Manhattan Beach

After Marlise and Jan visited my company,
we went to Manhattan Beach.

For a lunch and to relax on the beach.
But first, Jan had to figure out how the parking meters worked.

Quite a strugle, so after a few times trying, he gave up.

But after I gave it a try,
we noticed something was wrong with his credit card.

Figuring out how the parking meters work
Figuring out how the parking meters work

When we had some credit on our meter,
we searched for a restaurant with a terrace, for lunch.

Eventually we decided to try out the Kettle.

Eating at the Kettle
Eating at the Kettle

Jan liked it so much,
that he wanted his whole face to enjoy it.

Jan likes his lunch
Jan likes his lunch

After lunch it was time to chill at the beach.

We walked downwards on Manhattan Beach Bvld,
towards the beach.

Manhattan Beach Blvd
Manhattan Beach Blvd

Manhattan Beach is a really nice beach,
with a pier and a lot of surfers.

So you always have something to look at.

Enjoying the view
Enjoying the view
Surfers
Surfers
The beach
The beach
Mini surfboard
Mini surfboard
Surfers
Surfers
Surfing
Surfing
Surfers waiting for a good wave
Surfers waiting for a good wave
The beach
The beach
Under the pier
Under the pier
Chilling in the sun
Chilling in the sun

After we had some sun,
a swim and looked at the surfers for a while,
it was time to go.

But first we went on the pier,
to check out the view.

On the pier
On the pier
Manhattan Beach
Manhattan Beach
Walking on the pier
Walking on the pier

After that we went back to my place.

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Santa Monica

After we saw Venice Beach, it was time to go to Santa Monica.

Because every beach has his own typical feeling to it,
it’s worth to see them all.

The most famous part of Santa Monica is the Pier,
because it has an amusement park on it.

Amusement park on the pier
Amusement park on the pier
Amusement park on the pier
Amusement park on the pier
Theme Park
Theme Park

While we were walking on the pier I thought I saw Kelly Rowland,
but i’m still not sure about it.

Kelly Rowland ?
Kelly Rowland ?
Kelly Rowland ?
Kelly Rowland ?

The view from the pier of the beach is so beautiful!

Santa Monica Beach
Santa Monica Beach
Santa Monica Beach
Santa Monica Beach
Santa Monica Beach
Santa Monica Beach

And when i looked at Marlise,
I had the feeling she liked Santa Monica a lot.

Marlise happy to be at Santa Monica Beach
Marlise happy to be at Santa Monica Beach

So we sat down to see the sun set,
while listening to a crazy hippie sing.

Artist performing on the pier
Artist performing on the pier

After the sun had set,
we went to Tar and Roses for dinner.

It is a cool restaurant,
with an open kitchen and a small selection of food.

Marlise at Tar and Roses
Marlise at Tar and Roses
Me at Tar and Roses
Me at Tar and Roses

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Venice & Santa Monica With David

Last week, I went to Venice and Santa Monica, with David Decoster.

Because it was such a busy week, I wasn’t able to upload the pictures at that moment.

But here’s what we did.

First we went to Venice Beach to walk around and look at what was happening.

In Venice everybody thinks they’re an artist!
But believe me, they aren’t always good.
Its harsh to say but some of them are really without talent.
But they are having a good time.

Artist
Artist

Or this guy.
He’s just a drunk bum, who’s trowing all his bottles, from the night before, on the ground to jump into it.

Crazy artist
Crazy artist

But there are also people like these guys.
Giving a real show, doing crazy jumps, dancing, entertaining the audience en giving advice to kids.

Street artists
Street artists

Or the creator of this piece of art.
He recreated Bumblebee from the transformers out of trash.

Bumblebee
Bumblebee

Or the freak shows.
With the bearded lady (who’s just a man), the monkey man, the little man and so on.

Freakshow
Freakshow

But besides all the shows and craziness, Venice is also known for all the sport possibilities.
The Free outdoor gym, the basketball courts, the weird tennis, skate bowls, ….

So we walked towards all the sport possibilities, to check them out.

And with a views like this, the walk was more fun

The Beach
The Beach
On the Boardwalk
On the Boardwalk
The Beach
The Beach
Boardwalk
Boardwalk
Hippies
Hippies
Boardwalk
Boardwalk
The Beach
The Beach

 

Here we are at the skate bowl, where everyone is giving their best shot, because they know there’re always people watching.

There’s a really nice atmosphere.
Everybody is talking to each other without knowing another.
Clapping if somebody did something cool or asking, encase someone fell, if their okay or need some help.

Skate bowl
Skate bowl

Then there is the free outdoor gym with all kinds of attribute to workout.

Venice Muscle Beach is known is as a legend for working out.

So David couldn’t resist and had to 20 pull-ups.

MuscleBeach
MuscleBeach

There’s also an paid outdoor gym, so you have to be a member to use the machinery.
And the one’s working out in the outdoor gym, are really liking the attention of the crowd and constantly interacting with them.
Especially the guys, they think it’s the ideal place to pick up girls.
So there constantly showing off their muscles and what they can lift.

MuscleBeach
MuscleBeach

Afterwards we watched some random guys, playing basketball.

Playing b-ball
Playing b-ball

When we walked the whole Venice boardwalk, it was time for a cold beer.

Drinking some beers
Drinking some beers

After a couple of beers, we went to Santa Monica.

Santa Monica is completely different than Venice.
Not that many performers, no more hippies and crazy people, less activities and so on.

But it has other things to offer too.
The pier, a nice promenade, a lot of restaurants and shops, …

And in our case, we wanted to see the pier.

Santa Monica Pier
Santa Monica Pier

When we walked over the bridge, we saw the typical LA traffic.
There’re always traffic jams, no matter what our or where you go.
In this case it was a traffic jam towards Malibu.

Traffic
Traffic

But on that bridge you also had a nice view over the beach.

The Beach
The Beach

On the pier itself, you have a lot of possibilities what you want to do.
There are restaurants, tourist shops, an amusement park, fishing possibilities, …

Here’s a picture of one of the most known shrimp restaurants in America, Bubba Gump.
It’s that famous, that they even got a tourist shop.

Bubba Gump
Bubba Gump

Here’s the entry of the amusement park, but we didn’t went inside, because it looked like an amusement park for kids.
But still cool to see, because unbelievable that they build it on the pier.

Pacific Park
Pacific Park

While you walk around on the pier you hear different kinds of bands playing
or street artists trying to get the attention of the people.

Band playing on the pier
Band playing on the pier

But it’s really crowed during the weekend so the street performers get a lot of attention

Crowded
Crowded

Once your at the end of the pier, you get a really nice view over the beach.

The Beach
The Beach
The Beach
The Beach

 
After walking the whole day and looking around in the two cities, we had dinner and went back to my place.
David had to work early the next day and his hotel was located an hour from Los Angeles, so after one drink we called it a day.

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