Spies! (Chris Day 2)

Sunday morning, Chris and I had breakfast, and hitched a ride to the nearby movie theater to watch Dark Knight. After the movie (it was awesome!), we took the bus to DC to visit the International Spy Museum. When we entered the highly recommended museum, we took an elevator up to the main entry, and were told to select an identity and coverstory for our “trip.” I was Carol Lui, a 42-year old architect from Santa Monica (I looked good for my age!), and Chris was Richie Carson, a 14-year old kid headed to Russia on vacation. We watched a short video, and were let loose into the Spy Museum. The first section had all kinds of tools and tricks of the trade: recording devices, weapons, disguises – all kinds of sneaky things! The second part of the museum was a historical look at spying. There were exhibits on early codes and cryptograms, spies during the World Wars and the Cold War, and even a section on more recent spies in the US. One of my favorite things was a cartoon they were showing about a soldier who blabbed too much about his upcoming deployment. The girl he was flirting with turned out to be a spy (with a carrier pigeon in her hat – don’t ask), and his idle chatter lead to the destruction of his ship, after which he ended up in hell. The devil even chastised him for not keeping quiet. The message was pretty clear! Anyways, the museum was really interesting, with a piece of history we don’t hear much about. Plus, they said that Washington, DC, has more spies than anywhere else. Now, anytime I’m in the district, I look around and think to myself, “Which of these people is most likely to be a spy?” It’s kind of a fun game!

After the Spy Museum, we went to my favorite restaurant (Matchbox) – yum! Then, we wandered back down to the National Mall to do some sightseeing. We walked down the Mall, past the Washington Monument, to the WWII Memorial, along the reflecting pool, and up to the Lincoln Memorial.
Chris at the WWII Memorial - He was born in Guam

We stayed awhile at the Lincoln Memorial, in part because while we were there a thunderstorm hit. We watched some great lightning shows play behind the Washington Monument, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get a picture of the lightning behind the Monument. I think I would need a much fancier camera.