at the crack of 10am, too lazy for breakfast, or too excited for lunch, we made our way down to the gold line station on del mar– and used my stash of nickels and dimes to buy our $3 metro day passes. turns out there’s a “number of coins” limit on the ticket machines– but happily, it spit out a couple of susan b. anthony dollars for us to use. i’m not sure why we thought that was exciting– but it just was. i really don’t think we get out enough.

first stop: chinatown. we got off the metro and wandered the streets of chinatown, ducking into vaguely familiar shopping areas filled with cheap clothing and stacks of two-flys. when we found spring street– i finally recognized where we were– and proceeded gleefully towards the nearby dim sum restaurant. i was about to open the door when we noticed– bright green, large, prominent– a “C” rating from the health inspector. no thank you, we said– and hurried off past the street vendors with their baby turtles to the other dim sum place i remembered. we climbed the broken down [and broken glass covered] escalators of the shopping center i once knew– only to find that the whole building had been abandoned. sadly, we trudged on– we stopped for tea at the local ten ren– and took a girl’s advice to try the dim sum at the nearby “ocean’s seafood” restaurant. the dim sum was gross… but afterwards we went to my favorite herbal market for some fabulous tea leaves and some very happy green tea plum candy.

feeling a bit more adventurous, we decided to take the train down to union station and jump on the red line [subway] down to hollywood and highland. i love the funky decor of the subway in LA– and the rush of wind that comes right before you hear it approaching. i could ride it all day and people watch– everyone from the hip and trendy to the thugs to the more-than-slightly-disturbed old fogies rode the train. my only complaint? the creepy homeless people that accost you in the subway asking for change… or that wierdo man who was short a dollar for his trip.

i did the touristy thing and took a picture through one of the telescopes on the 3rd floor of the mall. on the ground floor, a musical band of military officers played random pop songs under the “ryan seacrest live” banner. small groups of amply chested women wandered the place in tight black t-shirts with large letters emblazoned across the front and tiny black shorts made for toddlers. ryan bought an obscene looking eclair while i drooled over a man carrying a new nikon d100.

after exhausting hollywood and highland’s entertainment, we rode the subway up to universal city walk, where we found that versailles had opened up a fast food shop– so dinner plans were tossed out the window and we ordered up a large plate of cuban food and an oh-so-fabulous avacado salad.

mmm.

we made a couple stops along the way home– but they were mostly uneventful– and by the time we hit the gold line again i was too tired to keep my eyes open. as soon as we got home i took a power nap and then was ready to go again.

and then we watched “lost in translation”.

that’s all.