Railworks America

What a fun day! There is a place in downtown LA I have been wanting to go eat at for about a year. My roommate volunteered to pay for the day (did a bunch of PC work for him) We drove to the Del Amo Metro station, took the Blue Line (light rail) to the big hub in LA, then the red line (heavy rail) to Pershing Square. Three blocks walk to the Nickle Diner. Small, noisy place, but the food and the service was outstanding. (If you're ever in LA: http://nickeldiner.com/) The stuffed avacado was amazing!

But the real reason was, I have never ridden the Metro Rail. I could have driven, but I hate the freeways here. It's amazing how fast these trains are. You really gotta hold on! And on a Saturday, they were packed. Couple of guys started singing, it was just such a cool ride! Gonna have to get me a TAP card and do this more often. Nice, clean trains, smooth ride. What a fun day, not to mention downtown LA. The older buildings, what a great place (as long as you don't get mugged, I guess)

I rode the Metro in LA with my dad, and I was far less pleased, haha. I got on at Hollywood and wanted to go to Union Station for some railfanning. The subway car was dirty, lots of people, and a hobo was sitting on the floor not too far from us sleeping and he had bags leaking who knows what and a bottle he had hand written "American water- bottled in America 90% water" on it. He also smelled very bad and the people behind us were talking very loudly about something I can't say here lol, I was so glad to get to Union station, it was beautiful and I saw more trains in 30 mins than I would in 5 days in Apex. My review:
LA union station: +1
Metro: -1

Of course, this was the subway, I assume you rode the light rail?

Blue Line is light rail. It's all above ground, runs from Long Beach to Downtown. Red Line is heavy rail, it goes underground. There were rail police (sheriffs) on all the trains, so no trouble. Yeah, a couple of drunks, but they are all over the place anyways. I just keep out of their way and don't talk to them. Would have loved to see Union Station again, but time schedule wouldn't allow.

It's interesting, waiting at the underground, when the train is coming, you can feel the wind rushing at you!

Ah, I see. I've rode several subway systems, the DC metro, LA metro, SEPTA, BART... :)