Crazy German weekend. I went out to Arlington on Saturday to watch the Germany v. Latvia Euro Cup game [ euro2004.com ] with Thilo. The game was a disaster, 0-0 draw, poor showing by Germany. But a few Guinness made it better.
Afterwards we headed back to Thilo’s apartment. Drank too much wine and talked about random things. The thing that came up in the end was the possibility of renting a house out in Arlington—near Clarendon (and by association Whitlow’s) [ whitlows.com ]. I like living in the city, but a little more space and a roommate I know would be nice. Added bonus would be the 15 minutes off the commute. We’ll see, have to find a place and decide soon.
While Thilo and I where discussing this my phone rang. It was another German—R█████ [ confusion.cc ] whom I met in London. He was on his way from Baltimore to my place.
So back on the Metro and back to DC. I made it just after R█████ and his Girlie Danielle showed up. We headed out and had dinner at Thaiphoon. Really good to see R█████ and catch up on on all the stuff going on over the pond. Lots of good conversation at dinner and after that back to drinking and watching movies. Stayed up way to late.
So I spent all day Saturday drinking and then got up Sunday to tromp around DC all day. We only saw a few museums but mostly just walked around. We did meet two interesting people.
In front of the National Gallery we met a woman who was a recently retired Foreign Service worker. She was interesting—totally insane—but interesting. Talking to her she never committed to a single thing. Evasive as hell about everything. I guess that’s what it takes to talk to world leaders without bold faced lying.
Inside the gallery we where looking at a Jackson Pollock [ nga.gov ] when the security guard asked us if “we saw the insect” in the painting. Um, given how crazy a Jackson Pollock painting is we all had to say “no.” So he pointed out the small “s” shaped smear in the upper right quadrant that ended in the painted body of a insect of some kind. Can’t tell if it was a cockroach or a fly, but it’s fully fully part of the painting now.
We talked with the security guard for about 30 minutes. Found out that he was in the military for a long time—served as an MP in Germany. He guarded Elvis during ‘the King’s’ tour of duty, and worked Check Point Charlie for several years. He was really cool to talk to. Made more interesting that I was with a German who could add context and even more color to the stories. The juxtaposition of Rob—a well educated punk who grew up in the last days of the Wall and this well spoken ex-military guard who worked in the shadow of the wall, it was surreal.
All in all a good weekend, but man am I tired. I need to call Rob but am too tired tonight.