I Heart DC

(Days 9-11)

Sandwiched between my visits to NYC and Boston (though obviosuly not geographically so) was Washington DC.

DC is the offical capital of the USA, but in late spring, it's also the unofficial capital of school tour groups with really, really ugly t-shirts. Radioactive orange with silly logos or lime-green-and-purple-tye-dyed, thet shirts are to help the teachers and chaperones distinguish their charges from the 50 million other cranky pre-teens being dragged around the Mall to visit Important Sites of National Significance.

Given that the entire street was choked by a mass of ugly tees, I quickly realised my chances of seeing Ford's Theatre were slim to none, so I hightailed it to the International Spy Museum. The exhibits are a smooth blend of fact and atmosphere (shaken, not stirred) tracing the art of spycraft throughout history and posing intriguing questions about the role of intelligence gathering in post cold war policy making. Plus they sell ninja t-shirts. Feeling suitably intellectual, I wandered over to check out the Whitehouse and stopped in front of a pretty building with a statue in front of it when it ocurred to me that it was the Treasury building and this was Alexander Hamilton! A man who is, according to Wikipedia the "patron saint" of American political economy, and according to me, patron saint of Wednesday night pub trivia. I immediately decided that this was indeed a Kodak golden moment and when a nice Treasury staffer who offered to take a photo of me with Al, said with an excited smile, "Your friends named a trivia team after Alexander Hamiton? You guys must really like economic history!" I felt kind of bad admitting the truth*, so I just smiled and nodded.

Three thoughts about the White House: 1) I was kind of disappointed not to see Jeb Bartlett. 2) Those snipers on the roof are probably the most (unintentionally) photographed men in DC. 3) The Ellipse would make a great venue for a President's Eleven cricket match. Finished my afternoon with a memorable stroll around the memorials and monuments and a forgettable meal in Chinatown.

I hit the ground running on my second day. No, seriously, I didn't realize how far everything was from everything else, so I sprinted between my hostel, the Library of Congress, the Supreme Court and the Capitol. There's this great tradition where each state sends a bronze or marble statue of two of their most famous citizens to stand in the national sculpture collection in the Capitol. The guide talked about some of her favourite pieces in the collection, and then asked me if we had anything similar in Australia and what kind of citizens we honoured, and all I could say was that I didn't think so (and think that if we did, the good people of Tasmania would no doubt immortalize Boonie in bronze.) (And then think - where are all these thoughts about cricket coming from anyway?)

I also managed to persuade an assistant into letting me visit the Senate wing, which I didn't have a pass for, which I thought was kinds of cool, until I remembered I used to be paid to get Parliamentary assistants to help me out. The procedings were mind-numbingly boring, and when Barry and Hillary didn't turn up for a quorum call, I took my search for excitement to
the National Air and Space Museum. Lonely Planet gushed, but I thought most of the exhibits were pretty lame and out of date. (Look kids, a video about commerical airliners circa 1984! Check out that modern design!) What was cool was the fighter jet flight simulator where you pay for the privelege of being strapped into a "cockpit" and shooting at enemy jets. Anyone who's seen me attempt any sort of computerised game that requires the ability to steer or sense direction will know I suck at it. Needless to say, I shot down two out of a total of about twenty enemy planes and spent most of my 5 minute flight quite literally hanging upside down. As I wobbled out, the operator grinned at me, "Damn girl! They give you a licence to drive in Australia? They crazy!" Clearly I am no Maverick. I am not even a Goose. I am a flighless creature that spends most of its time hanging upside down. Call me Sloth.

I walked back across the Mall t and found the photo op of the day, above, at a military recruiting fair. Clearly, the US Government sees no irony in setting up a row of heavy artillery and barbed wire in front of the Capitol. Hmmm. Then again, I went into the National Archives to see the Declaration of Independnece ("Dear Britain - it's not me, it's you. You're dumped.") and came out of a special exhibition on "the education of our Presidents" with the disturbing knowledge that Richard Nixon looked creepy from a young age, but Gerald Ford used to be kind of hot. Rounded off the day with a truly excellent night out in Georgetown hanging out with people from a bunch of different countries drinking beer and talking about politics and cultural topics beyond sterotypes and accents. And not a single ugly t-shirt in sight.

*The team is named "Touch the corpse" after a quote about Alexander Hamilton's actions to bring the national credit 'back to life." Hey, I never said we weren't nerds.