Green, Blue, Red, Gold = Mama Mia!

Most of you know of my strange love for anything public transit. I often visit the local subway when I am traveling the country for work. Well last Wednesday I had tickets to go see Mama Mia (one of my favorite shows) up in Pasadena. A slam dunk on the train: I would have just taken the Metrolink into Los Angeles then transferred to the Gold Line light rail and been in Pasadena about an hour after leaving work in the OC. Not on this Wednesday. A railway worker (2nd day on the job) fell into an oncoming freight train so they had to shut down rail service into and out of the city through the rush hour commute... I got a far north as Norwalk then I got stuck!

Then it dawned on me... I could take the city bus across town to the Inglewood boarder and hop on the green line! From there I could transfer to the blue line, then to the red, finally back to the gold and arrive in Pasadena. A long trip but really my only shot -

What an adventure! Here is a video of me on the green line which runs down the middle of the 105 freeway - it was pretty clean and quick as we zipped along side the traffic.

Once I reached the transfer station I went downstairs to the blue line. The blue line was pretty scary... It ran through Inglewood, Compton, Watts then LA. I didn't dare take my camera out for a quick shot - the people on the train were staring at me as it was... I was painfully out of place in my pressed shirt and shiny shoes. Here is a clip of the packed train arriving...

Once I landed at the 7th street transfer station I hopped down the stairs to catch a red line train as it was pulling in...

Once I got downtown I ran over to the gold line and arrived in Pasadena 30 min later. I got off the train just in time to meet my dad & uncle Ron and take our seats for the show with only a min or two to spare. The show was awesome - a totally different cast from the last few times I had seen Mama Mia but very good. Pretty OK singing and flawless choreography... Mama Mia what a journey...