Washington, D.C.

As much as I like Richmond and as much as I feel at home here and can actually see myself living here a perpetuity, there are moments when I feel like I let myself get too engrossed with this place and forget or rather miss out on the world that’s outside the city limits. But then, I get restless like that in any place that I spend enough time to feel settled in, hence the constant urge to go, see, explore whatever it is that’s outside of my immediate surroundings.

The trip to DC was really refreshing. The train ride itself was short, rather pleasant, scenic farmlands and greeneries briefly interrupted by suburban fakeness of Northern Virginia close to the end, until the train hit D.C. with Washington Monument and the top of Jefferson Memorial showing up right there, in the train window.

Other than a short encounter with someone I used to know in the past, I was mostly on my own. With nothing but a camera and a map, which I didn’t even look at, until it was time for me to find my way back to the train station. Alone, on my own, and I have to tell you that there is something very “liberating” about setting foot in a place you’ve never been before, free to wander wherever you want, with no destination in mind and no one to stop you on your way, to draw attention to this or that or the other.

I really liked DC. The supposedly awe inspiring monuments, government buildings and monstrous museums apart, I did like the little snipped that I saw during my few hour visit. I have noticed that when in a new and unfamiliar place, I am not really all that interested in seeing the sights and experiencing whatever is it the place has to offer its visitors. After all, having been a tour guide in my own country myself, full of its own magnificent sights and historic monuments, I’ve come to realize that the sightseeing itself tells little to nothing about the place and the life of people who live there. In hopes of getting the “feel” of any city, I try to blend in with people who live there, wander around neighborhoods, try to sneak a peek at what the ordinary, everyday life is like… And for some reason, that little activity, the observation of the outsider seems more fulfilling than wasting my time posing in front of one phallic figure or another…

This may sound nothing, but ignorant, but I really, truly had no interest in the touristy stuff that people visiting D.C., the capital of the United States, usually end up doing. I figured I’d always have a chance to do that part, if not sooner, at least later, when I’m taking my own kids to D.C. on a field trip. Besides, I really did not care one way or another where the government resides and where all the important executive decisions are made (the same about the government of my own country, if this is of any excuse). At the same time, despite the fact that I would have enjoyed visiting some of the museums, I had way too little time to see even a single exhibit properly, and I could either get lost in the galleries of Smithsonian and see none of the city at all, or try to see more of the city and leave the museums for later. And I chose the latter, figuring that the museums could wait , together with postcard worthy snapshots. And because I still was able to get a glimpse of the “stuff” on my way from the train station to wherever it was that I ended up, and so that I can say that I’ve been there, seen that, I got a few, not very successful shots that you can see here.

So I steered away from the crowds of screaming kids in matching t-shirt and started walking towards what eventually brought me to Dupont Circle. Stopped, got lunch, sat outside of a coffee shop (not Starbucks – the outside patios of the four Starbuckes that I passed on my way were packed), and watched the crowd. And the weekend crowd of the Dupont Circle is… um, lets say, rather colorful. So I sat, and watched, and daydreamed about some day in the future that I’ll get to live here. I would, in fact, really like to experience the everyday life of D.C., if not for long, at least long enough to get that “insider feeling” of this place that I came to really truly like. Maybe soon, say next summer, if I’m lucky enough to get a summer internship here. Or maybe shortly after I get out of school, to joint the army of freshly starched and graduated, still clueless and pushy “young professionals.”

For now, all I can say about my day trip is that I went to D.C. and all I got was a few lousy snapshots of the Dupont Circle. I really wish I had a better camera. Or knew how to take pictures that can capture not only visual snapshots, but the vibe and the mood, and the sounds and smells of a place, any place, cause the pictures I got hardly show what a busy and colorful experience I had in D.C.