Washington DC: President Bartlett, spies, dinosaurs and flight simulators

I caught the bus from New York to DC way too bugger early in the morning and had to find my way to a wonderful corner in Chinatown for the cheapest bus fare - $30 return. The bus went through New Jersey and a few other places before getting into Washington DC four hours later. Given that I was only staying a night I only had a day pack which had basically only a change of underwear and my camera - so good to travel light.

I checked in at the DC International hostel which again made me feel like I was at boarding school and then hit the town. First stop was the International Spy Museum where I assumed the identity of a young British man visiting Turkey which got me through several levels of tests which I can´t talk about for security reasons. I was so good as a spy I was convinced I would get the tap on the shoulder at the end. I then headed for DC's famous "Mall" which for once is not a collection of shops but a strip of some of the country's best museums and galleries...and monuments. If you want to see American nationalist creative spirit at its best, you should check out The Mall. At one end is Capitol Hill (Parliament) and the other is the Lincoln Memorial. In between are all of the Smithsonian Institute museums plus the National Gallery of Art and the Washington Memorial and so many more. I went to the National Gallery where I feasted my eyes on Cezanne, Monet, Renoir, Rubens and so many more.

That night I met a colleague, Jon, on the roof of the Washington Hotel which overlooks the White House. While we were there the President´s helicopter came in to land, with its two preceding decoy helicopters. I wish that had the time to meet with President Bartlett, Leo, Josh, Toby, CJ, Sam, Donna and the spunks Amy and Toby´s ex-wife (Congresswoman...?) but the Cosmopolitans were just too good. We then had a fabulous Southern dinner as Jon was disappointed I wasn't spending any time in his native Southern US.

The next morning I went to the National Air and Space Museum and the Natural History Museum. The NASM had three floors of a massive building full of the history of flight, space travel and communications, Including old Apollo mission space craft and a series of flight simulators which I just couldn't resist trying. The NHM had dinosaurs, the Hope diamond and a great exhibition of wildlife photography.

I then walked all the way to the Lincoln memorial, past the WW2 memorial and then finally to the White House where an English couple, after taking a photo for me, said "Red hat no drawers" which means that a person wearing a red hat (like me) is also not wearing underwear. Whatever. I then hot footed it to the bus station in Chinatown and then back to NYC. Ecuador here I come!