No, not Italia.
California. I’ve been in LA for over a week and a half and I haven’t written a single blog yet. What am I doing with my life? Well, let me tell you a little about this trip to Venice.
I was lucky enough to meet a friend named Anne who decided we should check out the canals by Venice and Venice Beach. I almost didn’t bring my camera but I’ve made that mistake once before. Luckily, LA traffic was at a minimum and she parked her little Prius in a tiny spot. Small cars for the win!
She took me for a little walk, and my, when I saw what were going to be walking through, my jaw literally dropped. I was shocked at what I was looking at. It was all so beautiful! Never had I ever seen any place like this in real life; I’d seen places like this in movies and pictures. And now I got to see it!
We walked and talked, stopping every once in a while so I could snap a quick shot. We stumbled upon a cat wandering the sidewalk and Anne took particular interest. Unfortunately for Anne, he wandered off with his head held high, and we moved on.
Shortly thereafter we stumbled across this tree that had lamps and other decorations hanging from the branches. It was one of the most magical sights we had seen up to that point. The way it was all laid out must make it shine beautifully at night. I told Anne it was difficult to capture these shots and nearly gave up.
We were nearly finished with exploring the canals, and I couldn’t help but notice that every single house was different. I pointed out a row of houses that all had such different styles: one was very Californian, one traditional, one like a West Coast mountain home, a New England Cottage, and finally a Spanish feel. It was truly breathtaking.
Anne was sporting the Canadian tuxedo look, claiming she was bringing it back. I happened to like the look and snapped a couple of her. Unfortunately, she noticed me, so she ended the shoot as quickly as it started.
We eventually found our way to a little ice cream shop that Anne had mentioned at the beginning of the day. I had the most fantastic strawberry coconut ice cream on the planet and I deemed that we had to go back there again some time. No free brand deals (I also can’t remember the name of the place), but it was fantastic. We saw the skate park at Venice Beach, the outdoor gym, and a whole lot of weird and random people. Once we got back to the car, Anne freaked out a little – her car was running that entire time! Luckily no one had stolen anything (or the car itself)! Besides that minor detail, Venice was a success.
California, not Italy. Sorry again.
Justin Fague 