I had a manicure and pedicure at 8:30A (those that know me know I’m a morning person) and a haircut at 11A, so we lost our morning, although I certainly enjoyed both.

So Aviva and I headed out for Santa Monica after lunch.  Our first stop was the cinema, as we both wanted to see Mickey Rorke’s performance in The Wrestler.  This is a very sad movie about three people who are so damaged, and have so damaged each other, that they can’t reconnect (fatally in the case of one character).  His performance as lead is top-notch; I have to wonder if Marissa Tomei’s nude scenes were necessary or gratuitous.  Watch especailly for the scene where Randy (ne Robin) walks to the deli counter for the first time – obvious, but the kind of scene I’d expect from Aronofsky (who did the fantastic film and graphic novel (which I still need to read) “The Fountain”).

We then went to Magellan’s, a travel store in Santa Monica.  They specialize in travel clothing, but they have a nice selection of other travel-related items as well.  We bought some sleeping eye covers (ones that cup out from the eyes), a pair of slippers that roll up for me, and a case for Aviva’s new camera; everything was on sale 10% off which was a nice bonus!

By now it was near 5PM and so around our dinner time.  Aviva found a restaurant recommended in Zagats, Cafe Montana, at 1534 Montana Ave.  We had to kill 30 minutes (they reopen for dinner at 5:30P), but the wait was worth it.  I had the pumpkin ravioli in a light cream sauce – I could have sworn I was in Italy!  The staff was very attentive and helpful, but the main dishes took a long time to appear from the kitchen – it seemed that everyone got appetizers before any main courses were distributed.  Even given that, I’d go back, the food was good and the prices were reasonable.