The Sun Shines

---

It's been one of those days where I've done so much, but trying to write everything down would either be 1) Too boring or 2) Too extensive, so instead I've decided to make a change of tactics and just write down a shortened blog entry. It saves me from having to write so much out, and it saves you from reading about how I purchased a bottle of orange juice and a small bottle of milk for just under $3.

So, last night I'd gotten off the computer having a good browse around the web. It seems that no matter where you go, the internet is always useful for something. I did think up a whole list of things to find out before I got back here, but either the long walk or my terrible memory kept dropping things out of my head like milk from a leaky carton, so when I actually sat down I had nothing to do. Oh well, saves me some time I suppose. I got to bed quite late, and the light was still on even though the resident travellers were both sound asleep. "I'm not wasting this" I thought, so I sat up on my bed and read my book. It's not as good as some of the other books I've read, but it kept me reading until suddenly the light went out and I was left staring at a dark space where my book was. The idiot sleeping across from me had turned the flippin' light off! I just gave in, and decided it was probably my time for bed. I was asleep in a matter of minutes.

Bright and early, the alarm clock buzzed. I was switching it off and still feeling tired, but not wanting to miss breakfast. So, I accidentally fell asleep again and missed breakfast. Oh well. When I did wake up, I had the longest shower in my life yet, because I figured I'm paying for this water and nobody else is here to use it! I got changed, and went downstairs with nothing but my camera in its case. Its strap slung around my neck and underneath my arm, I felt that nobody was going to take it away from me, and surely enough, for today at least, they didn't. I will say that I never even felt threatened with it here, it's just that type of place I guess.

So I was looking for food, and I happened to notice the message board had an FAQ of things to do and places to go in the local area. Not wanting to have Punjab food or a chinese meal for breakfast, I settled with the food court in the train station. It only took me a few minutes to get there, and when inside I felt the coolness immediately! I saw a cafe in the middle, and asked to order food there but the woman told me they weren't open until 11:30, but I was obviously mistaken by the gentlemen eating a meal on the bar in front of her. Sucks. The guy pointed out a place to get breakfast on the other side of the station, so i went there. I was on my own, but the place was empty and I was starving, so I sat down and had pretty much the same thing I'd had in Applebee's in New York. The Orange Juice was nice too!

I decided that after feeling full, I would now take in the sights, or as much as I could within the space of one day. I started by walking down pennsylvania Avenue, which would lead me to the National Mall, and that's not a big place with shops, it's the name for the strip of land with the museums and monuments etc surrounding it. I started off by looking in the National Art Gallery, which incidentally is free, like most of the other attractions in the area! The gallery wasn't as fun or as interesting as the MoMA in new York, but it did have some interesting pieces, including a collection of bronze figures all representing horses in battle. And some pretty freaked out sculptures. I left that without taking a lot in, but next door was the sculpture garden, and that was more my type of thing. It contained a pyramid made out of small white bricks, a piece with four twirling dangling cubes hanging from poles, a sort of perspective-aimed piece which looked like a house from the inside or outside, depending on where you were standing and a large fountain in the middle which had nothing to do with the sculptures, it was simply a memorial for some famous person. I soaked my feet in there for a good twenty minutes, it was really refreshing!

There are ducks everywhere in Washington, as well as squirrels and all those little birds which you'd have difficulty in spotting back home. And there are also flocks of geese like the one that landed in our garden a couple of times. However, no white ducks, but that was obvious; they are a British breed. It's nice to be surrounded by them, because they are all the 'cute' animals, and there's nothing like the crow or the jackdaw to spoil things (Damn those birds! Have you shot any of them yet?).

After this, and after taking a couple more photos, I decided to head into the National Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. What a cool museum! They had stuffed animals everywhere and everything is set up so well it is very inviting. However, I could not stay there long because I dreaded I would see many things and not be able to take a picture of them, so I went outside, and headed in the direction of the shopping streets to find myself a Memory Stick. As I approached the first few shops and saw them closed, I feared the worst. Had I missed out on some other national holiday where everything but the tourist places were shut? No, that wasn't it, because I just remembered something. It's Sunday! Where I would usually be in work, surely somebody else in this city would too! And to my delight and relief, somebody was.

It was only one block away, but the heat made it feel like twenty. Radioshack. They have shops in the UK, but over here they are a huge chain. I wandered in, first fearing that it too would be shut after pulling the wrong door, but noticing that it was indeed open, I got in and got my memory stick. I started to open it, and realised the little message on the back only after destroying much of the packaging. "May not work with certain brands." Oh damn. It was too late to turn back though, so I persevered there on the sidewalk trying to wrestle open those annoying plastic cases which you need industrial strength scissors to really open, and soon it gave way and I got in! It looked right, and I popped it into my camera and... success! It works, and still does to my recollection.

So, with a new storage facility for my photos, i was ready. My first stop was the Washington Monument. Now, it looks very tall when you're walking up, and even more so when you get up close to it. I always wondered if they had the same method of getting up to the top as they did in the Bunker Hill monument in boston. I pretty much threw out the option of an elevator because it is indeed a historic monument! So I thought, there could be steps going around the outside of the inside, but only of course, if there is a way in in the first place. I got to the top, and saw no doorway. I did locate the big room attached to the outside, and thought it was a tourist shop. I was wrong, because it was in fact the way in! I sneaked past the majority of the queue and ended up inside within seconds. What did I find? A metal detector right in front, with an XRay machine (I think this is the bog standard norm for most popular tourist places now). behind him, in the hallway, an elevator! I was definitely speechless for a second. I couldn't have expected it, but there it was, with a lot of eager people coming out and going in. I passed through security Ok, and soon I was at the top, looking out of the tiny windows onto the city below. It looks even cooler from above, as you can see the completely roman-esque type feel to one particular section of the city, with the tiled and white roofs. You'll see where I'm coming from when I show you the photo.

At the bottom, I had seen that further on past the monument was another place of interest, a World War Two memorial. A huge fountain with 56 pillars and wreaths surrounding it. It was nice to see it, but I wasn't too sure of exactly what it was representing apart from the people who died in the war. It was a shame really. So, I continued further away from the US Capitol building, which was the closest place to my hostel, and got to the Lincoln memorial. It's the one of the president sitting on a chair inside this big stone monument. There were a lot of the public here, residing on the steps probably resting after the long-ish trek here. So I started to head back, on the way seeing another war memorial, but this one was of the Korean War, with 14 men trenching through muddy waters and a pool at the end. I'd seen pictures of it before, but I didn't realise it was here. I'd only got to it by accident too!

And then I decided to come back to the hostel, but I did pick up two books after having a discussion with one of the people who worked in Borders about books in general, and I then got a smoothie from the Borders drinks place which for once wasn't Starbucks! And so I got back after another heavy day of walking and now I am going to go to bed with the aim of really waking up for breakfast but reading my book beforehand. So, good bye for now!

By the way, thanks for contacting me you guys! You really listened to me, and I appreciate it so much!

Russ/Epiq

---