Venice, California Part 1 : Canals

 Greetings!
  I am just home from a nice long weekend in Los Angeles where I had an amazing time as I always do. There is just something about California. It simply has a different vibe and energy then any other place I have been. I have several posts worth of photos to share over the next week or so, I managed to do a lot in a fairly short period of time! I spent a full day wandering the Venice, California area. Eventually I wandered North to Santa Monica where I checked out an amazingly beautiful new 3 story open air mall. Will share a few photos of that in a future post.  First however there are the Venice Canals. The above photo is probably my favorite and does a good job of showing the beauty of this area.

  For some history of this neighborhood check out this link.  There are a series of canals with beautiful $2 million + homes running along them and beautiful bridges that enable you to walk across them. Most recently this area was featured in the film Valentines Day with Ashton Kutcher. On this morning the neighborhood was very peaceful. Sidewalks run along the canals so it is easy to walk around them. I was surrounded by beautiful homes, flowers and nature on a perfect California day.

  Here is a close up of one of the homes in the other photo above. It truly must be amazing to live here!

  A fun fence in front of one of the homes.

  There is one little fenced in area with ducks and pigeons hanging out. Love this one even if he does not have the poof on his head like my favorite hometown duck!

  There are beautiful flowers everywhere in Los Angeles. Many have rose bushes in their front yards. I love seeing so much color everywhere! 

  I somehow managed to spend almost 2 hours wandering the canals, soaking up the wonderful weather and the beauty that surrounded me. Here are a few more of my favorite images.

  I really liked the way the Ivy was growing on this fence, kind of looks like a heart :)

  I next wandered to Venice beach. Yes there are some real characters hanging out there! It is beautiful there and a lot of fun. My next post will showcase my experience there and features some amazing scenery, some cute dogs, birds and yes some of characters I just mentioned.  

Stephanie