Travelling

I spent a long weekend in Washington DC recently. I was very enjoyable. I was concerned with whether or not I would be able to relax adequately during 4 days, but I shouldn't have worried. While in Vietnam, I purposely worked on being able to relax. It came in handy while in DC, as I made the mental switch to vacation mode basically overnight. I would like to share a few of my experiences from this trip:

1. I got lost as soon as I came out of the Chinatown metro exit. I took one look at the Friendship Arch, knew that I had to go through it, and for some odd reason I turned right around and went the other way. It didn't take me too long to realize that I was lost, but I couldn't for the life of me get unlost. I wandered around like a mad woman for 1/2 an hour before I finally figured it out. During this period of wandering, I passed a black guy leaning up against a wall. He watched me as I walked by, and after I had passed him he said "excuse me" very quietly. I wasn't sure whether it was directed at me or not, so I just kept walking. I turned a few corners, realized I had gone the wrong way again, turned around again, and saw him again. It almost freaked me out to realize that he was following me, but he wasn't terribly close to me so I couldn't be positive that he was following me. But as I went by him again, he started walking with me. "Hi, I'm Donnell", he says. "I'm Aimee. Nice to meet ya. Know where the Verizon Center is?" "Nope. I'm from Leesburg; I have no idea where it is. Can I call you sometime?" At this point, I was a bit confused...is he a stalker, pick pocket, rapist, creeper, etc? "Ummmmm...no. Sorry." "Oh, ok. How bout you call me?" "Um. No. Sorry." "Ok, bye." That was the last I saw of him. I love random, innocent encounters.

2. The guys who ride the horses that pull the state funeral carriages at Arlington all seem to be young and good looking. And apparently they just drive their carriages out to some obscure area during the lunch hour and enjoy a picnic. I stumbled upon the black horses while wandering around Arlington. The 4 good looking guys I met let me pet their horses. It was wonderful ;)

3. While eating at a really really small El Salvadorian restaurant, an older French dude sat next to me (I was eating at the bar). He was apparently really big into the "free love" ideology from the hippy era, as it only took him 20 minutes to start trying to talk me into accepting the keys to his apartment. Wowza. I was very glad when one of the ladies staying in my room at the hostel came in...I don't think she expected to be used as a wingman that night.

There were many more random encounters, including a night out at The Reef with Chris, Daniel, Simon, Andre, Kent, and an Argentinan who's name I couldn't catch. Super fun. I should get to work now though :(

For my next trip, I'm thinking either Toronto for the Royal or Oklahoma for Bedlam. Or maybe both.