The Grove

One of my favourite spots in LA is the Grove. It is strange, as a tourist in LA you get bombarded with information about Venice Beach, Santa Monica, Hollywood..but not the real gems. It´s only lately I feel I have discovered the LA I really like, e.g Venice - in particular Abbot Kinney -, Malibu, the Grove etc. There is so much to see and do beyind those tourist traps, even though Santa Monica is still worth visiting. Next on my agenda are Glendale and Brentwood.

We drove up to LA yesterday to meet up with some friends who live just around the corner from the Grove. Just around the corner European style, a 15 minute walk. And ihow we enjoyed that walk!! Especially walking back to the car, at a slightly chilly night, with lots of traffic, pedestrians and buzz going on. Miss that so so so much. Restaurants and convenient stores at every street corner. People. All kinds of people.

Anyways. We walked up to the farmer´s market and the Grove, enjoyed a cool drink at one of the cafe´s, did some people watching (this is a real hot spot for some fun people watching). We saw one "celerity" next to us at the café but none of us remember his name so we will have to google a while to find a picture of him. It is quite funny. people who dress like they are famous are rarely "someone". This guy was rollerblading and looked like he needed a shower:)

I always wanted to try an  Umami burger and so we did. Umami burger is a Californian chain and well known for the great burgers. Very tasty and what I really liked it the size, not to big and you don´t feel stuffed afterwards. Just right!

No wasting of any time here, Christmas decorations are up! Once it was dark and got chilly I nearly sensed a little vibe of Christmas atmosphere, just a wee one but still, what an improvement.

 

This is where Santa  resides until Christmas:) Once December, there will be a loooong queue to have your picture taken.

 

             I wonder what poor person had to decorate that Christmas tree. Soooo many balls.