Union Station

I have never been to Union Station in Los Angeles before--What a beautiful place!!! What amazing Art Deco! (And I had been grumbling about having to drive there in traffic! What a great reward at the end of the trip... and the traffic didn't turn turn out to be that bad either!)

Just look at that beautiful entryway above, and the waiting room (and dining areas below):


The outside doesn't give you that much of a clue as to the beauty inside...or how difficult it will be to find free parking. (OK-impossible. I ended up paying $12.00 to park.)
In the arial view below you can see how huge the place is, and how far the rows of tracks are from the entrance.


We walked down the 'endless' tunnel to reach track 11B.

The trains are so huge! (And scary as they go past!)

My youngest daughter decided to take a trip across the country (hence our drive to L.A.) - and had secured a sleeper car 'room'. When we went in for a look (even though announcements coming across the loudspeakers sounded like they might be saying only ticketed passengers could board... but we weren't BOARDING... we were just peeking, making sure all was well). The interior of the 'room' felt about the size of a refridgerator box.... or maybe the size of our dining room table... (This photo shows the two seats that face each other already made up into a bed. It was a good thing two people weren't traveling for 38 hours in that compartment. (It was labeled a two-person room...)
The long hallway of the train was also amazingly skinny--one-way traffic only!

(Focus on the hallway, not the anonymous person in the photo :)

Before leaving my daughter to her looked-forward-to train trip, the three of us had time to stop in at Olvera Street--famous downtown icon and tourist attraction.
I had been there before on a field-trip when I was in fifth grade. I thought it was huge, and I wanted to buy so many of the tantalizing things the vendors were selling.
It's amazing to me how much smaller that street seems now, and how all of the merchandise looks the same vendor to vendor... and much of it said "Made in China"...
But, I was happy to have had the off-chance to stop in, and that I hadn't planned a whole day around visiting the place.


That was yesterday, and my daughter has called to say that all is well--so far, so good, and is enjoying the experience. I hope she also enjoys the muggy part of the country she's going to be spending the next week in! (Yes, I'm not a traveler. I like my bed, my bathroom, my airconditioner...)