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3 days earlier we had spent the afternoon in Santa Monica but due to the weekend crowds we opted against making the trip down to nearby Venice Beach.
As we were leaving Los Angeles today, we thought we would take the opportunity to go and take a look around Venice Beach. After checking out of our apartment, we drove down to the coast and parked our Chevy Cruze at Santa Monica (which was deserted on a weekday morning!). The two of us then headed to the promenade, which would take us from Santa Monica Pier to Venice Beach.
We chose to walk the couple of miles south to Venice Beach, but there are many other ways to get between the two destinations including bicycles, skateboards, rollerblades and “streetsiders” which are like elliptical machines on wheels! Very cool.
Streetsiders - Elliptical Cross Trainers on Wheels.
After around thirty minutes of walking, we arrived at the eclectic Venice Beach.
How would we describe Venice Beach in one word? Interesting. Very, very interesting.
But that doesn’t even begin to explain what it was like down at Venice Beach so we’ll show you what Venice was like through our photos.
The sign at Muscle Beach.
Amy met two adorable kids raising money for their baseball team.
Two interesting stores - Medical Marijuana and Botox on the Beach.
Medical Marijuana Doctor - although the man out the front in the white coat certainly did not look like a doctor!
Street Art on the side of a building in Venice. It looks real!
We can only imagine what Venice Beach would have been like on a weekend or busier time! If you visit Los Angeles, Venice Beach is an experience that you must have.
After completing the walk back to the car at Santa Monica and enjoying a lunch at Santa Monica Place, all that was left for us to do was to drive to our next stop on the road trip – Newport Beach. Think that the bad traffic is isolated to the Los Angeles area?
Traffic on the I-405.
Think again! The traffic on the I-405 South was probably the worst we experienced on the entire road trip. We made it to Newport Beach just before dusk and headed straight for Fashion Island – an upscale outdoor mall that reaffirmed what television portrayed Newport Beach to be.
Rather than mingle with the well-dressed or crash the VIP event at Athleta, we went directly to the lower food court to enjoy our first taste of Five Guys Burgers and Fries. We then wondered to ourselves – what the hell are we going to do tomorrow?!
We’re currently road tripping through California thanks to the generous help of Fox Rent A Car.
Amy & Kieron are an Australian couple sharing their travel adventures from around the world.
8 Comments
No trip to LA is complete without sitting in at least an hour worth of traffic! Check that off the bucket list! Go you for surviving okay!
(Now you know why I NEVER go to The OC:-))
It was quite the ordeal! I think being able to use the carpool lane saved me from a major fit of road rage haha.
I took a Chilean friend to Venice, and his immediate reaction was that it was amazing, he didn’t understand why everyone didn’t go there all the time, he wanted to live there, etc. After half an hour, he kind of went “oh, I get it now” – it’s a little overwhelming. Fun place to spend an afternoon, but not somewhere I hung out every day when I lived in LA.
It definitely is overwhelming! Couldn’t imagine spending any more than a few hours there at a time.
“Interesting” is precisely the world to describe Venice Beach. Haha. The afternoon I was there, there were a fair number of people milling about – including a man wearing nothing but boxers, and a towel tied around his neck like a cape. Very interesting.
And have you heard about the Tree Man that sometimes hangs around down there?
Haha wow, we didn’t see anything that interesting! Did you get any photos of that?!
Nope, haven’t heard about the Tree Man but just looked him up online. Would’ve loved to have seen him.
I’ve always wanted to explore Santa Monica and Venice Beach. Such interesting places!
Definitely worth the visit if you make it to LA!