Reactionary

Ernesto freaked me out, especially with all the coverage. In my years living on the East Coast, I’ve learned that whenever the media overhypes some climate event, people overreact, inconveniencing everyone with interruptions and cancellations. I’d worried myself sick but Amtrak kept running trains, at least as far as DC. I got on after work and there were no problems despite the rain.

I arrived in pristine Union Station at about 10PM in the driving rain and grabbed a cab but two blocks away, I had yet another bad cab experience. Some blocks out from union Station, the dude pulled up to the corner and said, “My cab’s broken.” My “WHAT?” probably tore through there like yet another hurricane. And then he proceeded to tell me that he had no phone so I had to get out and hail another cab… in the rain… in the dark… in a city I’ve never been to in my adult life. I couldn’t believe it. For those of you who know, DC’s underlit, at least it seems like it because of its wide avenues. I had no hope in hell of grabbing a cab headed my way. Good thing the light stopped an empty cab on the other side of the street and he took me to the hotel. How can a cab not have a phone or radio? How would you get ahold of your dispatcher? Moron.

At my hotel check-in, the guy at the desk informed me that my hotel room had been upgraded to a junior suite. Nice. It’s an old style hotel with a storied past. What’s known now as the Fairfax Room was once the Jockey Club and reportedly a place to be seen in the 60′s. It’s nice but no wifi! I’m online thanks to the hotel across the way. I’m mooching off their network.

Having forgotten my toothbrush and toothpaste (and the hotel being out), I had to run to the CVS in the morning and then I found a Cosi to have breakfast at. I had a ticket for the Holocaust Museum for 1300, so I went down there early and saw the Washington Monument in rain and mist. At that time in the morning, you couldn’t see any of the buildings along the national Mall until you were right on top of them. Depressing but at least it was cool. If I post about the Holocaust Museum, I’ll do it separately.

I spent about 3 hours there and then hit the Mall again as the winds started driving the clouds away. By the time I got off at Farragut Square, blue was peaking through and by the time I got to Dupont Circle for the second time it was downright sunny. I stumbled back to the hotel at about 6PM and have signed up to the wireless internet connection to post this and get some plans for tomorrow since it seems it’ll be a nice day. Pictures to post later. This old iBook can’t really handle too many things now, but it’s picking up the signal from the building across the street beautifully.

September 2nd, 2006 | Category: Life, Travels |  Print |  Send it | Subscribe to comments | Leave a comment | Trackback URL