This was on the same work trip in Virginia.  I was staying close to D.C. so I rented a car for my excursions and drove into the city the day after Baltimore.  I thought I’d take an hour to cruise the National Mall, check out a Smithsonian, and look at the White House.  The Mall is HUGE and absolutely stunning.  I spent the entire afternoon strolling slowly from monument to monument to the White House and then finally ending up at the Capitol.  By far that is one of the most beautiful structures in the U.S. and I was glued to it for about a half hour, taking photos as the sun set.  It was a beautiful late autumn day and the temperature was in the low 20’s (celsius).  People had crowded onto The Mall to enjoy a free movie, picnics, kite flying, and lazing around.  It was absolutely packed.  Until I turned around after sunset and nobody was left.  It was as if they were anticipating vampires and the crowd skedaddled out of there before the sun was gone.  I had to walk back to my car, in the dark, alone, and it was parked about halfway up which is quite a distance.  It was fun and jovial before, now it was just eerie.  I got back ok, jumped in and took an evening drive up the alphabet streets.

On a side note, I was writing postcards home to each member of my family.  I filled one out at each stop of interest so if you put them all together it would tell the story of my afternoon.  I wrote my brother’s from the White House and mentioned how dumb I thought George Bush was.  All the postcards were delivered except that one.