Washington Weekend

I arrived in Washington DC yesterday afternoon. The flight was good. I worked most of it until my laptop battery died when I knocked out several chapters of Jupiter's Travels. The taxi ride to my hotel was entertaining, my driver worked as a salesman for a telecommunications company and drives part-time. He gave me a guided tour of the route and picked out places to avoid, the only place he said was OK happened to be the location of my hotel.... I wonder.

My hotel was in Dunn Loring, about 17KM west of DC. When checking-in my first question was the location of the gym, I fully intended to carry on the good work started on Christmas day. The hotel receptionist offered me a high floor. I like been high up, I feel that I'm getting a little more for my money.... a little more view, a little more elevator. Critically I was right beside a metro station that brought into the heart of Washington DC. I met a colleague and some of her friends that night for dinner and drinks in Falls Church, one of the older towns in that area dating back to 1734. After dinner we rambled across the road to an Irish pub for what I could only describe as a pint of syrupy Guinness. It had a odd taste, kind of sweet as if a sugar laced syrup had been added. I wasn't sure of the first one so I had another to make sure... yep, syrupy!

The next day I metroed into DC. I had to check out a hotel that my brother, who will be visiting the city himself next summer, plans on staying in. As I emerged from the metro station I heard the unmistakable roar of a Harley Davidson motorcycle and to my surprise it was a Police officer. The surprise was that he had a sidecar attached to his machine, it just didn't look right. He had a gun so I didn't make fun of him. I thought it might have been a one off (maybe he was learning how to ride) but it became apparent that it was standard practice there as I spotted half a dozen police bikes with sidecars throughout the day.

The temperature had plummeted over night and the thin jacket I had brought with me was not up to the task of keeping me warm but I carried on regardless. I spend most of the day in Georgetown, I believe it to be the oldest part of the city. It's not big but it is beautiful and you can spend a lot of time pottering around shops and walking the streets. It reminded my of San Francisco on ice. I got my hair cut in a small barber shop owned by an ex Vietnamese Navy seaman. He felt we had a lot in common, I was impressed with his knowledge of Irish history as he occasionally referred to it and drew parallels when explaining what happened to his own country.

That night I ate in a restaurant that looked good from the outside. Sitting down I noticed about a dozen police officers finishing their meals on the other side of the room. I thought it can't be bad then and I wasn't disappointed. It took them a long time to finish, I must have been there an hour and they were still there when I left... some things are truly global!