual vendors plying their hand crafted goods. Still, it was a good time, with lots to take in, culminating in a delicious lunch purchased from a Korean BBQ. The highlight of it all was dessert--a chocolate dipped frozen banana with nuts. (I was tempted to ask for a double dipped, double stick, but I wasn't sure if the old guy behind the counter watches Arrested Development).

Next, we decided to go check out the famous Santa Monica beach. We hopped onto Wilshire Bvd and took a scenic drive through downtown Beverly Hills on the way. It was interesting to pass through all of these famous areas that we hear about all the time. Once again, we were struck at how out of place our little Civic looked. Lexus, Range Rover, Mercedes, BMW, Infinity, they all seem to be par for course in LA. We even passed a Maserati dealership! Until this trip, I'd never even seen a Maserati, and now I've seen a whole parking lot full.

After some time, and many traffic lights, we arrived in Santa Monica. I motioned to Chris to park along the side of the street, and as we got out a kindly Police officer (POPO, Adam?) advised us we only had to put enough quarters into the meter for two hours (after six it's free). The beach was deceptively far away from our car, however. To get to it, we had to climb down a bluff that we hadn't seen from the road, cross a freeway that had been equally hidden from our view, before arriving at the vast stretch of sand and surf we'd been aiming for. I'm absolutely in love with the infinate variations in beach house archetecture. Each one, is unique in this world. As well, we discovered a lot of activity on the pier. It seems the Santa Monicans have erected an entire mini amusement park on their pier, and it was fun to just walk around, enjoying the buskers and watching people ride the attractions.

Unfortunately, it was a chilly day, made more so by a gusting wind from the ocean. Didn't make for good beach laying, sun soaking adventures, which we had planned for. So, after sitting for a spell on a park bench, watching the waves roll in, we headed back to the car and made for the freeway. Then, we discovered Traffic for the first time since entering America. We've been incredibly lucky, so far, but that luck ran out with a bang as we inched along for almost two hours back to the hotel. Not to worry, though, Chris and I are troopers. Our little radio adaptor for the Ipod doesn't work in LA (because pretty much every radio frequency has something already on it) but we discovered a station we both quite like and so, passed a merry time through rush hour. At least, I hope that was rush hour.

Before returning to the hotel, we stopped back in at Great Steak to enjoy another Philly Cheesesteak sandwich. Honestly, it's the best sub I've ever had. They told us that it's a chain with locations outside of California, so you can be certain we'll both be keeping our eyes open when we travel home again.

Now, we're turning in early. I think we're finally succumbing to exhaustion after our crazy running from state to state. Meeting some of our good friends from ShinSenGumi (our guild) was the best experience of my life, but I'm pretty sure that both Chris and I are ready for a few days of doing a whole lot of nothing. Some time to rest up before Vegas and the return trip.

We hope the weather warms up a bit, so we can really get to work on our tans. Besides that, my only plan is to stop in at a Trader Joe's, as I'm sure they've got one around here. Where will we be tomorrow? We'll see where fancy takes us. Malibu? Venice? Manhattan? Can't wait to find out.