mybigadventures.com

Dani set her alarm last night in an effort to get us moving a little earlier. We snoozed in for quite a while before eventually getting up at about 9 AM. We put some clothes on and headed down to Starbucks with the journal and some postcards to write, whilst we had breakfast. I had an orange juice and a chocolatine, whilst Dani had a blueberry scone and vanilla latte. After breakfast, we headed up to get dressed and showered, ready for a day out. I spoke to Mum for a bit on Skype whilst we were getting ready; she was just having tea. We picked up the car from the car park and headed out towards Beverly Hills.

The plan was to drive up Rodeo Drive, home to all the expensive shops. Once there, we decided we would park up and have a walk around for a bit. We tried an underground car park; there were no spaces, but then we happened upon a multi-storey car park that was free for the first two hours - bonus! It was opposite the Warner Brothers media gallery. It was on the road running parallel to Rodeo Drive. We spent about an hour and a half wandering up and down. The weather was lovely and warm and there were lots of expensive looking cars buzzing around with open tops, blacked out windows, etc. We saw a Bugatti Veyron (a very expensive car) parked outside a shop on Rodeo Drive. It was getting a lot of attention and lots of people were taking photos, including me. On the way back to the car, we stopped at ‘The Ice Cream Lab’. The ice creams were five dollars for small tubs, but they made the ice cream fresh, on the spot, using dry ice, I think, to freeze it. I had Mulholland Mint, with chocolate chips, and Dani had Blue Velvet,  which had little tiny cupcakes with cream frosting mushed into it. We sat outside to eat and watched the world go by. After, we headed back to the car to drive to our final destination for the day - Santa Monica.

We joined the Santa Monica Boulevard almost immediately, as it was just around the corner and then ignored the SatNav, as it kept trying to get to turn us around, despite Santa Monica Boulevard being a straight road into Santa Monica - funnily enough. Tried a car park that turned out to be full, so parked in a space on the road, before realising that said car park suddenly had spaces again. We managed to get a space right near the entrance as someone was just leaving. It was three hours maximum parking, but the first 90 minutes were free! Amazing!

We wandered down towards the beach, which wasn’t far, as the car park was only on 4th Street. We found a spot near the lifeguard station and ate leftover pizza from yesterday, by way of lunch. We spent a while looking out to sea at the yachts and swimmers. There were also a couple of planes that kept looping around, advertising Bud Light. Dani went for a paddle and some pelicans flew over head in a flying V. We then started walking along the front, to the pier, which turned out to be a little disappointing, with lots of tacky theme-park-type attractions. We followed the pier back into town, looking for postcards, but in the end didn’t bother.

There were a number of street performers along the front, including a guy with lots of parrots who was giving them to people to hold; one girl was cradling a parrot like a baby! We walked back along 3rd Street Promenade - the pedestrianised shopping area. There were a number of street performers and also a number of monuments to recognise contributors to the Santa Monica Education Program (they were cast in bronze; one was a pile of books, another was a desk - they looked very good). We had a quick look in a gadget shop before heading back to the car. The parking cost $1 as we had only been 2 1/2 hours. Bargain!

The drive back was pretty straightforward and we were back in the hotel by 7 PM. The car park was very full as there was a wedding in the hotel and a concert nearby. We parked at the back of a double space where we would be blocked in. The valet attendant said there would be someone to help us in the morning.

We dropped our stuff and went to Little Tokyo for tea. There was karaoke in the main square which was quite funny, and some popular songs were getting murdered by a range of keen amateurs. A lot of the restaurants were quite busy, and we eventually settled for one in the back corner, where we took a number (32) and waited to be seated. I was a little anxious, so Dani did the ordering. I had chicken teriyaki with vegetable tempura and Dani had the beef version, but with a mix of vegetable and shrimp tempura. We had soup to start and green tea ice-cream to finish. We did a grand job using chopsticks and I only dropped the tempura into the dipping sauce by accident a couple of times. It cost about $37 and was very nice, apart from the ice-cream, which we both left the majority of.

We headed back to the room and Dani did some packing, whilst I watched TV. A little later we tried to visit the Japanese roof garden again, but it was closed due to the wedding. Instead, we went to the little minimart around the corner again, where I got an ice-cream and Dani had an almond Snickers bar. We had a beer, watched telly and went to bed.

Woke up just before we were due to land. It was getting lighter and, for us, it was still about 3:50 AM, although in local time, it was getting on for 6:30 AM. We had been woken up at a couple of points to get a drink, but we haven’t had anything else to eat, so it was a good job we had eaten beforehand. Ben watched a bit of TV and I half-watched and half-dozed. I woke up properly as we started to land. We bombed off the plane at superspeed as we haven’t put anything into the overhead locker; a few people tried to get in front of us, but we weren’t having any of it! We got off the plane, walked down the corridor and walked through a door - which turned out to be a door onto a bus! It was so weird! The door just shut and we drove away from the terminal, towards another terminal. It was like the Indiana Jones film, when they accidentally drive into a lorry which drives off! Wicked!

Made use of the facilities, as we went towards baggage reclaim, and then went to collect our stuff. We didn’t have to wait for long as our bags came off early. From there, came to a bit of a halt, as we weren’t really sure where to go. We hadn’t planned our route from the airport into DC. We had assumed that we could get a bus or something, so followed the signs for the flyer bus into DC. We went past the ticket office, which was empty - it was coming up to 7:30 AM, and the bus was due at about 7:32 AM. So we hovered outside, near other people who seemed to be waiting. A short while later, a coach turned up and the bus driver told us we had to buy tickets inside - apparently, someone should be there now -a bit irritating! So, I loaded our stuff into the coach luggage locker and Ben went into the office to buy tickets. It seemed a bit pricey at $10 each, but we didn’t have many options. After sitting stationary for a while, the woman from the ticket office came on board - to check the ticket we just bought - taking them off as again - how pointless!

Anyway, the coach got underway. It was a fair way, into the city, and we were glad we hadn’t gone for the taxi option, as it would have been expensive. We had expected to be going to one station - Rosalind, I think - but we didn’t get that far and the coach stopped instead at West Church Metro station. Possibly, this is the reduced Sunday service? Made our way into the Metro station and stood in front of the ticket machines. It was a bit like our experience in San Fran - you have to use the list to check the fare, according to your destination, and then reduce the default fee from $20 - a little bizarre! It took a couple of goes to work it out, but we got there. Made our way to the only platform and waited about for 5 minutes, then got onto a virtually empty train. I guess Sundays in DC start later!

An easy journey - only a few stops - and then we made our way out. Got stopped by the exit machines - apparently our fare was lacking! Went to the machine and we were one dollar down each. Apparently, you have to pay one dollar for each paper ticket (obligatory) and we should have added it manually - it doesn’t default. A tad ridiculous! Also, slightly awkward as we only had $20 bills and the machine only gave change up to 4 dollars. So we asked the man in the booth, who, generously, although very half-heartedly, just let us through.

We had used the free Internet at the airport to track our way to our hotel, but we had accidentally turned it off on the train, so we had to use a combination of memory and street maps to make our way to the hotel. Found it, with a bit of luck, and went to see if we could check in early. We couldn’t, unfortunately, so we left our luggage in their storage and got directions to somewhere to eat. Along ‘P’ Street (originally, the names were alphabetized), we found a Starbucks and went in, for a panini and orange juice each (about $20).

We had a few hours to kill before we could check in at about 2 PM-ish, so we thought we’d go for a wander. We went back to the hotel to get some stuff out of our bags, only to discover the shampoo had leaked in Ben’s bag. It hadn’t done too much damage, as it was outside the waterproof bag, but everything was a bit gunky in the toilet bag. Sorted ourselves out and then headed off. Walked down 14th Street towards the main sites, although we were feeling increasingly tired. It was incredibly humid, which didn’t help - hot, but damp and it just made us feel sweaty and tired. Passed in front of the White House, which looked suitably white and imposing and took some pictures, but were too tired to hang about. Decided to head to the National Aquarium, in search of air-conditioning. It cost us $10 each, which seemed a little steep. It turned out to be very steep, given the quantity of things to see. They had various tanks of fish, snakes, a couple of alligators and some turtles, but otherwise, nothing very exciting. We did take advantage of the sitting opportunities however, but, due to the low lighting and increasing levels of exhaustion, Ben nodded off on my shoulder for a few minutes. Although only about 1 PM, feeling absolutely shattered, we headed back to the hotel, squinting against the brightness of the sun, which essentially meant we were walking with our eyes closed. Not ideal. Stopped, for an air-conditioning break and a drink. We went into a CVS pharmacy and I got a gallon bottle of water and Ben got a 2L bottle of Sprite, in an effort to wake up. Sat on a bench for a few minutes and then went on.

Got to the hotel and, fortunately, they had a room available, on the 10th floor. It seemed quite a trendy-looking hotel and we went up, albeit in a slow and rather cranky lift to our room. It was very nice - bathroom to the left and the bedroom part was in an alcove, leaving the main part of the room to be a sort of sitting area. Very spacious and clean. Zonked out on the bed and slept until about 6:30 PM.

Dragged ourselves out of bed, showered and went in search of food. Ben had seen a recommendation for a place called ‘Matchbox’ down 14th Street, so we thought we’d try it. After walking fruitlessly for about 30 minutes, and having seen a few places to eat (only rather expensive hotel restaurants) we turned back.

We stopped at somewhere called Birch/Barley/Churchkey, which was still serving food upstairs in the bar. It turned out to be a place where they specialised in many different beers. Slightly baffled by the choice, we asked the barman to bring a selection of tasters to share, each containing about a third of a pint - some more like blondes, a couple of light lagers and a darker one. Some smelt lovely - like elderflower and ginger, and we both preferred different ones - which was quite handy. We had food too - Ben had a ‘brat’ burger with chips and I had chicken flatbread with fries. The fries were amazing! We were pretty pleased to have found somewhere and we went back to the hotel, still fairly shattered and turned in.

Wow, how time flies when you're having fun. We've officially been back a month although it seems pretty hard to believe. We've mostly been zipping between Coventry and Sheffield for the last month with a small camping stint in Swansea last week and a couple of weekends in Nottingham. I guess when put like that its easier to see where the time has gone, but it really has flown. We have to go flat/house/small cheap hole hunting in London next week to find something for mid September when my couse is due to start. I think its going to be pretty hard to get used to the prices!! Any recommendations of good areas to live?

In other Welsh news, I was pleased to see the roadworks are still going on, enroute to Swansea including the two cone-a-bouts (perfectly constructed roundabouts including slip lanes made entirely from cones - awesome!) I was however rather dismayed to find carparking in Cardif at 80p per 15 minutes!! Is that the most expensive parking in the UK - or does anyone else know worse? Finally, and probably most importantly, the uplands diner is still in business and serving the most awesome fry up ever!

I think that will have to do for today, there is much to be doing and what not, nobody told me the life of an unemployed layabout bum would be so busy! Cheerio ta ta, I really have no idea if anyone will read this, but here's hoping!