Day 20: Thursday, 9 June 2011 [Guest entry - Ueli]
Richmond, VA
Abigail left before we woke up. We showered and got ready to leave the house. Chelsea was still sleeping and Jason played "A Thousand Miles" on the piano, which didn't sound too bad. After that we headed out to the Belle Isle, which is a small island in the river. We had to park the car on the side of the river and walk over a special pedestrian bridge that bent up and down and took us to the island, where we strolled around for about half an hour. The island was pretty - it was forested, and there were some people rock climbing next to a former quarry lake, where other people were fishing. Formations of rock extended into the river, where some people were swimming or just enjoying the sun. We saw some old Civil War buildings, including a former Confederate war prison.
We walked back to the car (covered in sweat as usual) and drove to a place called Buz and Ned's for lunch. We each had a pulled pork BBQ Burger, which was really good. We were lucky to find a parking space in front of the restaurant, which is not usual in the US. :)
A few minutes later we headed out to Washington DC. As we came there, we first went to the Pentagon and had a short look on this huge building from the parking lot. After this we drove to Arlington National Cemetery, where we went out to visit the Women of the Army Memorial, the President Taft grave, President Kennedy's grave, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers of the Civil War and the Shrine of the Unknown Soldiers, where one soldier was patrolling in front of it. I was really impressed by what I saw: So many graves for fallen soldiers who gave their live for the war of others…
Well, it was so hot and humid outside and we had almost to run back to the car to make it out of the parking within an hour after we entered to not pay for a two hours stay. We made it in exactly the time and it was perfect.
The next stop was at the Mall somewhere between the Capitol and the George Washington Memorial. We explored the Air and Space museum, which was crowded and full of visitors, and outside Jason asked two girls if they can take a picture of us in front of the Capitol.
We went back to the car and drove a bit through DC before we decided to drive to Georgetown, away from the traffic. We ended up in a parking space right in front of the Georgetown University where we parked the car and just relaxed inside with the AC running for maybe half an hour before we actually went into the campus. We spent about 15 to 20 minutes on the campus then. After this short rest, Jason liked to see and show me Georgetown. So we walked around for a little bit and ended up at a Bridge, where I found out that I had just lost Jason's green shades which he had earlier lent to me. In my defense I actually just lost about 2/3 of the glasses, because it was broken while hanging out of my pocket.
We then went to a Subway where I bought a cup of Coke. I was so thirsty that I refilled it twice with pink lemonade. Then we went to the river from where we saw the Kennedy Center some people rowing and Rosslyn across the river.
We went back to the car and Jason drove us to the White House while I was sleeping… Jason found a parking space at 13th street near the corner to 13th and G street. we had to walk about 5 minutes to the White House. Since I rested in the car before, I was not that tired anymore, but Jason was really exhausted.
We finally made it to the White House, took another picture, and went around it because I liked to see the other side as well. While walking there Jason got a phone call from his cousin Aaron who liked to meet us at the corner of 13th and G street. So we walked there and met him.
All three of us went back to the car then, and what a surprise, we got a ticket for wrong parking. We had an other look what the sign say about parking there, and we could not find out what was wrong. So we ignored it and drove to the parking lot where Aaron let his car in. We dropped him off there, he got his car and we followed him to a place called Evolution Burger. They ran out of cheese there so we had the choice between two types of veggie burger, regular burgers, french fries and salad. Jason and I each ordered Veggie burger #1 which came without seasoning so we added some ketchup to it. Once we finished eating, we drove to Aaron's house which was really nice, big and clean. We met 2 of his flatmates and had a short talk to them before we left again to meet up with Leslie back in DC.
We met her in front of the Beacon hotel and went all together to the U street where we went to the Busboys and Poets cafe/lounge. The staff there sat us on a table with a view outside and we ordered 3 pomegranate lemonades. After talking for a while, thunderstorms began to appear outside and Jason became really excited about it so, we made sure we can leave the place soon and go outside to see some distant lightning behind the clouds. Thanks to Leslie for treating us to the drinks.
Outside we took several pictures and videos of the lighting, or at least Jason did, and it was funny to see him so excited about this. :)
After this we drove back to the hotel where Leslie stayed and dropped her off there. Jason and I then drove back to Aaron's place. On the way, Jason took a ton of pictures and videos of the lightning until his camera ran out of battery, and I guess I slept again a bit…
We arrived at Aaron's place much later then we said we would, so we called him to open the door for us. We met his 4th flatmate who had a late dinner at the time we got there. Short time after we felt asleep, me on a big beanbag and Jason on the couch.
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