A little Sightseeing - finally!

Well people, its been a hectic week, but what a great end we made to it- with a trip to the beach! The beach that is near here - Venice Beach- it was actually built where there used to be marshes- much like the original Venice that it is named after- is an incredible palce.

There's a boardwalk all the way down that is crowded with shopkeepers, artists, singers, simply an icredible variety of people.

There are a huge number of costume jewllery shops there selling all kinds of funky jewellery, bead necklaces, crystals, earrings made of feathers, all brightly coloured, unlike the sophisticatd and rather drab stuff you find inside the city. Then there are clothes shops seeling stuff at throwaway rates, there are "Henna tatoo" places, and proper tatoo places and we actually saw a person with tatoos all over his arms and legs... which was seriously startling.

And there are artists all the way down, painting the sea, the people, portraits, abstract art, stuff sraight out of the imagination- like an artists view of another planet... whatever. And there are artistes of other kinds too- there was a huge group of people with percussion insruments of all kigs- drum and what not -all playing together, while an even huger crowd gathered around them, simply to enjoy the ambience of the place.

And there was an old guitarist sitting on the stairs to some building playing and singing to himself- and there were several DJ's there- all doing weird stuff with their music- there wore bikers and skaters and rollerbladers- it wa sa wonderful eclectic crowd- all bright and lively, there was a sense of enthusiasm, and spontaniety in the air- it was the perfect place to spend a Sunday evening after a long week's work.

And at the end of the day there was a glorious sunset as the cream on the cake, a golden sun setting in a crimson and purple sky over multi-hued sea. The tide rising, and waves galloping to the surface, a pleasantly chill breeze, and a splinter of the moon in the sky, stars just peeping out, and as the lights dimmed in the sky, the ones on earth lit up, in bright red, and blue and green, the sounds of laughter drifting in the air as we made our way home