Looking south west from Santa Monica

WEDNESDAY
I decided to catch a bus to Santa Monica today, as I thought it would involve less walking and give my aching feet a rest. The Visitor Centre instructions worked again for which bus to catch - all the way down Wiltshire Boulevarde, for an hour and a quarter. The smog here is really bad, even the surrounding hills are obscured.

On my to do list for Santa Monica was doing a tour on a Segway. The shop wasn't open when I arrived so I walked out along Santa Monica pier (complete with amusement park). There were a mob of photographers and a very small crowd surrounding someone making a speech about Santa Monica being the end of Route 66, and unveiling a plaque.

Continuing to the end of the pier, I looked vaguely in the direction of Australia and felt homesick. I fly home on Friday, and am looking forward to being back with Pete again. The pier had its 100th birthday this year and there was an interesting display about the history.

Back to the Segway shop. In case you don't know, Segways are a two-wheeled platform that's battery driven and steered by shifting your weight. I've always wanted to try one, but in Sydney apparently they're illegal to be used on the footpath (motorised vehicle) or the road (not registered). They have a maximum speed of about 12 miles an hour.

In Santa Monica you can ride them on the bike paths and the beach and the footpath (but in Venice, next door, not on the footpath). The shop wasn't running guided tours today but I was able to rent one for two hours ($75). A couple of German guys who are in the television industry and over here for the WMA (whatever that is) turned up so we all got our training together. The Segway is amazingly easy to learn to use, I love it.

After a few turns around the shop floor we were out on the footpath, down a steep roadway to the beach, and then off on our own. I wasn't game to go on the sand so just cruised the bike path all the way up Santa Monica Beach and down past Muscle Beach to Little Venice. It's a great way to sight see, and after a while I could relax and admire all the beach houses without thinking too hard about steering. There were lots and lots of people out exercising: walking, biking, roller-blading, skate boarding, walking the dogs, playing beach volley-ball. A bit too cold for swimming or surfing though, and after 2 hours I was cold too and ready to take it back to the shop. Pete, they're only $5,000 US, can I have one for Christmas?

I walked up to Third Avenue Promenade - four blocks of shopping with the street closed off - and found I'd missed the farmers market that's there on Wednesday and Saturday, they were just packing up. There were some gorgeous dinosaur sculptures in the promenade, with the bodies created by growing ivy over a wire frame. The shops were interesting, and I dropped into Old Navy to buy a $10 shirt as I was still cold. And I think I got chatted up by a Mexican cowboy, but it was hard to tell as he didn't speak English.

The Cirque du Soleil was performing at 8 pm on the beach near the pier, and I thought about sticking around but decided to catch a bus along Santa Monica Boulevarde and look for shoes for Pete. (He's given me the addresses of five shoe stores in LA that sell MBTs, hoping I could buy them for him at a cheaper price.)

Well, Santa Monica Boulevarde is a very very long street. I was looking for 12,050 Santa Monica Bouldevarde and couldn't find it, despite getting off the bus twice and walking for what seemed liked miles, so I eventually gave up and caught the bus again back to downtown LA via Sunset Boulevarde. Poor feet! Riding the bus is interesting, we went through some very rich looking areas (Beverley Hills, Los Angeles Country Club) and some very poor looking areas. Most of the people who catch the bus look like workers, and most announcements and notices in LA are bilingual. I hadn't realised what a strong Mexican influence there was in LA. Nearly all the Americans I've met have been friendly and helpful, but in LA I've noticed this even more. A young guy with a small daughter got on the bus and he looked like he was stoned; two elderly Mexican ladies noticed and were so concerned they mentioned it to the bus driver; and the driver asked the guy very nicely as he was getting off the bus whether he was okay, and to take care.

I thought I'd like to go to a show last night, and there were tourist signs in the street saying "theatre district this way", so I wandered around for a while looking, but concluded that the theatres were there historically but are now shops and bars. I stopped by a Thai restaurant that had only just opened (three days ago) and had a very nice vegetable curry and two beers (lovely to have vegetables again!). And was so buggered by the time I got back to the hotel that I went to bed, channel surfed unsuccessfully, and was asleep by 8 pm!

Tomorrow: shopping for Pete's shoes, and museums and art galleries.