USA part Sixteen - Our final day in the USA!

So this is it, my very last post about our epic three week trip to the USA. We decided to take it easy on our last day - but there was still a  lot of walking, because that's how we do things.

First up - did you realise that Venice Beach got its name from a suburb that was originally created with the same name that had artificial canals? (Just like in Europe - Obviously!). Soon as Rich told me that was a thing I HAD to see it.

Venice was seriously beautiful, we saw a couple paddle boarding (you can just see them in one of the photos above) and a lot of the houses had little boats as well as beautiful gardens. If you're ever in Venice Beach and want to escape the madness a walk around this neighbourhood is well worth it.

After we were finished strolling  around the canals we decided to have a look around Abbot Kinney Blvd (I think that's what the area was called). It's a really fun shopping street, with a lot of amazing street art.

I loved this old "mailbox" you could peak inside and get a view of old Venice, much more fun than a historical plaque.

By the time we finished up it was only about 11am and we had a night flight, so what did we do next? Walk to Santa Monica of course!

I have to admit when I was a kid I always dreamed of visiting a beach like this - it wasn't about going to the beach at all (I went to a tonne of those regularly growing up) it was about visiting a busy pier, with games and treats. I just really wanted to go to a carnival at the beach - well my dream came true at Santa Monica!

Also Rich got to play one of his favourite games and shoot some hoops - sadly no prizes were won.

Well that's it folks, the end of the posts about our trip (wow I'm going to have to think about something else to blog about now, maybe even get back into outfit posts!). It was an epic trip and yes we were exhausted by the end of it, but it was well worth it. We saw so many incredible things and met up with so many friends.

Also we have booked our next overseas trip (because we have a problem,  its called a travel bug) in Easter of next year. Any guesses as to where we are heading off to next?

Easter Saturday - More Walking and High Tea

As it turns out, now its Autumn my desire to go for walks has returned. I realise that's weird as most people prefer walking when its warming up rather than cooling down. I'm a fan of cooler days. On Saturday morning we started our walk in Central Park.

 

We strolled around a few streets, and eventually found ourselves over at Hopper Street. We saw some new to us murals/street art.

We also found a new to us Asian supermarket  - we didn't actually buy anything from here,  but it's always fun to have a look at what's on the shelves. 

After checking out the supermarket I had to head home to get changed before meeting up with Ria - but not before snapping a photo of this - I think its fantastic.

I haven't seen Ria much over the past few weeks, as she's been really busy being a fairy (amongst other things!)

We decided to catch up by having High Tea at the James Cook Hotel as they were having an Easter High Tea Special. The best thing about High Tea? Choosing the tea! I had Bombay Chai.

We were given a table with a view of the city - which was a pretty great place to sit!

The High Tea was an Easter themed High Tea, so Ria got a lot of Easter themed treats.

I eat a low gluten diet, as it helps with my endometriosis, so my high tea was less Easter themed, but still delicious.

To finish off - photos of us being terribly lady like at high tea (ok, maybe not lady like - but I AM holding a tea cup so that counts right?).

Street Art Walk - Aro Valley

I've recently been looking at a lot of street art on instagram, today I felt inspired to go and check out some street art in the real world rather than looking at it through a screen. Rich and I took a walk from the city to Aro, up the hill to Kelburn and back into the city via the botanical gardens.

There is a lot of street art in Aro, which is one of the reasons why its one of my favourite suburbs in the city.

So without further ado, here's a photo heavy post capturing some of a street art in our little city.