Our moving date is coming really close, so I thought it’s a good time to tell you a little more about our new apartment. As you already know we will move to the Huntington Harbour area. Our actual new apartment has 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms – exactly what we were looking for. For the past two years we lived in a 1 bedroom, which totally was fine. But we want an office space and also need a guestroom. It gets a little tiring to sleep in the living room or have someone sleeping in your living room every other month. Fellow emigrants probably understand me regarding this.

It can be hard over here to actually find a place with a good layout. If you look for two bedrooms with two bathrooms you often find the bathrooms to be only accessible from the bedrooms. That’s something we didn’t want. First, because not everyone needs to walk through our bedroom or office to use the bathroom. Second, because our cat is going to get his own bathroom and if we have visitors over it still needs to be accessible for him.

Since we are moving into one of those Resort living places again, we will be able to enjoy the following perks: a huge Swimming Pool, a nice Gym, free Yoga classes, BBQ areas, a 9 hole putting green, laundry facilities and a gated parking garage.

And to answer a question everyone is asking us: We will pay the exact same amount for the new place that we pay now: for $1700 per month you can either live in the middle of Hollywood right by the beautiful Runyon Canyon in a 1 bedroom apartment, or you can live in Huntington Harbour – a ten minute walk away from the beach – in a pretty two bedroom. We did the first for 24 months, now it’s time for a change.

OC, here we come!

Flo and I have been a little lazy lately and didn’t do any hikes besides our neighborhood Runyon Canyon one. So this weekend we decided it was way overdue to go on a bigger hike again. We googled a litte bit and decided to give Solstice Canyon in Malibu a try. In case you haven’t heard of it or been there yet, you should definitely give it a try. Solstice Canyon is located close to the Ocean and nestled in between in the Malibu and I think the Topanga Canyon Hills. The hike is mostly easy and there is actually more to see than “only” the beautiful nature.

In the middle of Solstice Canyon you will find two burned down ruins that used to be actual houses. One of them – the Roberts Ranch – used to be a big Mansion that burned down in a fire in 1982. The ruins of that house are actually next to a little waterfall that is the perfect place to rest and have a snack during your hike. It was our first time at Solstice and we didn’t really know where to go, so we only went to the Robert’s Ranch and back. There is an extra trail that leads you into the mountains and offers a supposedly beautiful Ocean View, which we will definitely try next time.

We ended our little getaway with a little stop by the beach and got some fresh coconuts to drink out of on the way home. All in all a very LA-ish and beautiful Saturday. And now I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

As we are having Flo’s parents here for their yearly visit, we are doing a lot of touristy stuff. Today we did something I definitely wanted to share with you guys. We watched the sunset from Runyon Canyon. Initially Flo’s parents wanted to join us on one of our hikes up Runyon. If you have ever been there, you know that it’s not actually a walk in the park, but more like a nice workout. We definitely wanted them to see it though, so we decided to drive them to the Mullholland Drive entrance and walk the even part of it to one of the points where you have a beautiful view of the city.

We arrived at that viewing point at around 7.30pm, which was the perfect time to watch the sky turn pastel red and blue and the sun to go down. If you haven’t get the chance to go up there yet: From Ruynon Canyon you have the most amazing view of Downtown LA, the Hollywood sign, the Observatory, Beverly Hills and if the sky is clear you can even see the coast. I love being up there when the sun goes down and the city comes to live with all the lights. Even after the 19 months we have been living here, I find the view up there breathtaking. And what I especially find amazing is the colors the LA sky has during sunset. I always thought those blues, purples and pinks were something people make up for trashy posters (you know the ones with the tigers and dolphins on them). But in LA those colors are more than real.

Make sure to enjoy at least one of the beautiful LA sunsets when you visit this amazing city. And if you live here: Make sure to watch it every once in a while to remind you how beautiful and special this city is!