Don’t believe what you hear. Los Angeles has a nice centre that you can walk around!
The day started at 5.20am. For some reason breakfast on the train ran from 5am to 6am so we stumbled to the dining car while the dark countryside rolled by. We were sat opposite a chap who opened the little single-serving milk cartons and drank them, one after another. We got back to our room to discover that the man in the one opposite had been kicked off the train for trying to throw the conductor out the door while we were still moving. He was probably a smoker.
After all the excitement it was a big relief to get into LA and find Jim. Train travel has been nice, but spending a few days without the floor moving around will be even better.
We walked from the station to the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. It’s the brand new $190m Roman Catholic cathedral and is mighty impressive. Everything in there has been built to last 500 years, and it shows. All the light is filtered through thinly cut sheets of alabaster and there’s a huge mausoleum underneath. It’s surrounded by a lovely piazza with a children’s garden, fountains, etc. Let’s hope it gets fully used.
We then popped into the even brander new Walt Disney Concert Hall, a building of stainless-steel sails, and found our way up to the public garden behind full of blossoming cherry trees and designer water features. We met Gen, who had just bought a hot dog wrapped in bacon for her lunch, before we found ourselves food at a gas company’s staff cafeteria (it was in the guidebook!)
After a long discussion about whether we should look around the Museum of Contemporary Art we discovered that it was closed, so wasted the rest of the afternoon in the Californian sun drinking smoothies. Our magical rail passes got us back to Irvine where James cooked (home-made food! Wow) and we mixed margaritas.
Over dinner we discussed plans for our time in LA. In summary: shopping. Pictures from the mall tomorrow.
For completeness, the interior of an Amtrak washroom. Note the beautiful decor.
We've found Jim! Our travels are at an end.
The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. I liked it, Hannah was less impressed.
Inside. Massive.
Hannah looks out onto the meditative garden.
The Walt Disney Concert Hall.
This is the garden at the back, three storeys above street level.
More billowing steel, and a Frank Gehry rose fountain (he designed the building too).
The MoCA, shut.
We're glad we did the journey by rail.
Hannah mixes...
...while upstairs Gen has brought her work home (booooo!)
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