So I have now officially gotten my first taste of what Couch Surfing is all about. I spent my first night in DC at Wendy's house, and am currently staying with Aureliene (he's a French guy, in case you were wondering). Unfortunately Areliene has just moved to DC, so hasn't got much furniture, so I'm actually more surfing the floor. At least he does have a comfy carpet! So far my stay in Washing ton has been very successful. After leaving Wendy's house in Glenmont on Friday morning, I realised that I was stuck with my baggage, and that they were probably not going to allow me to traipse around the Smithsonian museums with 2 backpacks, so I decided to rather do a tour of the monuments. I started at the Smithsonian Station, and went past the Washington Monument, which is actually rather massive! It seems smaller in the movies/picture. I then went through the WWII memorial, and walked past where the pool of reflection used to be. It is currently under renovation, so is just a muddy puddle, with a bunch of bulldozers in it. That was a real disappointment, as it messed with my picture taking. I then trekked all the way to the Lincoln Memorial, which was good, but it was a great trek, with all of my baggage! I then walked past the Vietnam Memorial to Constitution Pool, where there is a little island with a monument to the people who signed the first constitution. I then walked past the White House, and then made a beeline for the nearest Starbucks to check my couch surfing status ( I hadn't finalised anything for the night, so I was a bit concerned). After that I headed off to Capitol Hill, and then I got a message from Aureliene saying he was home, so I should come there before he went out again, so I got the metro to his place, where it was very good to finally take off my backpack. I definitely did burn a few calories that day! It turned out that Aureliene's friend cancelled on him, so instead we went out to the local pub for a beer.
Saturday i got up early, and took the metro to the Smithsonian. I first went into the Smithsonian Castle, and then went to the Air and Space museum. That was really interesting with displays about the Wright Brothers probably being the highlight for me. I then went to the art gallery next door, and almost got lost in its labyrinth! Can't say I enjoy art any better though. I did go check out some sculptures, and was impressed by one by Roy Lichtenstein, which really played havoc with your senses.
I then had planned to go to a street festival with some other couch surfers. I first made a stop at Starbucks to get my bearings and my coffee, then I headed off to the address where I was supposed to meet the others. I arrived there, and it looked suspiciously like I was at the wrong place, there was no festival, and where there was meant to be a bay, there was a large office block! After much going back and fort, I eventually discovered that I was on H Street NW and needed to be on H Street NE, and all of the streets go from 1 W upwards as they go more West, and from 1 E upwards as they go more East, which was the whole problem, so I had to basically go to the other side of town to get to where I met the fellow couchsurfers. fortunately they had got there late, so I didn't have to worry. It was a fun night's socialising, as it is always great to meet people from another place.
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