U Street

Yesterday I dragged myself to the National Gallery of Art and then to the Air & Space Museum across the Mall.

NGA was alright. I don't know. I wasn't really in the right mood. I was more attracted to the architecture of the two buildings than the art. There was nothing which really grabbed me- even the moneymakers like the Monets. I did like the Matisse cut-out room in the East Bldg though, mainly because it felt like a secret.

The Air & Space was horrid, and the less said about it the better.

I have come to the realisation that Americans don't do tea. I bought some hideously overpriced leaf tea at WF the other day only to realise that the house doesn't have a teapot (or a kettle for that matter, but I can boil water on the fancy stove quickly enough). I thought I'd try and find a teapot and also buy some thongs (or as these terrifyingly tea-deprived people call them 'flip-flops') so I headed out to the Fashion Centre at Pentagon City. And the cupboard was bare, bare, bare! I did get the thongs though, so it wasn't a complete waste of time (from lovely lovely Nordstroms though, note to the snotty young gay at the counter, up yours) but the only teapots were in the fine china department of Macy's, and even with my discount, I'm not about to spend $70 on a teapot for four months.

I have bummed quite beautifully today. I was sort of keeping the afternoon open as my lovely Brisbane contact is in town and staying with one of the mainstays of Public Affairs and there was a vague offer of drinks or lunch or something in the air. At any rate, it appears to have fallen through. For lunch I headed across to LUCKY CARRYOUT which is pretty ordinary Chinese food but the convienance factor of being across the street can't be stressed enough. So it'll probably win me over, despite sub-par cuisine. Also, I'm frightened of the staff. They have really aggressive conversations in Szechuan or something and it sounds like it will come to blows until the burst out laughing.

After my nap, I explored U Street a little more. There are some good looking restaurants to check out and I got my Maggie Moo's rewards card (DC equivalent to Cold Rock) though it looks more effort than it's worth... the only downer is the 7-11 doesn't sell the NY Times but you can't have everything.

Speaking of mild disappointments, the sausages I bought from WF tasted good but I have never seen such fatty sausages. As I was frying them, they were eventually wallowing in a pool of fat that actually made my health-conscious roomie go pale.

Miss Universe tonight. Am planning to commandeer the flat-screen TV.