As Chris keeps pointing out - East Coast America resembles European architecture & culture far closer than the Midwest. Here in D.C. that feels most unfamiliar & most true. Having not been to Europe I just take his word for it. I am basking in the tall, thin row-houses and tall green foliage. The flashbacks to urban Philadelphia every minute in the residential neighborhoods.
Chris is in his element here: he's been navigating strange cities on foot for 3 years now. We hit all the outdoor sites yesterday, starting with the zoo. Everything but Elephants, as the entire zoo was breathing sounds of the construction of the new Asian Elephant habitat. We saw my favorites: otters (also from Asia) seals, sea lions, & big cats.
The cats, which were all sleeping this time of day when I visited the OKC Zoo, were comparatively active. Even the cheetah paced in the shade of his pen. Chris & I left discussing dropping a giant white ribbon into the habitat.
Next up: walking. And walking some more. All afternoon we were shadowed by Asian tourists flocking to a tall man holding a yellow triangular flag. Reminded me of the "Anne" tours in Prince Edward Island - L.M. Montgomery apparently sells quite well in Japan.
Exhausted from walking (and posing for about 200 pictures between the two of us), we headed back to the hostel to retrieve our car and some directions toward Chris' planned crab meat feast. All you can eat baby.
Lets just say the Internet failed us. We ended up confuddled in downtown D.C. and then plain lost in residential Alexandria before we got to my Windows Mobile "live search" to successfully navigate to Ernie's Crabs. We were 15 minutes late for the all you can eat deal. We ordered 12 jumbo instead - same price, bigger crabs.
After dinner, back here at our $22.50 per night hostel, Chris & I stayed up late to discuss local tragedy and joys with Washa (sp?) an Iraqi-Lebanese ex-UN worker.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
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