Wednesday, July 27, 2005

LA....Venice beach, Santa Monica & Malibu

Hi everyone! Today my grandparents and I drove to LAX to pick up my friend Dave. The airport was insanely busy! People everywhere, spilling out of the airport! After lots of hugs and hellos we drove to see Venice beach, Santa Monica and Malibu. These were a nice intro for Dave. Not too hot as they are by the ocean, sunny and full of life! Venice beach reminded me of St.Kilda a bit but the beach is very wide- you have to walk a fair bit to get to the ocean. There were lots of people playing tennis and basketball on the (free?) courts. I saw the famous gym on the beach. We saw a guy rollerblading while playing his electric guitar with speakers strapped to his body and singing/humming! My trip to LA wouldn't be complete without seeing an area roped off and a movie being shot! We saw actors and camera crews filming on the beach....the acting was a bit cheesy though (once music and sound effects are added I'm sure it will be a blockbuster! lol)!Santa Monica was very pretty... a bit smoggy though! You couldn't see very far! The pier was lined with stalls and shops. We put 51c into a machine which smushed 'Santa Monica' a a picture onto the penny flattening it and turning it into a souvenier (these machines are all over the USA). Malibu you can't really see much of because it runs below the highway and is lined with exclusive small beach houses starting at $3millUS. This is where all the stars have their holiday homes. Chuck (my grandpa) says that this is where you see stars down at the local shops and where annoying magazines get shots of unhappy celebrities hiding underneath their hats and sunnies!

I forget how diffrent things are here! Since II have been back here a couple of times now I have gotten over most of the shcoks! Having Dave here reminded me that:

1-America's obcession with the SUV (sports utility vechicle) is awful! I hope we never end up that way in Oz! Everyone here has trucks that you would need a heavy-vehicles license to drive back home! Some of these cars are so big that they have double rear tyres and my Uncle Danny says they are designed for towing up to 2tonnes! What could the average American need to move that was that big! Haven't seen a hummer limo this trip but I guess I will soon!
2-There are american flags everywhere!! On houses, stickers on cars and shops fly them out the front. Dave and I coutned 10 from one spot on Venice beach!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I am sorry to tell you that I have a very small, economy SUV. It only has a 4 cyclinder engine and a 5sp stick shift so it gets really good millage. I really do not like the very large ones that are so popular. More often than not, large gas using trucks have American flags on them. I think that they have to support this country's overseas policies. We have to go into the middle east! we need more oil, I do not believe that we are there for human rights...bullshit. I think that it is the same old story of resource control. I think that Exon came out with earnings, they made 90 billion dollars, but do not worry they are getting a tax break in the new energy bill.