Old Timer Garage

---

Second day in Los Angeles and I realize that during the whole time of this trip, we have slept in the same bed twice in a room only three times.

But this time, the trip is really getting to an end. Tomorrow we are flying back to the UK and the holidays will be over. There are still so many things I would like to see from this country before I go… I will have to come back.

For today, the plan is to visit downtown LA before driving up the Pacific highway to Santa Barbara. But before that, we have our ritual Starbucks breakfast to attend to. We find a car space right in the centre of LA (paying car park of course) and we start walking among the high rises of downtown.
In downtown, LA has absolutely nothing to do with what we can see in the movies. It is dirty, noisy and smells bad. We find a Starbucks for our morning fix and once this done, we keep walking. There are a lot of people for an event which purpose I have now forgotten and cut through it to get to a small square on the other side pretty much in front of the city hall.

 

After a few pictures, we go and visit LA cathedral next to there and once this done, we all agree that we have seen enough and can now get back to the car so that we can drive through more areas and get a better idea of downtown LA.

What surprised me the most is what locals call “tent village”. Many people can no longer afford their rent and since the weather is pretty much always nice in LA, they just buy a tent and go live on the sidewalks right in the centre of the city.
We drive through this area without stopping, we have been advised to avoid the eastern part of the city that can be unsafe and decide it is time to head towards Santa Barbara.

The Pacific Highway is gorgeous. The view is splendid on the Ocean and the further away from the city you get the more you find the scenery you are used to see in the movies about LA. Houses have some room around them, are spread over the hills. The ground is dry but there is some vegetation and we imagine easily why there are so many problems about wildfires in this area. Everything is so dry that the minor spark could set it all alight. And actually just a few weeks after we had gotten back in the UK, Santa Barbara got hit by very serious flooding and then a huge wildfire that will destroy a big part of its houses.

{googleads}

After abour an hour and a half of driving, we get to Santa Barbara and it is on a quiet avenue that we park the car. We are right next to the beach and start to walk along the shore. It is time for lunch and we find a fish restaurant right in front of the beach that will be perfect for us.

 

We enjoy our meal and then go for another digestive walk on the beach before getting back in the car a few hours later to drive back south.

I would like to see Venice beach to get an idea of the difference between reality and what we see in the movies so the idea is to stop at Venice beach on the way to San Diego where we have booked our hotel for the night.
We drive the Pacific highway in the opposite direction and leave Santa Monica on our right to finally arrive on Venice beach car park.
It is already pitch black and I was far from imagining what we were going to find there. People look at us in a weird way, Marijuana smells come from everywhere and the places that are open next to the beach look weird. In the end, we will only stay about 10 minutes there before getting back in the car and driving away. I will have to come back by day another time (and I will 6 months later but I didn’t know that at the time).

We drive off Venice beach and end up in another Mc Donald’s to eat something before carrying on driving towards San Diego.
I think it can be felt in what I am writing here but I was a little disappointed by Los Angeles. I was probably having a wrong idea about this city from all the movies we can see in Europe but it is not a city I particularly want to come back to (at least not what I saw of it). Maybe I should come back with someone who already know the place…

{googleads}

After having dealt with our burgers and drinks, we are back in the car for this last drive of the day. There are about two hours of driving to get to San Diego and since it is already night, we won’t see much of the landscape. It is a very straight motorway the whole way so pretty easy to drive once we get out of LA and the traffic lightens up a little.

Our hotel is right at the entrance of San Diego and pretty much right on the motorway so it is a quick drive and easy to find and after checking in, we are all in our beds.

Tomorrow is going to be pretty loaded if we want to get a good idea of San Diego before having to drive back north to catch our flight in Los Angeles airport.

To be continued… here: 17- San Diego and back to LAX

 

 

 

{googleads}