Los AngelesL.A.-City of Angels

Well, well … Who could have imagined that. Sinterklaas is coming to town. On the 5th of December here in Marina del Rey. No not Santa Claus, but good old Dutch Sinterklaas, complete with his bishops clothes and black Pete. Too bad we just missed his arrival though. The only thing that doesn’t quit fit is the nice weather (up in the twenty degrees Celsisus while it is supposed to be chilly, frosty and freezing where he comes from…). The BBQ we had in the Marina del Rey parks in the afternoon to celebrate his arrival here, was however familiarly filled with Dutch chit chat.

Marina del Rey, south of Venice, is one of the biggest boating harbors of the world with an enormous amount of pleasure boats and yachts. It is a great start for a sailing trip on the Pacific or you can take a day’s fishing tour as we did. The marina also has many shops and restaurants, so upon your return don’t worry: they have lot’s of good stuff here.

We took the San Vincente Blvd to Santa Monica. This actually was not the first time we enjoyed this very nice ride to the Pacific. At the end it bends and the Ocean Avenue takes you The Promenade on the palm fringed beach and the Santa Monica Pier. Lots of colourfull folks hanging out there, lots of people on roller blades and bikes, enjoying a day at the beach with kites, pets, music and so on. After The Promenade we had some good food on the crowded but very cosy 3the street and did some shopping in the mall. Worth you while to spend a day in your busy holiday schedule and relax.

One of the nicest surprises in the hart of this big city are the smelly La Brea Tar Pits in Hancock Park. These tar pits have trapped wild animals ever since the ice age, and the results is an incredibly rich collection of fossils. You can still see (and hear!) the methan bubbles popping up and it really smells of gas here. In the George C. Page Museum in the park, you can see fossils and models of American lion, mastodonts and saber tooth tigers that have been excavated.

Of course you cannot resist going there! So we did. Well this rather run-down neighborhood these days, was not even a shadow of the fame and glory I had expected to see. A bunch of stars in the sideway pavements called the Walk OF Fame does not make up for the precious time lost.