Leaving the Pacific coast

As Kate already accurately described, our time in Malibu was very much worth the “detour” from our original route.

Kate and I never felt much attracted to LA before deciding to hit Malibu but since one of the most gorgeous strip of Highway one is the Monterey coast between San Francisco and LA and since we had a good friend inviting us to stay in Malibu we changed our minds. And we both are very glad to have done so.

Malibu would not have been half as much fun without Spyder showing us around and introducing us to his friends and family. We would not have found the attractions in our little cavalier.

After a long night of sleep and a lazy waking up, Spyder took us for a late afternoon burger at Johnie Rockets in Santa Monica. Britney Spears was giving out autographs at the Urban Outfitter of the main shopping drag there and the crowd was not what we would have expected; no crying teenagers but a more eclectic group.

Then Spyder continued his perfectly planned sightseeing program by taking us to the biggest freakshow ever which is to be found on the boardwalk of Venice beach and trust me, this is not a place you want to be around when the sun is set. Leaving after having observed the beginning of a furious family fight, we headed to a much more familiar crowd at the Getty foundation. Many people had the same idea of visiting this museum (which is open till 9 pm on weekends) because there was a music festival going on outside the buildings on the plaza overlooking LA. Too bad the city was covered by a rather thick fog which made us miss a probably magnificent sunset view. We took a short but efficient tour of the art exhibitions that interested us and were especially impressed by Manet’s “Bar at the Folies-Bergere” which makes you reflect on the Artist’s idea of perspective. We headed home rather tired and enjoyed a simple but good dinner accompanied by a good bottle of Californian whine.

On Sunday I got a second chance to proof my surfing skills and to motivate Kate to try this fun sport. Both of us were pretty successful for rookies. Spyder also tried to have us catch fish from our surfboards for our dinner but nothing bit our bait (Kate did catch a Sea Slug I didn’t get to see). We continued our sightseeing tour and headed back into LA to the LACMA museum which unfortunately was rebuilding big parts of the building such that there was almost no modern and contemporary art to be viewed. On our way back to Malibu Kate had us stop on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. Our last night with Spyder’s in Malibu was celebrated eating deliciously prepared grilled shark and swordfish and great talks.

We left the coast this morning, had our laundry dried somewhere on the 99 north (J Spyder) and are currently entering Yosemite National Park for some new camping adventures.