Tuesday

Sunshine's second day of teacher's workshops ended a little before one, so we drove to historical Alexandria for the first time. It's as thrilling, architecturally, as Savanna or Charleston, SC; and being twenty minutes from Georgetown possibly keeps frat occupation minimal. Besides looking at buildings, all I saw to do there was shop and eat. I had good, peppery manicotti at Pines of Florence. Then Sunshine dropped me at the King St. metro, well down the blue and yellow lines in the southeastern District area. I hit the platform as the yellow line train departed, but the blue line was what I'd been aiming for: up through Pentagon and Arlington Cemetery to join my regular route heading east (orange line), then north (red line), to Maryland. Today was another movie day. When the blue train arrived, I got in the first car. There were seven other people in it. But, as we made our way along the raised tracks to Pentagon City,* I started looking at the Metrorail map.* Today's trip, as I'd planned it, was going to take me through a marathon twenty-one stations. I only had about ninety minutes. If I'd gotten on the yellow line train originally, I could've shaved off several stops. So, deep underneath the Pentagon, I changed trains: leaving a blue car with twenty people in it, waiting seven minutes or so, and getting onto the next yellow car along: a car so crowded that I could only make it about four feet into the carriage. I was still in the first car, and as we moshed our way to Fort Totten, and the red line, I was able to look out the front window.** I think my new metro goal is to snag the front seat. It's a totally different experience. [Cavin]