I had to check out of the Hacienda by 12noon today as I had booked myself a room at the Radisson Culver City where I had free rewards ~ enough to book 4 nights, which saved me a lot of money.

I met up with the others in the foyer where we hired 2 cars.Hokee was the driver in our car and I was nominated as the 2nd driver.We also had Rachel & Dawn in our car.In the other car, Dan was the DD and Maxine & Robert were on board with him.The plan was to head out to Venice Beach for the day and explore Santa Monica as well before dropping Rachel off there at the hostel she had booked for herself.

It was a gorgeous day in LA, the sun was shining, and it being a Sunday, every weirdo and wino in Venice was out on the promenade today!!Wow, what a sight to see!!!We meandered along Venice Beach for most of the afternoon, and walked from Santa Monica Pier all the way down to the end of Venice Beach Pier.We stopped at Muscle Beach and the basketball courts where Wesley Snipes & Woody Harellson hustled a game of basket ball in "White Men Can't Jump".There were hundreds of people walking their dogs, cycling and roller blading.We finally met up with the other car (who'd gotten lost on the road to Venice Beach), and stopped at a little beach side café for lunch.Shortly thereafter we had to say goodbye to Dan, Maxine & Robert, as they had to head back to LAX for their flights back to the UK.Our group was diminishing fast, but it was so good to be with others rather than on my own trying to figure out a new city.After lunch, we drove to Santa Monica where we dropped off Rachel's stuff and got her checked into the hostel, then parked the car and walked around Santa Monica exploring the scene.On 3rd street they have padestrianized the street, so great place to wonder around the stores and sit and listen to the street musicians etc.

We found a really cool restaurant for dinner where I ordered a fillet steak and we had a really great evening chatting about the tour and our experiences.After dinner we dropped Rachel off at the hostel, Hokee & Dawn dropped me off at the Radisson and they went back to the Hacienda.We had planned to all go to Universal Studios the next day so we hired our car for another day.

The Radisson was really nice.I put on a load of washing before I went to bed, and was asleep by midnight.Another wonderful day of exploring - really great!!!