Spending the day at the beach in Santa Barbara was perfect. The California beaches are something special and I hadn’t been to one since I lived in Orange County 17 years ago! In the afternoon, we drove the last stretch of our planned trip and spent our last day in Los Angeles. Since Jonas had not been to LA before, we did the usual touristy stuff and drove around Hollywood, Beverly Hills and Bel Air (I didn’t see any famous people), before we went to visit my friend Anthony in Venice Beach. Venice Beach was of course cool already when I was there in the 1990s, but had now developed into some kind of West Coast version of Williamsburg (NY) and was definitely my favorite area along the California coast this time. I have to admit that I could have stayed another week in Southern CA…

Santa Barbara

Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills 

Hollywood Blvd.

The canals behind Venice Beach and Anthony with his beautiful dog Piglet