Day 3 - Los Angeles

Today was... interesting. I made a little pilgrimage to my dad's old campus, I drove the whole of Mulholland Drive and someone tried to convert me (back) to Catholicism.

Pasadena

My dad went to CalTech in Pasadena so I thought I'd go have a wander round the campus just to have done it. Instead, I came away wanting to live in Pasadena - it's aMAzing!! So so nice. Like suburban heaven. Only nicer. People have actual columns on their houses. Do you remember the house in Father of the Bride? That's in Pasadena. Here's the proof:

While on campus I went to the Alumni house to make some enquiries about when my dad had been there. When the lady said she couldn't tell me anything because of data potection I burst into tears (I don't know why - it's been an emotional day) so I think she thought he'd died (he hasn't) and that I'd come all the way from London to find out more about him (I hadn't) But in any case it must have convinced her I wasn't a terrorist and she gave me everything she had about him.

After all the campus envy I went to a kooky little place reccommended by Time Magazine called Pie 'n Burger which has been there since 1963 and was incredible. I had a burger and piece of pie and chatted to a nice old lady who told me she needed a louder alarm clock and tried to get me to pay for her lunch.

She reccommended that I go to the Huntington Library botanical gardens and I am very very glad I did. It was also amazing. Another reason to live in Pasadena:

Mulholland Drive

I thought I'd go for a quick drive along Mulholland to have a look at some cool houses and maybe catch a nice view. When you think of Mulholland Drive how long do you think it is? I was thinking "well, this is America, everything is big, I bet it's over a mile long" It is. By 20 miles. It's a (really long) narrow winding road that goes along the ridge of the Santa Monica Mountains. It took me almost an hour to drive the whole way! Mind you, I loved it. You do see some cool houses and you can stop to admire the view (including a glimpse of the Hollywood sign!) but the best thing about it is that if you're a dunce like me and it actually gets dark on you while you're driving, you're in for a spectacular sunset over Los Angeles.

Someone trying to convert me (back) to Catholicism

Well, the clue is in the title, really. I went to Alhambra (near Pasadena) to visit the church where I was christened. It was empty apart from one woman who was sitting silently checking her Blackberry. I thought it'd be ok to talk to her so I asked her if she knew where in the church the christening ceremonies took place (so I could picture it better) Well. Well, well, well. She started off by asking if I had not been to church in a while and we somehow ended up sitting together with my head in her hands while she asked me if I could feel Jesus' love. And here's the weird thing: while there was a part of me that was dying to burst out laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation I was overwhelmed by how kind this lady was and how strongly she believed in something other than herself. She obviously believes that Catholicism is the way and she had nothing but nice things to say - all your sins are forgiven, Jesus loves you because you're beautiful, you're part of a community, you're always welcome at the Church... That's powerful stuff. For the second time today crying got me out of a sticky situation - I didn't have to agree to what she was asking me and she assumed that because I was bawling my eyes out I was feeling Christ, when really I was just overwhelmed that someone would take the time to be so kind to someone they're never going to see again.

So all in all a pretty tiring, emotional day.