Hi everybody!
I'm back in Sweden again, all jetlagged and with a post flight cold to top it all off.
I wanted to share some photos from when we went to Venice Beach over the day. It was really touristy and not as fun as we'd expected but we definitely found some nice spots. And I think I actually took some really great photos this day. Hope you think so too.

Who buys this stuff? I don't get it.

Muscle dad on Muscle beach.

It was a really foggy day at first. You could hardly even see the beach.

Oh, and if you like stupid, sexist t-shirts Venice Beach is the place for you!

I really liked this wall painting!

Hehe. See the sign? It says "Lazy dog" and the owner points it in the direction of the dog. We walked past them a while later and then the dog sat on the other side but the sign still pointed towards him.
Brilliant.

David looking all cool.

We left the beach to have a look at the streets further up. I liked this alley. So close to the beach but still secluded and silent.

The Super Mario Bros were up at the roof fixing something.

Don't really know why, but I really love this house. Think it's the colours and shapes. Yeah.

And this colourful house is nice too!

Saw this old man and his dog and took a gazillion photos of them. Looks so nice and peaceful.

Walked closer.

And found out that he was the owner of a vintage shop! It was very small and narrow and most of it actually took place in the staircase. Loved it!

Hej hej!

Before we said good bye I had to take some more photos of the little dog, now parked in the chair.

Walked back towards the beach again. This mural is amazing!

These last two photos are my favourites from this day. I couldn't decide which of them to choose so you'll get to see both of them. I like the lazy seagulls on the roof next to the painter. They look so incredibly rude and self absorbed.

So that was all from Venice Beach.
I will be back soon with a post about Santa Monica Main Street. I LOVE that street!

Until then: Tjingeling!

Last sunday we left San José and made the five hour journey to Los Angeles.
This is photos from our trip and the first day in Hollywood where we were going to stay for a while.

Sad bridge in San José. Rest in peace Tommy.

Bye Bye San José! Maybe we'll meet again sometime.

It wasn't long before we ended up among hills that made us feel like we were part of a Windows XP wallpaper. Or that Sonic the Hedgehog would roll past us any second.

Kind of breathtaking.
I mean, Brösarps backar in Skåne: Get lost (or "Släng dig i väggen", as we would say in Sweden).

Aaaaah. *sigh*

Ooooooh. *another sigh*

Okay, end of pictures taken through the car window.
Time for roadside diner food!

We made it to a diner that looked exactly like a diner should.

The backlit water glass was the most interesting thing of that meal. The water in the glass tasted horrible, the food was disgusting and the coffee was seethrough. Like, you could see the bottom of the cup.

Kitchen chairs made into bar stools.

We found a machine that promised to tell us our true selves.
Claes was eager to try.

He was not happy to find out that he is both Jealous and Nasty.

So, new day! Monday in Hollywood!
David and I went for a walk to check out the neighbourhood.

Apparently we lived right next to Hollywood Boulevard! That was a nice surprise; we really had no clue.

Love that there's so many bright green trees lining the sidewalks.

Typical Hollywood corner.

Everywhere there's empty lots squeezed in between houses. It's seems so weird that they can remain empty in the middle of such a big city.

Trees hang low over the sidewalks. I really love the many trees everywhere!

All of a sudden a big garden pops up between buildings.

This is a typical Los Angeles sidewalk. I'm not joking. Every sidewalk or road looks more or less like this.
It must be horrible to be a blind person in this country.
Not only are the sidewalks like wobbly patchworks, their bills are exactly the same size so it's impossible to tell the difference of the value.
This is one of the things that's been really apparent during this trip. The roads and buildings are so very worn down and dirty and among this some really fancy houses stand proud and clean and well looked after.
Along every road there's big signs telling people to "Adopt a highway". If the highway has been adopted the sign tells the name of the person giving the money to support the maintenance of that particular road.
For a tax paying swede this seems so wrong.
I really love paying taxes because I know that the roads needs to be clear of pot holes and all the people in the city should be able to walk around freely.
Okay, sorry for ranting but this really makes me upset.

After a few hours of walking around we went home again. This construction site was right next to our street. I love how the cranes stand tall over the large buildings in the backround.

So this was just the start of our LA visit. We had many more days to discover this interesting and exciting town. It really is a mix of all things, good and bad. I'll show you more soon, I promise.

Hello!
In Sweden it's cold and snowy. In LA it's warm and sunny!
I travel really light and only bring a few clothes but lots of colored stockings, socks and accessories hoping to find some new things to bring home as well.
This is seven days in a row, clothes wise.

Pale but happy. Black dress and blue tights. In Sweden I get noticed when I wear these blue stockings. In Hollywood: not so much.
This is taken on the Hollywood street where we've been staying.

One day we went to check out Venice beach. I dressed appropriately with lots of hippie vibes.
Venice beach turned out to be quite boring. Too much tourists and cheap souvenir crap. But a few streets up we found some nice places. I'll tell you all about that later.

David had a meeting one day and I wandered around Hollywood Boulevard and Sunset Avenue for a couple of hours. In a vintage shop I found these sunglasses. Needed a pair of sensible and useful sunglasses to wear when I don't want to wear my heart shaped ones.
This was definitely the perfect choice...

In a vintage shop on lovely Santa Monica Main Street I found these sunglasses. Look: sensible!
Right?

One evening walk around the neighbourhood in bright orange tights and my Sergeant Pepper-jacket.

Same black dress as earlier. Different coloured tights. And new shoes that matches my socks perfectly! Ain't that a lucky coincidence?!
This is on the porch to the house we've been renting. Sweet, isn't it?

And yesterday, on our way to the amazing fleamarket Melrose Trading Post. The dress is from the same vintage shop in Santa Monica as the sunglasses I told you about earlier.

Big post about LA is coming soon. Maybe tomorow. If we're lucky.

Until then: Tjingeling!

On sunday David and I drove forty minutes from San José and ended up in a little beach town called Capitola. We were going to meet up with Jillian, a friend of mine who I've met through Etsy. She lives close by and she had told us the day before that she knew a nice breakfast place we needed to visit.

This was the place. Zelda's!

I had coffee. Of sorts.
Also ate some lovely breakfast food but was way too hungry to have the time to photograph it.

The beach view through the window and through the big mirror covering one wall.

After we ate we went for a stroll down the beach.

Surfers were laying low in the glistening water. Not many waves to be seen.

Turned around and walked back towards the town.

I call this one "Little girl with blue bucket and seagull".

I really really REALLY want one of these colourful houses. Any one of them will do. But especially the aqua blue one. Or the peach colured. Or the bright yellow. Or any of them really.

Bay and bridge behind a bridge.
I told Jillian that we don't really have wooden bridges like this in Sweden but since we grow up with american movies we've seen lots of them on films. Kind of weird that we know so much about american culture without ever having experienced it first hand that when we're finally here it's like "Yeah, I know about that restaurant" and "Yes, I've seen this place before. On film."

So pretty! I could definitely see myself living here. Yep.

Cute house!
Another thing that's really different from Sweden is the size of the streets. Even in a small town like Capitola the streets are so much wider than they are in Sweden. To us it sort of looks like a miniature town with tiny toy houses along the large streets. Like the entire place is just a pretty movie set.
Americans should come and see the teeny tiny streets in some villages in Österlen, Skåne. Their big cars wouldn't even be able to squeeze in.

Like sand castles for humans!

We walked under the wooden bridge. Such a cool structure.

Isn't Blue Gum Avenue the best name for a street!?!

We found an antique shop!

It was a lovely shop with millions of things everywhere. The lady who owned the place talked non stop about old customers from all over the world, about the history of different items and the reasons people have for collecting things. She was really nice and she let me take photographs in there because I asked nicely before. Usually she doesn't allow it.

Then we had to walk back to the car and say goodbye to Jillian. It was a really great day and it's so sad that Capitola is such a long way from Sweden because I would have loved to have breakfast with Jillian at Zelda's every sunday.