Going around Washington

August 30, 2005 (Tuesday)
Washington
6:20 p.m.

I had my first Metro ride today. I started at Dupont Circle Station, got off at Metro Station and took another train to the Federal Station.

I went to the Air and Space Museum and the American Indian Museums of the Smithsonian, then to the US House of Representatives and had an insider look of the Capitol via the tunnels underneath. I later went to the Library of Congress then to the Supreme Court building then straight to the Union Station to meet Abi Wright of the Committee to Protect Journalists.

It was another long walk with Alan Rudley, my guide who has a 150 hectare piece of land in West Virginia where he raises 50 heads of cattle. He also restores old wooden houses in his neighborhood and works for the state department for a few months of the year. He studied political science majoring in American history but fell in love with farming after visiting an uncle in a farm when he was a kid. During his college days, he decided to go back to the country and farm.

I’m leaving this evening for dinner with James Mitchell. He’s an author and I-don’t-know-what.