On, Then Off, The Rails

I left New York this morning, bidding farewell to fine stores and food and crowds and Actual View of the Actual Empire State Building, to make my way to my next stop of Washington D.C.. Actually, I almost didn't leave, because I gave myself only half an hour to get to Penn Station from 38th and Park, figuring it would be plenty of time. And it was, if by "plenty" you mean "just enough to make it there as they were boarding the train." They have some traffic in New York City, did you know that?

Anyway, I did make the train, which is all that really matters, though it would have been nice to be able to chose a seat besides the one in front of the woman who spent the first hour and a half of the trip gabbing away on her cell phone. Seriously, who even has that much to say?


Abigail met me at the New Carrolton station, which appears to be somewhere in Maryland, though it's hard to say for sure; everything's so close together here. For example, I have been in five states today, and a District, in less time than it takes to get bored of I-5 on the way to LA. We drove back to her apartment, which is definitely in Maryland, in Rockville, to be exact. (The same Rockville that REM advises against going back to? I'm not sure, but the song has been stuck in my head all day.) We spent some time hanging out and catching up, then took the Metro into DC for tapas and some limited sightseeing.

Lot of monuments around here. The Washington Monument was probably the most impressive, especially with the reflection in the reflecting pool. True to form, I choked up at the World War II memorial (I'm such a damn sap for that stuff), but in terms of content and composition the Lincoln Memorial was probably the best. Not exactly the place for quiet contemplation of that dark moment in American history, what with the hordes of tour groups hording around, even at nine o'clock at night. (In those TV shows where the characters are having secret meetings there, they always leave that part out.) It was really just a brief introduction to the sights of the City, but that's okay, there will be time for more tomorrow. Tomorrow we do museums.