Tuesday, May 26th - I Was a Spy in Kandahar

A slower day today – and a lot less walking than yesterday!  I headed to the mall to see how much of the Smithsonian I could see – not a lot as it turned out … With so much choice, I decided to keep with my theme of American political history and so headed for the National Museum of American History and (based on the recommendations of the Director who I met in the lift) saw some excellent exhibits including dresses of First Ladies, pictures from the 2009 inauguration day, the life history of Abe Lincoln, an overview of the American Presidency and, I must admit, most impressive was the original star spangled banner.   I was surprised actually how many references to the war of 1812 there were here - though the war is not known as the one 'Canada won' (as we are taught in school .... or maybe it's just how I remember it ...) but rather the one where England beat them back - and at the same time more firmly established them as a new country with a national anthem.  

I then headed off for my scheduled appointment at the International Spy Museum ... I was really looking forward to this as they promised a real spy experience ...  and they delivered - it was an activity where you pretend you are a spy in Kandahar and you go through a series of exercises/tests with a group – just how observant are you, how well do you listen, can you use a remote camera system to follow a suspect, unscramble a voice recording and ultimately, solve the puzzle.  It was really well done and just a blast to do – and let’s just say, it’s a good thing I’m not a spy!  (though I did pick the right outcome in the end .... black ops all the way!)  The main part of the museum was more traditional with the history of espionage but they had very cool examples of early spy craft tools including the lipstick gun ...  They also had stories of actual spy’s – both the good guys (e.g. members of WW II resistors) and the bad – the infamous British and American double agents.  It was a really cool museum – and one I had no idea about before I arrived – a highlight!  It brought all those Len Deighton books I read so long ago back to life.

For the evening, I had hoped to try and find a couple of the ‘political’ bars to hang out in - and had thought it shouldn’t be a problem - I had the addresses and the DC streets are clearly laid out … unfortunately, it wasn't til later that I realized the SW versus SE does have a big impact on the addresses - ah well, next time.  I was definitely missing my political debating friends back home ....

But in my wandering I did at least explore the outside of the Capital Buildings and would have had a good view for the inauguration had the time been right!