Back to Keeping it Real Domestically

After quite an adventure, I am back in the ol' US of A. I was unfortunately not able to access a computer very often during my stay, so I will have to do my best to recollect everything that I experienced in the correct order. Anyway...

It seems that I left off on day three. Oh what a day the third one was. My lovely guide and I toured the Casa de Moneda, which I like to pretend means the house of money. Situated in downtown Bogota, the museum houses a collection of coins which illustrates the progression of coin making technology in the country. I'm a big coin nerd, so it suited me very nicely. A substantial art collection is housed in an adjacent building. Much of the art present were works by the artist Fernando Botero. His specialty is fat people and fat animals(sometimes fat fruits), in both paint and sculpture. My favorite was a quite over weight version of the Mona Lisa that he painted.

The Casa de Awesome temporarily standing next to the Casa de Moneda.

A nice scene on the way to the big square.

From the museum we took a short stroll to what seemed be sort of the national square of Colombia. I saw the National Capitol Building, which houses both parts of the Colombian congress. At the other end of the large square is the presidential compound. Both, in the spirit of freedom, were closed to visitors.

The National Capitol Building

Here is a church on the square with all of the important national buildings. Rather than try to recall its name, I will tell you that Colombia is a very catholic country, and that there are really churches everywhere... even in salt mines.

Here's me and Angelica guarding this presidential soldier guy to make sure he doesn't try to smile or anything.

As it began to lightly rain, we took shelter in a military museum, which might not have been entirely smart, being as the museum was half open-air. Anyhow, I got a quick run down of all the major conflicts of the country, from before the war of independence, to Colombia's involvement in the United Nations operations during the Korean Conflict. While we were avoiding the rain, we were also stalling until 7pm. One or maybe more times a week, depending on the numbers in one's license plate, a vehicle is prohibited from being on the road during rush hour. Pretty interesting way to cut down on congestion. Well, more on Colombia tomorrow.

A quick peak at some of the armaments showcased in the open courtyard of the museum.

The Circle is Complete

The very first entry that I wrote in this blog was about my experience assisting a small group of Japanese reporters on a tour of Springfield. That was the 7th of December. You can find it if you click on December in the archives on the left and then scroll to the bottom of the page. Now, in May, I return from Colombia to find a letter from the State Department. It turned out to be a thank you card for my assistance with their program. "Dear John, we uber love you" was pretty much the gist of it. I was pleased to get it, but I am pretty amused with how long it took to arrive.

Fan mail from the US State Department.

I was shocked on my ride home today to hear that my high-school, Ursuline Academy, is closing. A press release on the website sites financial difficulties as the reasoning behind its decision to make its 150th year its last. I am a third generation graduate of the Academy, and I was saddened to hear that I will have been the last of my family to attend. Now the dreaded SHG is the only Catholic high-school in Springfield. BOOO!!! Hehe.

Oh and PS. DO check out the Andres Carne de Res Website. Reload it once or twice. Click on the little boat. This is one of the best webpages that I have ever seen. Its interesting despite the fact that I have no idea what they are babbling about. Check-check it out. Later.

Colombia

I've only been here for a day and a half, but it already seems like a long time. In a place as different as this, my brain is working so much trying to figure everything out that I never have trouble sleeping.

Even the plane ride over here was different. This was the oldest looking plane that I can ever remember being on. Maybe just because the flights to Bogotá are cheaper than others of the same distance... I don't know. The whole immigration/customs experience was much more chaotic than you can usually expect. Granted I can't read many of the signs, but even the ones that were in English didn't make a whole lot of sense. So my approach to the whole mess was to just get in the shortest lines, and to keep walking until someone stopped me. When I finally got to the doors to the outside, I was stunned for a second. I thought I was just going to walk out and Angelica would be waiting there to pick me up. Quite a few other people had the same plan apparently. I could barely see the street through the windows. There were people pressed against the glass, and they were all waving and tapping to their respective loved ones. From the door to the car, I was asked if i needed a taxi by 5 different people. I never felt like I was in danger, but I was happy to be in the car driving away from all of those people.

The next morning we woke and had a huge breakfast. Here they eat a lot in the morning and work down from there... which is pretty much the exact opposite from how I normally operate. We then drove to the Catedral de Sal, which is an underground network of chapels and the stations of the cross. It is making use of the caverns created when mining this place for salt. In addition to the many assorted catholic icons carved into the rock, there are a few interesting rock formations caused by the mineral rich water that was dripping everywhere. I was glad to see it, as it is one of the highlight attractions of the area.

We went to a mall or two, which are interesting in terms of people watching and the occasional foreign thing offered, but for the most part malls are the same everywhere. It was also a lesson in economics, as some things are much cheaper/more expensive than they are in the US. It seems like food and textile stuff is much cheaper, but things like electronics are more expensive to the point that I wish I had brought something with me to sell. A visit to a bit shadier area offered such things as bootleg movies and video games.

Dinner was very entertaining. We went to a place called Andre's Carne de Res, which is much too large to be called just a restaurant. It was more like a small compound. A series of buildings surrounded by fence and covered in all sorts of cool artsy things. Many are made from things that would have been thrown away, such as bottlecaps and old rusty pieces of iron. Duos of performers strolled around keeping everyone entertained. I think that a place like this would do very well in the US, and we brainstormed a bit about how we could run such an establishment. Very cool.

More fun in DC

I spent most of the day of the wedding with family, at the ceremony itself and at the party afterwards. I really love weddings, and this one was especially good. Family, food, drinks, maybe even made a few new friends.

I did manage to cajole my parents into eating at an Ethiopian restaurant for lunch earlier that day. The experience is probably just as important as the meal itself. Everyone sits and crowds around a low, small table that resembles a drum. A single platter of various foods is laid out, and a bread is distributed with which to dip into and pick up the assorted sauces and meats. The bread is probably the most distinctive part of the meal. Its like nothing I've ever seen. Injera, as the Ethiopians call it, is a sort of crepe like consistency. When they brought it out, my mom thought that they were hand towels. Very unique. Floppy and thin.

The next day we got up bright and early. We put our sightseeing gamefaces on, and drove into the middle of the beast that is downtown Washington, DC. In case anyone is thinking about visiting DC, I will warn you, nay, implore you. Don't drive a car in DC. Take the bus, or the metro, or a taxi. The traffic in DC is some of the worst that I have witnessed on this earth. Post 9-11 security measures mean that large swathes of perfectly good streets are barricaded with numerous blocks of concrete. That cuts down on the available places to stop and cry when you can't find parking. Next comes the layout of the streets themselves. There is the usual grid of streets that the sane person can accept. Then, there's the diagonal streets that just cut through this framework for seemingly no reason. Then add in a sprinkle of circle drives. Next several bridges cross the river to bottleneck everything that might want to move. Keep in mind that back when these streets were named, J and I were pretty much the same letter, so don't bother looking for anything between I and K streets, because you will find only heartbreak. Mix this all together and you will understand why the president travels by helicopter.

So fast forward through the cursing, and aimless driving, and screaming at the map. Once on foot, we saw all kinds of wonders. A whole long line of Smithsonians are laid out for the visitor. Even mildly discovering these museums would easily take a week of ones time. The National Air and Space Museum is especially excellent. The world's most visited museum holds everything from the Wright Flyer to the craft from the Apollo missions. I enjoy IMAX movies, and try to see them whenever the opportunity presents itself. Here I saw Magnificent Desolation, a movie about the moon and the men that have been there, narrated by Tom Hanks, who is totally dreamy. After I finished my space ice cream, we all continued on.

Next we visited the National Postal Museum. I have been a bit of a stamp nerd at various times in my life, so this museum was a kind of interesting to me that others might not share. I still learned plenty of thing about the postal service that many people might take for granted. The museum was very interactive and interesting.

A quick visit to the exterior of the Capitol building was followed by a visit to the interior of the Washington Monument, which had a great view of the surroundings. If you look closely, you can see where the color of the stones in the monument abruptly change. The construction of the monument was halted for a time due to lack of funds and the Civil War. When building resumed, the original stone was no longer available.

We managed to get tickets to see a tour of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. It wasn't as cool as you might think. No photography was allowed, and all of the machines were chugging away behind several glass windows. I much preferred visiting the Jelly Belly factory in California. Now that was fun. A humorous sign pointed out that the workers present were creating more money in an hour than they would ever earn in their lives. God Bless America.

Ford's Theater is conveniently located across the street from the house where Lincoln died, for obvious reasons. It was more of an excuse to sell crap than a legitimate museum though, and I advise the casual traveler to give it a pass.

The plane ride home was unexpectedly eventful. Due to a lucky alignment of the stars, the direct flight between Dulles and Springfield Capitol Airport began the day that we returned home. Mayor Tim Davlin and a small delegation were on the flight, having just thanked Senator Durbin for the grant necessary to begin the non-stop service. When we walked into the Springfield Airport, a large group of people were there celebrating the first flight. There was free food and beer for everyone. We even got some nice stone coasters commemorating the occasion. Hurray. Best flight ever!

DC!!!

Today was the first day of my exciting Washington, DC travels. I am with my family, as the purpose for the trip is a wedding. Its only the first day, and I am already having a good time.

Straight out of the airport, we drove to Mount Vernon, the plantation home of George Washington, which is also the site of his grave. The whole compound was really enjoyable. Activities included a tour of the house, viewing the grave, and wandering around in a museum about the life of George. In the museum, I saw many parallels with the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum, which isn't surprising. It was very multimedia, which little movies intertwined with many of the exhibits. A set of Washington's dentures were displayed in a case, and a sign explained that the false teeth were a mixture of human and animal teeth.

The rehearsal dinner was at a place called the Monocle, which I read is a place that big time political people like to hang out at, as its really close to the capitol building. Not only that, but the Senate actually owns the restaurant. Really cool.

Elections

The last week or so was very busy for me. I did a bit of local sightseeing. The first place that I went to was the Lincoln Depot. Abraham Lincoln's final speech to the people of Springfield was given here. The next time this town would see Abe would be in a casket, delivered to this same train station. The depot's website is very weak, and it is generally the ugly duckling of the area's Lincoln attractions. It is owned by the nearby State Journal Register, which might account for it's low-budget presentation. It was worth the quick visit, despite its shortcomings.

I made another visit to the Dana-Thomas House. Frank Lloyd Wright is the most famous American architect of all time, and one of his masterpieces is sitting right next to the YMCA that I used to hang out at. It really is an excellent place. It is tempting to underestimate a house that I have driven by and ignored so many times, but it is a real gem. I definitely recommend it. I've probably been there five times now, and I still enjoyed this latest time very much. The design is so excellent that at it times things seem very new rather than very old. Of particular interest is a personal bowling lane situated in the basement. There is even some occasional Japanese influence hiding in the house, which is of particular interest to me. He even designed a few structures that were built in Japan. What a guy.

I took Angelica to the St. Louis airport on Monday, and I've been doing alot of running around getting her ready to go home. We still don't know her visa results, so who knows if she is even going to come back here. Luckily I still have my trip to Colombia to look forward to, or that would have been a much more depressing drive home.

Today has been pretty slow in comparison. I voted in Springfield's local elections today. I didn't really have to do much soul searching this time. My main local concerns are few. I think that the smoking ban needs to stay in place. The write-in candidate for mayor, Mario Ingoglia, seemed to be running on an interesting working man, populist kind of campaign. Once I heard him say that he wanted to get rid of Springfield's smoking ban, though, I stopped listening. True, it might bring a few more jobs, but the big increases wouldn't be in the waitress or bartender positions. I think they the big increase in jobs that smoking brings is all the nurses needed to bring jell-o to people dying of lung cancer. No thanks.

The other thing that bothers me is all of the people sleeping at the library. They've got to go. Let's find a better place for them to stay, maybe. But turning the library into a scary shanty town isn't going to do anything but shoo away the few people that want to take advantage of the lincoln library. Laziness is enough of an obstacle to keep people from reading, panhandlers will pretty much seal the deal.

Other than that, I am working like a beast of burden everyday. I watch my Lost, play the occasional video game, and do my best to keep it real.