Day 363- Bohemian Rhapsody

Manhattan Beach- Venice Beach- Santa Monica Pier- Sunday, December 23

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We had varied amounts of sleep after our long flight to LAX yesterday but we all made it out of bed by noon, and headed for the bagel shop for cream cheese bagels. From near the hotel, an old railway right-of-way runs down to Manhattan Beach, so off we trotted on such a winter's day. We weren't California dreaming. This was real. It was sunny and +25 C.
There were walkers, skaters, cyclists galore. Matheson convinced us we had to visit the bohemian area of Venice Beach. So we inisted he haul out his US$ that he had saved from last Christmas and pay for the taxi. He did.

Venice Beach is well known for its bohemian atmosphere where almost anything goes. It's worth a look. More skaters, skateboarders, plus hundreds of street vendors selling everything from the sublime to the ridiculous. Some wore Christmas outfits. Some wore next to nothing at all. Colleen took pictures. The boys loved it, especially the rapper who thought I was skater type from the T dot, and the panhandler who needed me to help him because he was $2 short to buy his medicinal marijuana "cause you look like a stoner from way back." They were all harmless folks and we got great entertainment from them.

Onward we strolled towards sunset over the Pacific Ocean for our last time. We arrived at the Santa Monica Pier in time to catch dinner at Bubba Gump's famous seafood restaurant. Remember Forrest Gump when he arrived at the Santa Monica Pier? He stopped, turned around and ran back across America. We just ate the shrimp.

We took another taxi back to Manhattan Beach (we pooled our US$ for this one and had just enough). Matheson bought a Christmas Day shirt at Macy's, which was still open late Sunday. Then it was off to bed for the early flight home.