Urban Explorations

Today was the first day of my "Urban Explorations". I live only 23 miles from downtown LA and only go into the city once in a while. I've lived here my whole life (minus a year and a half when I was out of state for college) and there are certain places in LA that I've never been. So, to remedy that I've decided that once a month I'm going to go into the city and explore. Considering that I'm in my 30's I'd say it's about time. So here are some of my pics from today's trip...

This our lovely Union Station...to save gas we took the train in. (It looks as it's about to get hit by a meteor in this pic....watch out everybody - the sky is falling!!)

This is a thing-a-ma-bob at the entrance to Olvera Street.

Olvera Street vendors...muy gangas!

I got this awesome bag for only cinco dollars!!!

From Olvera Street we walked 2 blocks to Little Tokyo and first on our list was the Japanese American Museum (seeing as I'm 1/2 Japanese I thought it a good idea).

Here's my lovely sister, April, in front of the Japanese Village marker.

This is a big...um...thing (I am only 1/2 Japanese, after all, I can't be expected to know everything) also at the entrance to the Japanese Village.

My yummy lunch at the Korean and Japanese BBQ in the Japanese village.

Life in the Japanese Village...I've never been to Japan but I imagine it like this.

Why so angry little doll?

These sculptures were down this alley/courtyard not getting the attention they deserve.

April in I Love Boba, which I don't. Boba makes me slightly queasy.

These lamps were also in I Love Boba. They kinda remind me of that hat that Phyllis Diller used to wear so I had to take a pic.

This sign shows all our sister cities throughout the world. I've never heard of half of them and only been to one. Behind the sign is our city hall building. Though not the tallest in the city by far, it's probably the most recognized.

This is our brand new CalTrans building. If you love modern architecture (and I do) this building is impressive but not as visually striking as...

The Walt Disney Concert Hall. Frank Gehry is my hero.

This is the super modern cathedral, Our Lady of...uh...something. Where Bishop (insert Irish last name) is based out of. Sorry, I'm not Catholic. If I was, I'm sure I would know the name of both the cathedral and the bishop.

Another modern building just north of the cathedral. I'm not sure what it houses but it's cool looking.

After our trek past modern mile, we ended up in China Town where they were having their Chinese New Year Festival. We made it in time to catch the very end of the parade.

One of the floats...I don't know who these people are but we waved at them anyway.

This was the last float in the parade...the princesses.

We ended the day and had dinner back on Olvera St. (this is actually the street that runs parallel to it).

This is the Mission Nuestra Senora Reina de Los Angeles across from Olvera St.

And here we are on the train to go back home (that's my foot in the reflection) after a very long but fun day.