Brunch In Venice

     On Friday we all drove out to Venice to meet up with my sweet, sunny niece, Annie, an Angeleno (the proper nomenclature for someone from Los Angeles) transplanted to L.A. from the East Coast and loving it.

​     We met for brunch at 26 Beach, a popular Venice  eatery with a cool funky decor,

     I especially loved the wallpaper in the ladies' room.

     As for the food, 26 Beach is hailed for its Egg Scrambles, of which there were many options,

​...and French toasts, of which there were an equal number of options.

...from among which choices the others were wise enough to choose, and they all proclaimed their choices spectacularly delicious. 
     I, however, opted to break my own rule of never ordering from a restaurant something that does not appear to be the restaurant's specialty.     

     With all the specialties to choose from, I instead ordered a la carte from the "sides" menu, two sunnyside eggs, potatoes and and toast,

...and a cup of English Breakfast Tea.
     The eggs had no seasoning, the server never did bring my toast, and instead of English Breakfast Tea I was given Earl Grey.
     I hate Earl Grey.
     When I asked the server if she could please bring me some other kind of tea besides Earl Grey she informed me that this was the only kind of tea they had.  (I guess if tea isn't your thing then one tea bag is like another).  So I ordered a Diet coke instead which, other than a slight twinge of guilt over drinking diet Coke in the middle of the morning, worked fine.
      Anyway, I vowed that someday I'll return to 26 Beach and next time, dash the calories, I'm going for the French toast!
    After brunch Tom, Tommy, Annie and I decided to walk to Venice Beach.

...where we walked along the Ocean Front Walk,

...and took in the scenery:

    The shops,

....the vendors and hawkers,

...and, of course Muscle Beach, that famous Venice Beach landmark where the hyper-buff work out, lift weights, and totally strut their Speedo-clad stuff. (They were being a bit shy in their cage to visitors  that day).

​   We sauntered over to the beach,

...to watch the gravity-defying skate-boarders,

​...and to see the beautiful landscape of the Santa Monica Mountains off in the distance.

...which kind of begs the question:  if you live in The Beach Part  of Los Angeles (see post from  4/9/2016), where  do you go on vacation?
     To be continued...