March 26

We start by looking around and visiting the only beach in California you can actually drive on. After that it's time for some shopping at the Pismo Beach Premium Outlets — great bargains despite the exchange rate!

We continue along Highway 1 with breathtaking views of the Pacific. Today we pass through famous California beach towns, including Santa Barbara with its historic buildings. Particularly worth a visit here is the Mission Santa Barbara (church and monastery buildings from 1786, renovated in 1820), the Santa Barbara County Courthouse (in Moorish-Spanish style), or El Presidio de Santa Barbara State Historic Park (featuring a fort). Unfortunately we never found the Moreton Bay Fig Tree, a fig tree reportedly large enough to shelter thousands of people beneath its canopy. We did, however, stop at various beaches along the way. Continuing on through Ventura to Oxnard and Malibu, to name just a few stops. In Malibu itself the best views clearly belong to the beachfront homeowners — we mostly sat in traffic and only rarely glimpsed the ocean, though we saw plenty of villas and the cars to match. We don't arrive at our hotel in LA until late in the evening: the city with its 120 km diameter and six-lane highways!