So you can’t come to LA without seeing Venice beach now famous for the Muscle men and for the crazy people there. And it definitely is a crazy place! A really nice walk along the beach or you can go via main street, it is about 3-40 minute walk from Santa Monica. And actual Venice beach takes a good amount of time to walk along, as so many stalls and people along it. At the start there is a cute shopping center called Gingerbread Court that has good priced boutique clothes. Nearly about to buy a playsuit there but didn’t have my size.

As you start the stalls it is a mix of funky art, pictures, sculptures, Venice beach t-shirts, palm reading, smoke shops – you name it it’s here. There is a Freak show which is only $5 so if you are into that stuff then probably worth seeing and from the outside you get a glimpse of the sort of things might see like bearded lady, munchkins and promoting their two headed turtle.

Further along there are a couple of street performers doing big dance acts and a lot of skaters doing tricks in the skate park. It looks very edgy and urban, but cool with grafitti all along the trees and walls. There are plenty of weed smoke shops where you can see a doctor and get a medical card, since it is legal in california. How it works you pay $40 (27GBP) to see a doctor who convinces you have stress and anxiety, then I think you pay another $40-60 to get the card printed up so I feel it is a bit of a scam as sure the paper and card isn’t legal, but I guess enough people do it.

The sad thing about Venice beach though is the homeless as a lot of them here and most of them talk to themselves, which is always off putting. There is a crazy guy walking along witha  goat and another on roller blades playing an electric guitar trying to sell T-shirts of himself as a crazy person. All very amusing and several hours can be passed here people watching.

Walking along I also manage to bump into The couple from Fiji Hannah and Charlie which is very random considering how busy it is. Nice to see them briefly before they start their USA road trip as are hiring a car, which is the best way to do it really.

Walking back along the beach it takes much long on the sand, but is really nice to have the sand on the feet. There are a few surfers out and about, but the waves here don’t seem big enough really. Maybe they are bigger further along. The water here is also super cold, but refreshing when you are walking through it. There are also quite a few birds about flying in big V shape formations and also see a huge pelican fly over me, which is a bird I’ve not seen in the wild before so cool. By the time get back to Santa Monica pier on the first day I manage to catch the sunset ad it is looks so picturesque with the palm tress in the distance and the iconic pier and ferris wheel. Everyone seems to be having fun on the beach and even spot a couple on top of one of the big sandbanks used for some nearby construction work dancing away making cool silhouettes against the sunset. It does get cold though in the evening, so pleased I saved the hoody from New Zealand.

29th-30th May 2016