Out and About

So,
    T is doing another one of those classes where we go to various places listed on the syllabus and she considers how these places could affect a 7 year old and their brains. This is good for our family because it keeps us out and seeing new things while spending lots of quality time together. We've been to the zoo already this summer but that is just a Zoo so I'll spare you the pics. Last week we went to Olvera St, home of one of the earliest mexican settlements in the area, and Union Station. 
   I decided it might be easiest and actually cheaper to ride the Los Angeles Subway there. We parked in a free lot and took the kids on their first subway ride.

The kids seemed to like the subway ride. We rode the entire length of the red line with a homeless dude sleeping behind us with his stuff tied to his wrist with wire and trash bags on his feet. I was a good experience for all of us.
    We arrived at Union station and the kids got to see a real sized train, some classic modernist architecture, and a real live television commercial shoot in progress. Who knows maybe we'll end up as background extras.

The commercial film crew.

Across the way from Union Station is Olvera St. It is mostly just little vendors all selling the same garbage but it is bright and colorful, the kids liked to look around and there is some interesting history if you can look past all of the bright cheap knick-knacks.

We walked Olvera St for a while then decided it was lunch time. I have been taking interest in planning and choosing these trips because it affords me an opportunity ot eat things that are out of our usual wheelhouse (the BBQ place, the Oinkster etc.) This time our lunch opportunity was the world famous Phillipe's ! The place where the french dip was invented, it has been served the same way in the same place since 1908. 

The Ladies Loved it.

The Boy not so much...

LEAVE ME ALONE I'M EATING!!!!

The food was really good, next time I would opt for the double dip cause the Au jus was the best part.
After lunch we walked back to Olvera st to get something sweet. I had heard Mr Churro was the appropriate place to secure a sweet sugar/ cinnamon-y confection so we turned down a dark alley and came upon....

Piles of Children!!! Everywhere we go lately is covered in these summer camp groups of kids. They're loud, obnoxious, smell poorly and sweat profusely. They litter, scream push and shove and generally act like packs of starving piranh-apes.
   The store was completely full of them so we left. Across the way I noticed a mural which perfectly summed up my feelings toward these miscreants.

I would be the dude with scepter calling down lightning upon them. Also, this is one of the angriest murals I've ever seen, and it follows in a pretty angry tradition.

We walked back to Union Station, rode the train home with a family who was just on the train for the novelty of it, drove home and put an end to an exciting day.

    The rest of the past week was spent trying and failing to install a ceiling fan, cutting shrubberies, barbecuing, and planning future trips to future destinations.

Hasta Luego,

RTSZA