The Western End of Route 66

Jellyfish tank at the Santa Monica Aquarium

I picked up a cold in LA - probably due to jet-lag, and so decided to take it easy today as I was planning on going to Disney on Monday. At this point I regretted not using my LA City Pass the day before as most of the easy-going stuff I felt like doing was closed or had restricted hours on Sundays, or you had to book in advance.

Santa Monica Beach & Pier - view from Palisades Park

So I decided to go to the beach!

Santa Monica is really beautiful, albeit a bit touristy. There's a very famous pier called the Santa Monica pier which is the last point on the Route 66 trail.

By Santa Monica beach there is also Palisades park - just a stretch of grassy tree area as far as I could tell - and the Santa Monica Aquarium. Apparently there is also the original Muscle Beach here too but I didn't see that (or have any interest to).

The Santa Monica Pier as the sun was starting to drop in  the sky...

Entry to the Aquarium was included on the LA City Pass - it's only $5 (or Free for kids under 12) but I'm not sure I would have bothered if it wasn't included. It's run by "Heal The Bay" - a not-for-profit environmental group who also run bay clean-ups and educational workshops. The Aquarium is great if you're interested in rocks, bones, shells, and fish eggs - not so much if you want to sit and watch fishies and other sea creatures swimming about as there's not really very many to look at. They do have interactive activities like touching seaweed or doing shell rubbings though so probably worth it if you're being accompanied by small people.

Ferris Wheel at Santa Monica Pier

Historic Route 66: The End of the Trail
A little ironic that this is where I started my journey...
One day I intend to drive along the whole thing.

On the pier there is a fun fair - rides all day are also included in the City Pass; again, not a massive save, and something I wouldn't have paid to do separately, but I had a nice time going on the Ferris Wheel and some spinning cups etc.

There are also lots of shops - beach ones selling buckets and spades, touristy ones selling postcards and souvenirs, and then a few stalls with people selling handmade jewellery or driftwood carvings. Plus all the typical fun-fair food stands with hot dogs, churros and candy-floss. Towards land, there are also some restaurants like Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.

Just like everywhere in LA (and probably any major tourist destination or city), there are loads of buskers.

Santa Monica is Beautiful

Overall, I'd recommend visiting. Even if you're like me and completely adverse to all things sand, the views are spectacular!

Fête de la Pomme

Fête de la Pomme

Jams and crates of apples
(in case you didn't want to PYO)

A Norman tradition, a bit like a country fair in celebration of the Apple, held in late September/October.

We went to one in Yvetot-Bge, near to Valognes on Sunday and met us with some of the family's church friends. It's quite normal for the hosting Orchard/Farm to open up their apple trees to public picking (which you then pay for at the end based on weight).

Apple Orchard

We bought a basket (from the basket weaver stall), and then went to pick some apples. Marc kept getting confused by 'to pick apples' in English and (I think) 'à pincer des pommes' (to pinch/steal apples) as 'pick' and 'pincer' sound similar and kept saying we were going to do that instead of 'à cueillir des pommes' (the french for picking apples).

Bakers Oven

There were also local farm shops selling their apple juice, cider, jams, duck and apple sauces, cider vinegar and cheeses. In addition to this, there were also some food stalls selling local sausage and chips, and a few craft stalls including apple themed artwork and a basket weaver.

Pomme de Pain

A Norman Man singing

There was a Baker who had come along to sell bread, which they were also baking in one of those old fashioned oven things on site. They were baking 'Pomme de Pain' too - a whole cooked apple encased in bread. It was tasty, but why wouldn't you core the apple first? You have to eat it with a knife so you can cut out the core and stalk before you eat it!

Later in the afternoon, they also had a local troop of traditional Norman folk dancers/ performers who arrived in full traditional Norman dress and put on a show on the stage. Marc loved this but Aurianne was tired so we had to leave before it had finished.

The Von Trapp Norman Family Singers
(we're convinced it was all one family!)

Norman Dancing
(Didn't get much more technical than skipping
round in circles, bowing and clapping)

Labyrinthe Vegetal

We also walked over to the farm just over the road, whose persistent French owner was insistent that all passers by should come in and try his 'Labyrinthe Végétal', basically a 'Maize Maze' in English. (Internet link here...) Apparently it's also known as 'La Clé des Champs' or 'The Key Fields'.

Which we did, and the children loved it. We didn't do it properly though as we had small people with us and only spent about 20 minutes in there before coming back out the way we came (Marie-Agnes had made leave signs on the ground so we could find our way out again).

Apparently it's supposed to take an average of 60-90 minutes!

A Path in the Maize Maze

Beautiful Blue Skies

Farmer had some giant rabbits

One of those 'Head in the Hole' photo boards. 

Flowers on a cart. The farmer/maze owner saw me
taking a picture and tried flogging them all to me!
"vous aimez? vous voulez acheter?
Oui, oui, vous pouvez en acheter un si vouz voulez!"

But first, let me take an Apple Selfie