Monday 27 May was a public holiday in the US – Memorial Day – when the country honours US military personnel who died while serving in the United States Armed Services. It was a beautiful, sunny day (though the wind was chilly) and everyone was out enjoying themselves. Our cousins first took us to one of their favourite eating places, Brents – a famous family run Jewish deli and restaurant which has become one of the best delicatessens in the state. The place was packed with families enjoying their day off and we left feeling very replete.
We then drove to Santa Monica, a coastal town (or “city” as they call it in the US) west of downtown Los Angeles. It too was buzzing. We strolled along a delightful pedestrian street called 3rd Street Promenade and noticed lots of brightly coloured wooden rocking chairs (we discovered these are called Adirondack chairs) just sitting on the pavement for people to use. Then we walked to Santa Monica’s wide, sandy beach for our first sight of the Pacific ocean. Interestingly Santa Monica is the western end of the famous Route 66.
