When I wrote my last entry, I had visions of being welcomed home to America in style. I would fly over the Capitol and the White House on a glorious sunny afternoon, and there might even be trumpets playing as I went through customs. (Okay, that last bit is an exaggeration.) As I'm sure you've guessed, this idealized vision was not fulfilled.
My flight from Dublin to Amsterdam was delayed by a half an hour. I sat in tense anxiety for the last twenty minutes of the flight, hoping I could make my connecting flight to D.C. I ran through the Amsterdam airport, computer backpack and purse bouncing against my body the whole way. I reached the gate with several minutes to spare. Out of breath but relieved, I passed through security and got in the boarding line. They scanned my ticket but there was a problem and I had to go speak to someone at a nearby desk. Apparently while I had made it to the gate on time, my checked luggage had not. I'd been re-booked for another flight the same day. I was disappointed, but the next flight was just a couple hours later, so I assumed I'd still have a somewhat shortened afternoon/evening with Ann.
No such luck. When I got to the desk to pick up my new ticket, I found out that my flight wasn't direct. I'd have a layover in Newark and arrive in D.C. at 9:50 p.m. I was seriously fighting back tears at this point. My time with Ann was already going to be short, and now it was going to be diminished by a whole day! Plus I was really frustrated about having to transfer yet again and waste more of my life hanging around in airports. (I realized rationally that I was lucky not to have to spend the night in Amsterdam, but I still felt annoyed.)
After a long flight across the Atlantic, I finally made it to Newark. I didn't realize I had to re-check my baggage, but fortunately I figured it out. Even more fortunately, they didn't weigh it so I didn't have to pay the overweight fee (they hadn't weighed it in Dublin either). I waited out my 2-hour layover more or less patiently--or at least resigned. When I found out that this flight had been delayed as well, I was mildly annoyed but too exhausted to put any real passion into it. And I wasn't in the least surprised. It just seemed to be my luck that day.
I finally got on the plane, but it had to taxi around on the runway for a while. The captain announced that we were 25th in the queue to take off and we'd probably be leaving around 10:00 p.m. (That's ten minutes after we were supposed to arrive in D.C. originally.) Again, I was too tired to feel more than a slight twinge of frustration and have the interesting thought that what had started as a half-hour delay had become an eight-hour delay for me. We did end up getting bumped up in the queue, so we got to D.C. around 10:45. Ann and I then spent almost two hours on public transportation (including waiting time) with my massive luggage. We got to her place around 1:00 a.m.
The next day, I realized that the American sunshine I'd been dreaming of was not to be. In fact, I'd chosen to come to D.C. right as a tropical storm was coming up the coast. But I genuinely thought this was hilarious, mostly because I was enjoying being with Ann and was relieved to finally be in D.C. We walked to the Library of Congress (which was really magnificent and fascinating) in the hurricane rain. We were soaked but enjoying ourselves. There was quite a stark contrast between the sites I'd been seeing in the UK and the D.C. sites. For one thing, all the "historical" buildings in D.C. obviously seemed so young! For another, I was a bit amused by their idealized views of America. For instance, the ceiling of the Reading Room in the Library of Congress portrays America as the culmination of western civilization (Greek philosophy, Israeli religion, English literature, French and Italian art or something, etc). The entrance hall was designed to mimic the Italian Renaissance style, and one of the distinguishing features of this style is cherubs lounging on clouds. The designers decided that American cherubs wouldn't just sit on clouds, so they sculpted cherubs that were busy creating, inventing, and working. I thought this was so hilarious, and it was one of my favorite features of the Library.
Later that afternoon, the weather cleared up beautifully and we walked past all the major sites, including the Washington Monument, WWII Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam War Memorial, the Capitol, and the White House. They were all quite stately and impressive, and I really enjoyed seeing these icons of American government.
The next day, we went to a church that meets in the AMC movie theater in Union Station. It was a fun location, and it was great to go to church again because I hadn't been for probably two months. After that, we went to the Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian, which was an exceptionally good museum. We saw a version of the Lunar Module, which neither of us could believe actually made it in space. There was also an exhibit called "Exploring the Planets" from which Pluto had been recently excluded.
That evening, we went to a show called Shear Madness at the Kennedy Center. It's a humorous murder mystery that involves improvisation and audience participation. At one point,, they have the audience vote on which suspect they think committed the crime. "Whichever way you vote, that's the way we play it," they told us at the end. So whoever gets the most votes is portrayed as the guilty party. The actors were all really good, and it was so fun to see such a unique show!
This morning, Ann and I got up early to come to the airport. My suitcase weighed almost 70 pounds! Needless to say, I had to pay the overweight luggage fee, which was $80. I thought it was only going to be $50, but I'm not complaining since I only had to pay the fee once. I'm now on the plane to JFK in New York City, where I have a 2-hour layover. And then it will be on to Minnesota.
Thanks to everyone who joined me on my "Albion adventures." Throughout my trip, I occasionally saw the word "Albion" and I tried to take a picture of it any time I saw it. To conclude this blog, I will post a picture of a pub called The Albion which I saw in Bristol. I hope you're all doing well, and hopefully I can see you all soon!
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