I awoke in Arizona. It was hard to tell how far behind we were as I was confused by the time. Arizona doesn't observe daylight savings time so essentially we were already on Pacific Daylight time. The train timetable was not clear if the station times reflected this or you had to adjust for it. Eventually we settled that by passing into California and we were about two hours behind the timetable. Amtrak timetables have a lot of pad built into the last station stop so actual arrival time was about one hour late.

I had a hotel reservation in LA but arriving so early, I knew there was going to be a problem. I walked the three blocks to my hotel and presented myself about 9:30. Sure enough, the lady at the desk informs me that I can't check in until four o'clock. Perhaps I might like to explore China town or Olvera street nearby. Well I settled down in the lobby with my laptop and started catching up with email. I can read email from my iPhone easily enough but complicated replies I put off if I can. Took care of all of that, checked on my credit cards, anything I could think of. So then nature calls, I look around a little, don't see a restroom in the lobby so I ask at the desk. "No we don't have a restroom here" she says," you can go down the street to" somewhere I didn't catch, "it's only a minute away." Well, that didn't appeal to me so I decided to go to the Subway I had seen next door and eat lunch then use their facility. Had lunch but this turns out to be the only Subway I've ever been to that didn't have a customer restroom. Things are getting serious so I decided to walk back over to Union Station and while I was there I would browse their bookstore. No problem finding the restroom but the bookstore I thought I saw had only magazines. I stopped at the Information Desk at the entrance of the station and a very nice gentleman there told me he bought all his books at a store in Santa Montica. However, if I didn't want to ride the bus out there, I could take the Red Line subway to Macy's Plaza and they had a Borders Express there. Sounds like a plan. $1.25 for a ticket, third stop and off the train and up the escalator. At the top I encountered a metro security guard so I checked with him. Well, "there are two Macy's Plaza'a he says, which one do I want? " "The one with the bookstore." I say so he says" turn right." Went up another escalator and straight out the door and turned right. Walked a block or so and saw no Macy's Plaza. Hmpt! I saw another security guard standing in front of a bank so I asked him if he knew where Macy's plaza was. "NO" he replied with no further explanation. Kept walking a little bit and encountered something called 7 + Fig. Sure enough, lots of stores around a central courtyard and a Macy's department store is one of them. No book store however. So I backtrack. Maybe he meant go left after all but checking down the street that way got me nowhere. Now I'm standing across the street from Metro entrance and trying to decide what to do. Hate to waste a trip but asking for help hasn't been very useful. Then I notice that the entrance to the station is on a corner. I came out the door onto Figueroa street. The other door opens onto 7th street. Coming out the 7th street door, 7 + Fig is on the left and sure enough, a block and a half down 7th street to the right is Macy's Plaza. Found the book store, bought a book and headed back to the hotel. At the hotel there was a crowd around the desk so I plopped back down in the same chair and prepared to wait until 4 pm. Then I realized, even though most of the conversations were in Chinese, that these folks were checking in. I waited until things settled down a little bit and walked over to the desk. I looked at the lady behind the desk. She looked at me. I said, "do you have a room for me yet?" "Sure" she says, "where'd you go?" She handed me the key and I headed for the room. First thing I did was take a nap.

Despite the confusion in the lobby, I can recommend the Metro Plaza Hotel for anyone laying over in Los Angeles on an Amtrak trip. The hotel has been recently renovated, the facade, the lobby and the rooms. The room are nicely done with mahogany doors and furniture and the rooms and bathrooms are spacious and clean. Although the room AC worked well, the lobby and the halls are not air conditioned which seemed a little strange.

Went over to Olvera street for dinner. Olvera street is a small piece of old Los Angeles that contains mostly markets selling Mexican souviners but also a number of nice resturants and small street resturants. One building dates back to 1818. I had my usual Enchiladas Suizas at the El Paseo Inn and now I'm going to bed. They also serve breakfast, starting at 9:30. If I can wait that late I may try their Chilaquiles Sabrosa which they claim is the same as Migas. We'll see.