The Less Interesting TimesSpeculating About the Future

2006/09/11 Washington – City of Sights

The wake up call in this house is 7 in the morning, breakfast at 8. It’s all pretty nice. Like I said, a little bit more expensive but worth it. So far, I’m having a good time. I met the Chinesse girl who stayed here but she always seemed to be in the middle of an anxiety attack and I couldn’t understand much of what she said. Still haven’t figured out her name.

Last night, after I came back from town, we sat down and had tea and cookies and I met Sarah and Sarah who are also staying here. One is Scottish, the other English. I played a game of Cannibal Pigmies with Anne-Marrie, one of the employees here, which I declared victorious on her part because it was too late and she was better off.

So, this morning I headed back to town with the Sarahs. They stopped off in the middle of the way and went to the Adams-Morgan neighbourhood to meet with Sarah’s parents. Since she is staying here for three months, they just wanted to spend some time together. More on that… later.

I dropped off at Federal Triangle (Not a square or circle like other parts of the city) and went in search of the Bike-and-Roll stand. There I found the most interesting vehicle. A round-type bicycle for about eight people. Really weird. Anyway, I couldn’t get the bicycle people to give me the 10$/day discount on sunday and they said that the (stupid) managment insisted that to get that deal you must pay for 4 days and you must use the bike for the whole 4 days. You are not allowed to pay for four days and return them after three. Very weird.

I decided against that at the moment and tried for the Visitor’s Center. Which was closed on a sunday. Was it really sunday? I haven’t noticed. So I tried the White House Visitor’s Center. I missed the entrance and went into the Aquarium, decided against it and went inside the Visitor’s Center. It was just a center for visitors but it was for the White House so the security was like at the US Embassy in Tel-Aviv. Apparently, the face that I carried my swiss army knife bothered them. Ok, but why should my bug spray or deordarent bother them? It’s not like I was planning to set the flag on fire.
The center itself was simple but nice, showing some history, construction, artifacts, the seal, an explantory video and a nice photoshoot of White House employees.

Leaving the Visitor’s Center I circled around the White House. What can I say? It’s the White House. Both streets in front and back are blocked to traffic, patrolled and guarded. Pedestrians are not allowed off the sidewalk. I can’t take my picture with the guard. And if I take a picture of an adjascent green building, another securityperson wants to check it. Oh, and if you want to go on tours, you need to coordinate it six months in advance with your ambassador. And then, maybe, you’ll be allowed in.

After the White House I headed for the International Spy Museums. I’ve been told it’s one of the only museums that cost entry, one of the longest tours inside and one the things most worthy of seeing. And yes, it was pretty cool. It showed the history of the trade, how they did what they did, some of the things they did, the Austin Martin DB5, and told some famous stories of spies. I found it a little out of date with most of the articles pointing to a last update of around 2001. All things considered, it was cool. And they sell 6 seasons of Danger Mouse. Amichay, that’s 35 dollars per 2 seasons if you want it.

The Spy Museum took most of my day so I just walked over downtown. I tried the Navy Memorial which was really beautifully crafted but the center was closed. So were the National Archives so I scootched over to the Capitol Hill and took some pictures. I’ll consider taking the tour tomorrow or the next day. After that I headed for the National Law Enforcement Monument. I took some great night-time photos that will hopefully make for a good panorama of it. Then I went looking for the Jewish Historical Society building but found the Building Museum instead. Maybe I’ll go visit there.

Seeing that it was close to 9 o’clock, I started heading back to the guest house. In the middle, I stopped for groceries shopping and supplied my self with some vegetables for dinner. Prices here are a bit high. On the second bus to the guest house I came across three more girls (only one English, two Scottish) who were headed for the guest house too. Too bad they’ll be checking-out tomorrow. Oh well.

Plans for tomorrow include the Smithsonian, as much of it as I could do.

What have I learned today: A lot of spy shit.
Idea of the Day: Look forward to “From Dizingof to the Lost Avenues” in an RPG forum near you.

Posted in No Category by Eran with 2 comments.