'From the moment you step through the door, this museum sucks you into a barely-lit netherworld of the bizarre and the ridiculous.'

Helen Angove takes us on her personal tour of Los Angeles.

We’ve lived in LA for two years now, and having had a fairly constant stream of visitors from England, needing to be entertained during their stay, we have had to hit the tourist trail fairly hard.

So - tourist attractions in LA. Which means Hollywood, Disneyland, and a trip out to Las Vegas, right? Not being the Tinseltown or theme-park types, or compulsive gamblers, this didn’t exactly thrill us.

But we soon discovered that Los Angeles does have its moments of tranquil reflection, and its moments of mind-warping weirdness. So, if you had 48 hours to spend with me in LA (and plenty of stamina), where might I take you?

We would start, of course, with breakfast on the porch at Marstons in Pasadena. A real American breakfast can be a wonderful thing - and I don’t mean sad packet-mix pancakes and 'eggo' syrup, served confusingly with bacon and sausage. Marstons will treat you to one of the best breakfasts you will ever have - all home-made with fresh ingredients -and you won’t have room for lunch.

To walk off breakfast, I would suggest a hike - and fortunately you are only about 5 miles away from the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains.

The San Gabriel Mountains are a true wilderness area, butting right onto the edge of the city. Of course, thousands of Angelinos all desperate to get away from concrete and tarmac can put a certain amount of strain on the resources, but just walk a couple of miles or so away from your car, and you are almost guaranteed solitude.

Going right up into the mountains (sadly beyond the scope of today’s itinerary) also takes you above LA’s habitual smog cover . In fact, on a bad day you can stand at a viewpoint looking out over the city - and fantasise that you are hundreds of miles from civilisation, because all you can see is a rolling sheet of cloud.

Back to Pasadena, the next stop is the Huntington Library. The Huntington Library is world renowned - and justly so - for its collection of rare books and manuscripts, but most visitors actually come here for the fabulous botanical gardens and the art collection. And if you are feeling homesick, the tea room serves excellent cream teas - although be warned, you need to reserve your table (sometimes weeks) in advance.

Finally, we would end the day with an evening amble round Caltech Campus, the prettiest university campus I have ever seen. Oxford or Cambridge may be grander, but with its Spanish-style architecture, landscaped gardens and lily ponds, Caltech is the most relaxed and charming. Perhaps a relaxed and charming campus is a necessity, given that this academic hot-house has the highest suicide rate of any university in the US.

Day 2 would see us head over to the west of LA. First stop - the weirdly and wonderfully named Museum of Jurassic Technology.

From the moment you step through the door, this museum sucks you into a barely-lit netherworld of the bizarre and the ridiculous. As you wander bewildered through the labyrinthine corridors there is no knowing what you will find next - miniature pictures composed entirely of the scales of butterfly wings perhaps, or dioramas of trailer-park homes, or a plate of mice on toast.

And if, after an unspecified length of time spent wandering, you find yourself tired and thirsty, and in front of a flight of stairs - don’t hesitate to climb them. They lead to the Russian tea room, where you will be served hot tea from a samovar. Well, what else would you expect?

After the strangeness of MJT, you may find yourself craving some real culture, so we will head on out to the Getty Museum. If ever a place were tribute to one man’s megalomania, this is it. Perched arrogantly on a foothill of the Santa Monica Mountains, this magnificent edifice grandly surveys its view over Hollywood and Santa Monica. It was built to house, and show off, the art collection assembled by the oil magnate John Paul Getty. Even if you don’t want to see the art collections, it’s worth going for the architecture and the landscaping.

Finally, once you are footsore, tired and bewildered, we head back to downtown LA. Which may sound like a strange choice, until we reach our destination - LA’s Roman Catholic Cathedral.

Despite being situated right near the centre of downtown LA, and practically on top of one of its busiest freeways, the cathedral is an oasis of cool tranquillity. The extraordinary building is an exercise in spatial geometry, with windows made of mica bathing the interior in mellow sepia tones, and specially commissioned artwork and tapestries on the walls. And if all you really want, by this time, is a sit down and something to eat - well, the cafe’s pretty good, too.

Helen Angove is a former Anglican priest from the UK who moved to California in July 2003.

• Read other Emails from America