Los Angeles Day 6: Santa Monica and Beverly Hills
Today was our first "easy" day. Easy because we were not rushing around in an amusement park trying to maximize our hard earned dollars. That being said, we still wanted to maximize our use of the GO Los Angeles Card we had purchased earlier. To that end, we wanted to take advantage of any of the tickets that we could use while at Santa Monica. This included stuff like the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium or the Malibu Celebrity Homes Tour, but we figured that the ones that we could use were the Hop-On Hop-Off Los Angeles Bus Tour - Yellow Route and the Pacific Park on the Santa Monica Pier tickets.
It was recommended that we park at Santa Monica Place near the pier rather than at the pier as the lot would be very busy and expensive. This worked out well for us as the mall lot was pretty empty, covered, and had a really nice family restroom which we were able to take advantage of a couple of times to change Elsy. If we had to go to the restroom at the pier, we'd have to wait in line for fifteen minutes and even then, those rooms looked not really nice. We were also able to grab a bite to eat at True Food Kitchen, which was more comfortable than eating down at the pier.
Our first adventure was to take the bus tour. Getting the tickets was easy. There were signs pointing us where to go. Getting on the bus however, was a bit more difficult. The signs were a bit less obvious. Not obvious actually. Apparently there was an app that would help, but it actually pointed to an empty patch of the street. We called in for directions but they told us to wait in front of a hotel. After talking to a number of people around us, we figured that we were in the right general area and hung around until the bus arrived, and saw that it had actually gone to the regular bus stop.
We assumed that the bus tour would be a fairly relaxing tour, as we could ride it whenever we wanted, and if we timed it right, Elsy could take her nap on the bus while Maggie and I enjoyed a drive around Beverly Hills. To take advantage of the open top bus and the nice weather, we sat at the front of the roof so that Elsy could at least see something, and we could bask in the sun. That was a bit of a mistake. The sun was blazingly hot and although uncomfortable for us, also made Elsy's napping attempts that much more difficult. We spent a good chunk of time trying to set up a tent to keep her covered.
The tour itself was informative, but the TL;DR is this: Here, we have a very well to do neighborhood. Next, we have a fairly exclusive neighborhood. Finally, this is the most exclusive neighborhood. Please get off and board another bus and we will do this again in reverse.
It was already late by the time we got back to the pier but we had a bit of time to check out Pacific Park. I was impressed how they were able to fit a whole amusement park over the ocean. We were able to get on the Ferris Wheel and looked around the area. The roller coaster looked interesting enough to ride, but Elsy had no tickets and one of us had to watch her so I volunteered to carry her while Maggie went up on the ride. Apparently it was the best fifteen minutes of her trip.
We hopped over to The Albright for dinner. We actually timed it right, arriving just as people were leaving the restaurant. We were just able to find a seat, and the lineup for food was very short. By the time we were done, it was overcast and getting a lot cooler. We had not even gone down to the beach yet so I insisted that we at least head down to the water to step in the ocean if not to swim. I think swimming was not in the cards that day as my first thought when I hit the water was "this feels freezing cold!". I asked Elsy if she wanted to go down into the water. She did not.
We headed home after that. Tired, cold, and a little sunburned, but a fun day nonetheless.
It was recommended that we park at Santa Monica Place near the pier rather than at the pier as the lot would be very busy and expensive. This worked out well for us as the mall lot was pretty empty, covered, and had a really nice family restroom which we were able to take advantage of a couple of times to change Elsy. If we had to go to the restroom at the pier, we'd have to wait in line for fifteen minutes and even then, those rooms looked not really nice. We were also able to grab a bite to eat at True Food Kitchen, which was more comfortable than eating down at the pier.
Our first adventure was to take the bus tour. Getting the tickets was easy. There were signs pointing us where to go. Getting on the bus however, was a bit more difficult. The signs were a bit less obvious. Not obvious actually. Apparently there was an app that would help, but it actually pointed to an empty patch of the street. We called in for directions but they told us to wait in front of a hotel. After talking to a number of people around us, we figured that we were in the right general area and hung around until the bus arrived, and saw that it had actually gone to the regular bus stop.
We assumed that the bus tour would be a fairly relaxing tour, as we could ride it whenever we wanted, and if we timed it right, Elsy could take her nap on the bus while Maggie and I enjoyed a drive around Beverly Hills. To take advantage of the open top bus and the nice weather, we sat at the front of the roof so that Elsy could at least see something, and we could bask in the sun. That was a bit of a mistake. The sun was blazingly hot and although uncomfortable for us, also made Elsy's napping attempts that much more difficult. We spent a good chunk of time trying to set up a tent to keep her covered.
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| Palm Trees! |
It was already late by the time we got back to the pier but we had a bit of time to check out Pacific Park. I was impressed how they were able to fit a whole amusement park over the ocean. We were able to get on the Ferris Wheel and looked around the area. The roller coaster looked interesting enough to ride, but Elsy had no tickets and one of us had to watch her so I volunteered to carry her while Maggie went up on the ride. Apparently it was the best fifteen minutes of her trip.
We hopped over to The Albright for dinner. We actually timed it right, arriving just as people were leaving the restaurant. We were just able to find a seat, and the lineup for food was very short. By the time we were done, it was overcast and getting a lot cooler. We had not even gone down to the beach yet so I insisted that we at least head down to the water to step in the ocean if not to swim. I think swimming was not in the cards that day as my first thought when I hit the water was "this feels freezing cold!". I asked Elsy if she wanted to go down into the water. She did not.
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| Elsy and I on the Pacific Ocean. |
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