Trip to LA - Round 3!
It has occurred to me that I've gone to LA more times in the past month than in my previous 3 years at Pomona. And once again, I have encountered adventure! (You'd think I'd learn the first two times, right?)I first took the Metrolink from downtown LA when I came back from Taiwan via LAX. It's really nice - fast, limited stops, nonshady passengers, bathrooms, comfortable seats, quiet, and (most importantly) smooth enough so that I can do some reading while en route. At that point, I made an unconscious pact to take the Metrolink whenever I embarked on an LA trip in the future. But there was some excitement this morning: A nearby train going the opposite direction broke down and so our train (being the closest) needed to go back and tow it to Union Station. A lot of passengers were frustrated by the propect of being late to work, but I was okay with it. After all, even though I would have liked to be at the Body Worlds 2 exhibit at the actual time stated on my ticket (9AM) I was sure they would let me in if I was late. And if we didn't go back for them, they'd have to wait 3 hours for another train to pass. I was willing to give up some time so other people wouldn't be stranded.
After getting to the handicapped train, we then proceeded to block street traffic for 10-15 minutes. It was funny watching the cars outside wait....and wait...and wait...then decide they'd had enough of this shit and break various traffic laws trying to turn around.
So, we eventually got to Union Station, half an hour behind schedule. Sure that I had missed my MetroRail connection, I asked around to find the fastest bus route to Exposition Park, where the California ScienCenter was. (Yes, they really spell it that way.) The dude at the Union Station information counter told me to take Line 81 on Spring Street. Knowing that I was supposed to take Line 81 at Pershing Square anyway (after I was supposed to take the Metro Red Line), I figured that this was a good alternative. So I start walking south on Spring Street looking for a Line 81 bus stop....and walk...and walk...and walk....until I get past 5th. At this point I knew that leaving my LA map in my room was a bad idea. Looking at the map now, I definitely walked more than a mile before I even got to the museum. At least it was a terrific day for walking outside.
I'm not sure what my rationale was for this. I knew from looking at the map before that Exposition Park was south of Union Station, so I must have figured that if I kept on walking south, I would hit a useful bus stop. Or maybe it was my ever-present feeling of assurance that everything would be okay in the end. My stupid I-claim-to-be-agnostic way of saying I have faith in the guy upstairs, I suppose...
Anyway, after dwelling on the fact that Exposition Park was more south than Staples Center (which was more than a mile from where I already was), I figured that going back to Union Station to take the MetroRail to Pershing Square would probably be the most rational thing to do. I got to 3rd before I happened upon a small bus route map at a stop. It turns out that Pershing Square was between 5th and 6th anyway! (Yeah, my map would have been helpful here..) So, I turned around again and headed back south. And so, I finally arrive at the California ScienCenter at around 10:30AM, an hour and a half after I was supposed to get there, LOL.
Boy, was it friggin' CROWDED. This was the final weekend for the Body Worlds 2 exhibit and I knew from buying my ticket online that it was definitely going to be sold out. But there were people everywhere bumping into each other, trying to get a good view of the specimens. It was like going to the Louvre. The popular parts of the Louvre, anyway.
Various notes:
- The plastinated bodies don't look as if they are real people. It definitely changes your point of view knowing that these had been living, breathing human beings. It must have been fun (read: extremely tedious and time-consuming) dissecting and preparing all of the bodies though, especially the ones whose nervous and circulatory systems were featured.
- Dude, nudity is not a big deal, especially when you're dealing with science and art. I wanted to smack all of the teenagers who pointed and gawked, "Look, I didn't know this was going to be X-RATED! Heeheeheeehee...PENIS!" *facepalm*
Luckily I wasn't around when/if anyone pointed to a female specimen and giggled, "BOOBIES!" - Smoking is bad for your lungs. Coal mining is even worse.
- Drawing a human figure doesn't get any easier even when the figures don't move, but when it's also noisy and crowded, and the figure is cut apart, LOL. I did try though.
- It's great that so many people are interested in going to this exhibit and seeing the human body for what it is. I mean that, honestly, but I also have to say that science-ignorant people really annoy me. I can't tell you how many times I resisted the urge to say, "Duh!" everytime a middle-aged adult in my vicinity observed something that I had known since elementary school. Such an observation was usually accompanied with, "Wow, I never knew that!" with their audio tour devices held by their ears. I was glad I didn't shell out $4 for an audio tour...
- Another *facepalm* moment:
Woman standing next to me: Oh look, this guy has a six-pack too...
Thought bubble over my head: Yeah well, so would you if you had all of the skin and fat taken off your body... - I was very glad to see two specimens being posed in a forward inside death spiral. Heh. Yay for skating!
The trip back was pretty uneventful. I got to Union Station early, so I went over to Olvera Street and shopped around. It's super cute there, and I was tempted to get a leather purse (of which they have plenty of) but thought better of it, LOL...
posted by sugarfiend @ 11:57 PM
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