2010 National Book Festival vs The International Spy Museum

On Saturday, Sept 25th we made plans to head to DC for a day out. Our first destination was the 2010 National Book Festival  at the Library of Congress.  After scanning the official website and looking over the authors in attendance, I decided to purchase a book for signing by one of my favorite National Public Radio correspondents- Michele Norris. The week before, I had heard her discussing her new memoir The Grace of Silence on her radio program All things Considered.

  This program was normally on the car radio on the days I was returning from work in Florence AZ. If I wasn't particularly interested in my current book on tape, borrowed from the Apache Junction library, I would always tune into NPR.   I became aware of NPR during  Desert Storm , shortly after moving from Portland to Mesa.  I found the station while making the long commute from Mesa to Glendale and vice versa while working for the Glendale School District. I found the coverage of Desert Storm fascinating and  also  found  other programming  that I liked. My favorites are A Prairie Home Companion, Wiretap with Jonathan Goldstein and Fresh Air with Terry Gross.  http://wamu.org/

Tom thought it would be a swell idea to park at his office in the Foggy Bottom area and walk to the book festival. I put my complete faith and trust in him. It seemed like a good idea- free unencumbered parking and no trip on the sure to be crowded Metro. It seemed like we walked forever. Tom did comment that it seemed closer when he rode this distance on his bike the other day. Hmmmm, glad I didn't bring my sweater, left it in the car. As it turned out, it was terrifically humid that day, very unpleasant.  We finally made it to the festival which was housed in various white tents set up to accommodate the authors and spectators.  We made the trip from one end of the tents to the other twice before finding an event volunteer who could point us in the exact direction of the Borders book selling tent. The tent was stifling hot with no ventilation. The sweat was showing through the back of my shirt and my hair was frizzing-ugh. I don't know how the folks at the cash register could stand it, but they were full of good cheer and we finally made it to the front of the queue.
http://www.loc.gov/bookfest/

Literary fans making their way  through the purchasing lines.

Our next objective was to find Michele Norris' book signing line- #10 was  easy to find and one of the shorter lines. Some of the lines stretched on forever- Ken Follett and Richard Meltzer (The Book of Lies) Suzanne Collins (The Hunger Games Trilogy) were signing at the same time.

After a quick wait I was able to meet Ms. Norris and she was very approachable and gracious. She said I had a very familiar face (?)and we had a nice discussion about being newcomers to the DC area. She encouraged me to come down to the new NPR headquarters and take a tour-which I plan to do  sometime in the future.
I have started her book and it is beautifully written and and moving. A genuine pleasure to meet her-first objective successfully completed!

http://michele-norris.com/

By this time, we were tired of walking and  very hungry so we decided to have lunch and head to the National Museum of Crime and Punishment. in Chinatown.  Originally, we had planned to go to the American Indian Museum, but after finding out it was national Free museum Day I was excited to get free tickets to the Crime and Punishment Museum. I was surprised that Tom wasn't excited at the thought of seeing the exhibits. After talking it over, I realized he had earlier expressed interest in seeing The International Spy Museum-oops!  Spies, murder and mayhem- what's the difference?  We decided to make use of our free admission and  headed down to Union Station to catch the Metro to the museum.

Union Station is beautiful - we had a great lunch and even ran into the Obama's while we were there. They asked if they could have their picture taken with me and I obliged ,of course.


Some local fans of my blog.




We were talking with a store clerk at a barber shop and two unkempt men came rushing past us dropping the F bomb with raised voices and great enthusiasm.  The clerk noticed our startle response and said "this is union station, get used to it- they are just cuckoo-bananas". Okay. Stores and restaurants were plentiful and many of  the food court restaurants  take cash only- a common phenomenon in the downtown area.

Lunch at Union Station

Awesome architecture of Union Station

We got on the Metro train that would take us to The Crime and Punishment Museum- oh the humanity!  It seems we weren't the only ones who wanted to see the exhibit for free!  The line was out the door and as it is an interactive CSI type place, we figured  the wait wasn't worth it. Tom wasn't enthusiastic anyway- saying it would be "creepy" to see serial killer Ted Bundy's Volkswagen. I scoffed at this but was paid back with a nightmare that night after the Spy museum-(picture a toenail removal scenario). I think he was right- it probably is a ghoulish type set-up, but will reserve judgement for now.

The International Spy Museum was only a few blocks away so we decided to head there and see the exhibit.
Well, we didn't get in for free, but we did get our military discount and found out it offers a free night to the community the last Wednesday of the month with special activities. The Washingtonians are not used to paying for museum admissions as the Smithsonian's are free and many others are as well.
http://www.spymuseum.org/

The spy museum was a pleasant surprise- we could have spent hours there and probably will make a return trip. The exhibits were interactive and very interesting. It offered historical perspective on espionage as well as popular culture  figures popular during the cold war- The Man from Uncle, Get Smart, 007.  There is also a gift shop and spy cafe- I do recommend this- a fun activity for all ages.

We took one more trip to a Metro station and returned to point of origin. The Metro was under repair and there was an usually high volume of riders due to the book festival and free museum day. We were glad to get home. I took a hot Epsom salts bath and a three hour nap. Tom headed for the pool. Ahh, we made it- another adventure in DC under our belts.