Did the tourism thing this morning. The "big" attractions are only about 14 blocks ro 7 Starbucks from my hotel so I was able to walk down and spent the morning taking in the sites. I saw the Washington monument, Lincoln memorial, the Wall, etc. I met a guy named Don who volunteers at a kiosk selling POW pins and patches. He suggested I stick around till next week when the temperature gets up into the hundreds. I politely declined.
I saw the Whitehouse just on the other side of a metal fense, concrete blockades, secret service stations and the press corps. But the BIG attraction was a little tiny woman with a huge helmet of hair and few teeth that has been holding a peace vigil on the sidewalk accross the street from the Whitehouse since 1981. I was thinking she is probably a little nutty until I realized she's homeless can't be "moved along" by law enforcement because she is protected by the first amendment. I love that! I also thought it was rather interesting that there were about 5 times more people gathered around her than at the Whitehouse. They started heckling her (because it's cool AND productive to hassel those with diminished capacity) but were strangely unable to just walk away. hmmm...
I'm just about to go to the orientation and begin the actual "Peace Corps" portion of my trip. :) Stay tuned...
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