Pier to Pier

Hi Blogi! Long time no speak. Guess where I am now?

We arrived in LA yesterday afternoon after an alright Air NZ flight (watched some reasonable movies, slept hardly at all). Jon's cousin Hea Sun picked us up and took us to her place in Santa Monica where we're staying. Rested a bit then in the evening Hea Sun took us for dinner at a "new american" place called Houston for tasty burgers. The vegie pattie was really delicious and beany, though not much of it stayed in the burger.

Today we took the bus to Venice Beach (after a few attempts at leaving the house, kept coming back to change as we weren't prepared for the warmth) and strolled around. Was actually a bit too cool and breezy by the coast to go for a dip. Got something to eat at a Mexican place off the beach (with 2 for 1 happy hour margaritas :p) then walked out along the pier before heading back along by all the venice beach shops/stalls towards the Santa Monica pier.

The pier has a small amusement park on it (very iconic ferris wheel, all lit up) which we wandered around. There was an arcade with lots of cool old school games. The rollercoaster didn't look overly exhilarating.

Around dusk we got to the Santa Monica 3rd St promenade which was very appealing with all the trees lit up with fairy lights and buskers and dinosaur shaped tree-fountains. There were lots of familiar shop names - GAP, urban outfitters, american apparel, armani exchange, old navy... Went into Victoria's Secret :p Victoria doesn't have anything on Elle. Although she does have some ridiculously padded push-up bras (which i may have tried on - added like 2 or 3 cup sizes. Really quite weird)

Came home for tasty grilled cheese sandwiches. And that was day one!