luckykaa

flickums

Observatory had a small visitor centre, mostly aimed at kids. There's the usual selection of exhibits - some models of planets and stars,  Faucault's pendulum, brass markings indicating scale distances of planetary orbits, but they also had a Tesla Coil and they demonstrate it at the weekends! It was the weekend!!

So having seen that, I wanted to go to Santa Monica Pier. Flickums persuaded me that we should take a short detour to Union Station which doubled as the police station in Blade Runner.

So after that brief detour, we got on the train to Santa Monica. It was more of a train than a tram, but the lack of street running means it's probably best classified as light rail. Anyway, it was a long journey, but there was a very talkative conspiracy theorist telling us all about everything from his Portuguese ex-wife to how we all have a chromosome 2 and how he's a private investigator. Given some of the crazies we encountered, this was one of the more pleasant ones.

So, we arrived. Santa Monica is a seaside resort and as a seaside cat, I find all seaside resorts comfortingly similar. There are shops selling beach stuff, and a pier. Santa Monica has a sandy beach and it's actually pleasantly warm and busy even in February, so definitely a nice place to visit.

I was hoping it would be more stereotypically Californian, with people playing frisbee, driving dune bugs around and roller-blading along the promenade but that was not to be. There were buskers on the pier, including some Stormtroopers who let people take photos with them for a substantial tip, and a chap playing a "Tale As Old As Time" from Beauty And The Beast on violin. Rides were extortionately expensive so gave them a miss.

A lady came up and started chatting to us, complimenting flickums a lot, before asking for money. She was very nice though, and this was the politest beggar I'd ever encountered so I figure she earned $10.

We got the the end of the pier, and looked out over the ocean. That was really all I wanted to do there. Soak up the seaside ambiance. There was a small display showing the history of the pier. Apparently the inspiration for Popeye - Olaf Olsen - was one of the people who spent a lot of time on the pier. At one point there was a proposal to replace the pier with a bridge to an artificial island, showing that politicians sometimes just don't get it.

flickums bought me dinner.  Cake didn't have a candle in it though.

Wandered through the party district, and Flickums coerced me into trying a hookah. Something I've never tried before. We went for vanilla flavour, and had a Tequila Sunrise to go with it. Thus making that song stick in my head.

Flickums was wearing her long skirt, bodice and shawl, and looked every bit the madame of an opium den. The sort of high class establishment our adventurers go to for their leads.

The party district is not really my sort of area but a great place for people watching. Quite a few Scottish people. Not sure why.

Finished the evening drinking Pina Coladas, but it wasn't raining so that song doesn't really fit here. So Eagles still stuck in my head.

Finished the day going to the Augustiner braüstübl. A brewery and collection of beer halls.

Was a little bemused at first because the entrance looked like the entrance to an apartment building, but heading down the stairs we heard the bustle of people.

We found a tale and I tried to figure out how to buy beer. It's a bit of an odd setup. Collect mug. Pay for beer. Acquire receipt. Exchange receipts for beer. There were two beers listed but I only worked out how to buy one of them.

Food was a little simpler. A series of stalls in one of the rooms. There didn't seem to be a lot of option for a complete meal though.

Decided to buy some souvenir mugs. And some souvenir beer. The mug purchasing system was similar to the beer purchasing system, but the bottled beer purchasing system was the simple prices of exchange money for crate of 6 beers.

Happy with my purchase, we returned home.

So, after angsting considerably abut whether to accept 3 month extension it's offered, I get offered a 2 month extension. I also have the option to extend this sublet by the same amount. Serendipity is a marvellous thing, so I figured I'll accept.

Have decided I need a new passport. Current one expires in less than 2 years, and while my appearance hasn't changed much since 2005, last time I went through passport control, the border person did need to check quite thoroughly. Problem with this is that I sort of need my passport. I've been using it quite a lot over the past year and a half, and rarely been a month without crossing a border. They sure have become expensive! £72.50 plus a premium if applying from abroad! Plus a courier fee! Might leave it until I'm back in the UK for a month.

Went to beerup (Beer meetup). Had some nice beers. Met some fun people including a Serb and a Dane, both of which had impressive beards. always get on well with beer fans. Lovely bar. Many Belgian and a few Dutch beers

I want to go to a convention at some point. Irish Discworld Con looks like fun, but is in Limerick. N flights from Amsterdam to Shannon. Can fly to Cork (or possibly Dublin) and then get a bus to the station and a train to Limerick and a bus or taxi to the hotel. Could always rent a car, I guess.