By Julie

During our week-long winter holiday we originally had several day trips planned, but the kids got sick, so we took it easy. Aside from shopping and seeing family, we didn't do anything until New Year's Eve, when both kids felt healthy. That's when we all hopped on the train and rode it downtown.

The greater Los Angeles area has some nice public transit systems, but neither Kevin nor I have ever ridden a bus, and I'm the only one who's ever used the Metrolink train system (once). The reason is entrenched in LA's history. This place didn't had the geographic limitations that caused many cities to grow upward, so it grew outward. For instance, the city of Angels is 1.5 times the size of New York City but has less than half the number of inhabitants.


To get on the train here in east Los Angeles County, we couldn't even use the station closest to us because it only runs during commuter hours, i.e. early morning and late afternoon. A few years ago it stopped running midday because it had so few riders during those hours. We caught the 11:30 out of a station that was not only farther away but on a different route. And it wasn't cheap. Total cost of round trip tickets for two adults and two kids was around $30. But our train was impressively full for midday, and the ride was very pleasant. It took us 45 minutes to arrive at Union Station.


From Union Station we walked to Olvera Street. Next to the gazebo at the entrance we saw a Mexican TV station setting up to film the NYE celebration. We also watched three performers in Native American garb doing traditional dances. We strolled down its entire cobblestoned length, then headed over to Chinatown.


In Chinatown we enjoyed a lunch of fried rice and dumplings, then had fun window shopping on Broadway. I was pleased that neither of the kids whined for any of the toys that caught their eye, so the only things we were taking back from this trip were memories and full tummies. We headed back to Union Station via Olvera Street, where we listened to church bells ringing out holiday tunes and ate snow cones for dessert.

Alex's favorite part of the trip? Playing navigator using one of the two new compasses he got for Christmas!

Ana's favorite part of the trip? Snow cones!


Tomorrow I'll post about good intentions - I mean new year's resolutions! :)

Labels: kids, los angeles

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