I was hoping to do the posts from LA on a day by day basis. It hasn't quite worked out; anyway, I'll update in chapters.
After I left LAX I cabbed to the Ocean Park Hotel in Santa Monica.
The hotel is one I can recommend. It's pretty much ideal for visitors to Los Angeles, inasmuch as you're unlikely to spend slabs of time at your hotel anyway, and want little more than a clean, basic room with a comfortable bed. The only drawback is that you share the bathroom and shower facilities with the 15 or so other people on your floor, which means it's really not suitable if you're traveling with young children.
After I'd checked in I went off exploring to find a grocery store. I'm a fairly simple man (despite having a rather complicated life). I enjoy eating out as much as anyone, but doing it for every meal tends to be hard on both wallet and waistline. Fortunately, I can pretty well eat sandwiches and fruit for every meal without getting bored, so I went out and bought a loaf of bread, a half pound of chicken meat and some peaches and tomatoes, as well as a bottle of the local plonk.
Groceries procured, the first thing I wanted to do in L.A. was run. It's such an iconic thing, sun, sand, surf and California. I've logged the run here. I went south to Venice. It's good terrain for speed - flat and with a paved surface where you can run as hard as you like. I had a look around Palisades Park while I was there. What struck me most was the very large number of men sleeping rough, entirely covered by sleeping bags or blankets in the afternoon sun. I'm not sure what to make of that, whether it had some insulating effect or something. There seemed, strangely, a greater air of hopelessness about them, far more than the homeless in Melbourne. I can't put my finger on it, but they just seemed more 'lost', for want of a better word.
After the run, the next item was exploring Santa Monica Pier. This is surely an LA must see. Think of it, essentially, as a highly selective fun park on a wide pier. The rides, stalls and restaurants are all ones which would be likely to turn a profit and generate good memories for visitors.
I was craving fresh fruit by this point, and happily found a stall which made fruit salads while you wait. The gentleman running it asked if I wanted to add cayenne pepper and lime juice. I was a little surprised, and my first thought was "that would taste awful!". Then, reason kicked in and I thought, if this is a southwestern thing, it's presumably not something they do just to spoil food; try it". Oh Lord, it adds something entirely new to fruit, cutting the sweetness and drawing out it's more earthy flavours. Definitely taking that with me. It's gonna be a thing!
Back at the hotel I had dinner and google chatted with Oldest Sister Economist in the Solomon Islands while keeping half an eye on a replay of the Angels-Orioles game.
Jet lag had kicked in by about 10:00 and I was fearfully glad to sleep.
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