Washington, Washington D.C.

There are a huge number of Russians here—they are really easy to spot. Students, some heading home, some still traveling. I have big plans for today, I need to get going...

Okay. Washington. According to the map, it's a bit far from the station to the center, but in reality, it's close. What the guidebook says about "sketchy neighborhoods" near the station is nonsense; it's quite decent and not scary, unlike Los Angeles, for example. I made it to the Capitol, checked out Union Station on the way (a huge railway station in an antique style)—it's cool, statues of ancient warriors with the American flag underneath them =) There are homeless people sleeping in front of the station.

I spent half an hour making scary faces at the camera in front of the Capitol security =) By the way, there is a terrifying number of cops here! And a terrifying number of squirrels!

From the Capitol, I briskly trudged (or so I thought) toward the White House. I kept walking, and residential blocks started appearing, two-to-three-story private houses (reminded me of my home in West Chester). According to the map, there should be monuments to George Washington and a bunch of tourists here, but instead, I have some semi-students/semi-homeless people sitting in a circle on the lawn in front of the library, discussing a magazine as far as I could tell, and no one else is here...

What's going on?? I ask a passerby. It turned out that some wise guy in Washington decided to name the streets symmetrical to the Capitol the same way... They are mirrored, and I had walked in the completely wrong direction according to the map =)

It took an hour to get where I needed to go. All the monuments, memorials, museums, etc., are mainly concentrated around (and directly on) a huge, trampled green field. In the middle of the field is a huge rectangular pool half a meter deep, familiar to me from the movie Forrest Gump, when he ran through this pool to Jenny at an anti-war rally =) Special people walk around the pool and fish out trash. (By the way, speaking of Forrest, I've encountered Bubba Gump restaurants in all the big coastal cities.)

On the way to the center, a Chinese saleswoman gave me free bananas in addition to the apples I bought. I had to throw half away—I was stuffed =)

I went into the Museum of the American Indian, one of the famous Smithsonian museums. Okay. A drunk Turk just tried to talk to me, I couldn't concentrate. The Turk has been dealt with and I'm continuing =) In short—the museum sucks, there are hardly any exhibits + they are arranged senselessly + half of them have little to do with Indians anyway. But there are tons of bells and whistles, lighting effects, "architecture," and music—it's shoved everywhere, whether it's needed or not. I bought a book there with photos and, as stated in the table of contents, quotes from Indian chiefs; I paid $15...

Then I went to look for the Abode of Evil. It's easy to find the Federal Reserve building, everything is nearby. Initially, the plan was to throw a rock at it. But upon arriving at the scene, I decided that the guards with M-16s (I don't know what kind of rifles they have now, but in the past, I played Delta Force and that's what it was called there=) well, these guards might think I threw a grenade. I didn't. The building is really like a fortress—a bunch of cops, fences, booths, and cameras. I asked a woman in uniform, "Why are there so many of you here?" "Security is improved since 9/11," she says, smiling, the bitch =)) I honestly asked her for permission to at least spit on the abode of evil. Not allowed.

I also climbed the Washington Monument (200 meters, free, you just had to get an entry ticket in advance at a special booth. They write the date of entry on it; I got one for 3 days later). Took photos from above.

I fed the squirrels an apple; it was the first time I'd seen so many at once, there's a photo where there are 5 of them =) Ducks also started eating the apple. Somewhere there, I lost my guidebook, Rough Guide to USA; it cost me $30, but the main thing is that I traveled all over America with it under my arm =((

I was very upset and spent the rest of the day trying to find it, walked around all the places I had been, forced a guard to climb the Washington Monument even though it was already closed. He didn't find it =(

I got to the station on time, completely exhausted, my feet were killing me. At 7:15 PM, I got on the bus to Philadelphia and slept through the ride.