Santa Monica Beach
Ross and Ben went for a run early this morning, followed by a quick workout at the Hotel Gym, while the girls had a bit of a sleep in. We decided to spend the day checking out Santa Monica so we had a beautiful walk down to the beach and along the Pier. We are amazed at how big everything is here! I know they say everything’s bigger in Texas but everything in Santa Monica is so big!! We had some breakfast down at the beach at a little cafe and the “small” coffee must have been at least a litre! Toby had some weird egg white scrambled eggs too, but that’s another story! The beach itself is also incredibly wide. The lifeguards have to jump in their cars to drive down to the water’s edge to rescue someone, it’s about 2 kms away! If you have a swim to cool off, you’ll need another one by the time you trek all the way across the beach! We then spotted some seagulls and they were massive! They were about twice the size of our regular Sydney ones! (Glad we didn’t see any pelicans!)
We walked down to 3rd Street Promenade where there are some really cool shops and restaurants. It was a really great atmosphere, with buskers and music playing all day. We made a few purchases (everything here is so cheap compared to home!) and then it was back to the hotel for a swim in the pool.
Tonight we decided to hit the town, most of us sporting our brand new threads from today’s shopping haul, (including Maisy’s new sunnies which she describes as “magical”) and we had a fantastic time down at the Pier. They are having the GLOW event, which apparently only happens every two years. The whole area is blocked off from traffic and they have street performers, parades, light shows, clowns, dancing and music…It’s ALL happening! Just like a scene from Police Academy, there was a policeman on duty at the intersection, complete with gloves and whistle, directing all the pedestrian traffic! We had dinner at Bubba Gump’s Shrimp Co. which was fantastic! The food was delicious and our waitress, Stephanie was so much fun! They have light projections all over the side of our hotel so we’re right in the thick of it! Will got his photo taken with Mr Incredible, which made his night and everyone came home with a flashing, light up cup! Got to be happy with that.
