This isn’t my first trip here (it’s my fourth; the first, back in college, changed my life when at a party here I took up poker and cigars). But I do have some fresh observations:

1. It’s hotter than Hell. Or at least as hot as Hell. No amount of showering or antiperspirant-application or anything in any way prepares oneself for the wall of heat awaiting one when exiting any building. Even at 10 p.m.
2. It’s humid.  Which further compounds #1, above.
3.  If you go running, no matter which route you plot, it is uphill both ways. I’m not sure how this is possible, but it’s true. It does lend credence to the saying, though, that “Washington, DC is 10 square miles, surrounded by reality.”
4. Every building in the distance looks closer than it really is, especially the town’s chief obelisk, the Washington Monument. Here’s the effect:  “Oh, look, [where we’re heading] is just over there. C’mon, we’ll walk.” I’ve fallen for this again and again. In actuality, [where we’re heading] is far, far off in the distance. We’ve taken the Metro often, but I do like to walk, and so I keep getting suckered by the city’s mirages. Which, again, lend to the unreality. And to walking all 10 square miles in blistering heat, rolling humidity, and one’s own leaking torso.

Now we’re off to the International Spy Museum. If I see a Bush/Cheney closed-circuit camera trained upon the entrance, that will just provide further irony.

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 28th, 2008 at 8:26 am and is filed under Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.