Meet Me in St Louis

Good pun for a title of this blog. Washington DC was the starting point of this ten day adventure to the States followed by a trip to Kansas City and then the home of Jazz, St Louis. There was a lovely surprise right at the outset when at the boarding gate at Heathrow I was up graded to Business Class. Made the seven hour flight certainly more enjoyable with the free food and drink, let alone the extra leg room. Brilliant. I thought it was maybe down to Nick who works in the business but it later transpired he had nothing to do with it, all the same, I gave him some credit on Facebook nonetheless! Everything was going fine until I arrived at Dulles Airport. The pathway thing, the connecting gate to the aircraft decided to have a technical hitch meaning the Business crowd had to mingle with the ordinary minions to depart the plane. The train to transport customers then took ages, as did getting through passport control. However by this time my luggage had been delivered to the baggage claims belt and away I went to look for my taxi, booked beforehand. Which as I half expected would be a trial. It did finally turn up after a few phone calls and the journey to the Melrose hotel took a good half hour. Finally I was to check in at eleven pm to be told ‘sorry the bar was shut’. There was a free coffee machine in the area next to he elevators but I wasn’t bothered, I was too knackered. My room didn’t have much of a view, rooftops, my reputation goes before me I reckon but the bed was the biggest I’d ever seen! Super king size! Comfy as hell to boot. Feeling hungry when I woke up I went against my usual routine and went for breakfast expecting to get stung. And I was. Very nice but for 40 dollars? I figured it would set me up for the day though, and I made sure it did. Destination this first morning was the White House which I was told was a good two miles away, ‘too far to walk’. Don’t think so. Asking a few questions regarding direction and I was on my way. Security around this most famous residence was as tight as you would expect, agents and police everywhere. The road in front was closed with barriers and blocked off to traffic, not unexpected, but as I wasn’t in a car, didn’t bother me. There were a lot of people mingling around but I managed to get a few photos with my iPad through the railings. The White House reminded me of the Presidential Palace in Saigon and when you think of all that has gone on in there, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights, and that’s in our lifetime, it felt a bit surreal thinking of the news reels of meetings by Kennedy, Johnson, McNamara, Nixon, Kissinger and the rest, deciding which way our fortunes and futures were going. Time to move on and head for another landmark, the Monument. Where back in 1963 Martin Luther King looked on from the Abraham Lincoln Memorial building opposite, in a ‘March for Jobs and Freedom’ rally supported by Bob Dylan, Mahalia Jackson, Peter Paul and Mary, and other notables, in front of an estimated two hundred thousand people. The famous ‘I Have A Dream’ speech. I had longed to pay homage to this incredible history. Amazing feeling. Next visit was to Capitol Hill, scene of the infamous Donald Trump encouraged siege of 2022. Not for the first time I found myself wondering how such an event could occur in this day and age. I had walked a few miles by now and was beginning to feel it so decided to head back to base at the hotel. On the way buying a couple of trinkets, souvenirs. Usual tat, fridge magnet and bottle opener. I asked reception if there were any nearby bars, didn’t appear to be, the girl told me to walk the other way out of the hotel and head west. To my surprise I found an array of them just half a mile from the Melrose. There was also a second hand bookshop which drew me in when I saw a George Harrison book on a display outside. I’ve read all that can have been written about the Beatles but still can’t resist a new book, in this case a 2018 biography by esteemed journalist Philip Norman. I had a couple of beers and a chat in a bar just down from the shop. Again price was over the top but it was a lovely pint. Then the barman told me it’s strength was 10%! Christ I could tell! Finished the day off just right! I was up early next morning for my pre booked six hour tour of the city. I bought a couple of sandwiches from a supermarket which I saved for breakfast, wasn’t going to fork out another 40 notes! Not sure where the pick up point for the tour was I ordered a taxi. And was dropped off where I had been the day before. On Pennsylvania Avenue. I could’ve walked it! Another 8 dollars gone but never mind. There were a few tourists on the bus accompanied by a jovial black guide who was both informative and amusing. Great character! First stop was to Capitol Hill, and even though I was there yesterday it was still interesting listening to the history of this iconic building. How the elected Presidents were sworn in here before being taken to the White House down the road christened Avenue of the Presidents. At one time there were some who wanted to rename it after former president Ronald Reagan but objections put paid to that idea. The Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Building, Roosevelt memorial garden, Martin Luther King Memorial were other stopping points as we drove around the city. More sober but amazing sites included the War memorials to the Korean, Vietnam and Second World War. Also the Iwo Jima statue across from the Arlington Cemetery. The tour was rounded off with a lunch break, a Mexican meal which was delicious in a restaurant called Nick’s Bar, would you believe, by the harbour and a boat trip on the Potomac River. Six hours flew by. Dropped off where we started, outside the National Archives of the USA, as I wasn’t too far away from the Smithsonian Museum I headed there to take in the National Air and Space Division which had some great artefacts from the 1960s Gemini and Apollo projects, including the Capsule from Gemini Five. Couldn’t believe the size of it! How two astronauts were crammed into this vessel as they descended the final stage through the heat barriers to earth, one can only imagine the thoughts of these guys as they hurtled through the atmosphere hoping that once through, the parachutes would open and land them safely into the Pacific Ocean. Courage doesn’t cover it. Exhausted, the heat was just bearable, I hiked my way back to my hotel to relax before deciding what to do next. Which was a stroll down to the bar where I enjoyed that 10% pint. I was knackered, only had the one before returning to the Melrose to finish the night off seated at the bar with a couple of gin and tonics. The barmaid, a jovial black lady, there all jovial! seemed to be intrigued by my accent and we had a pleasant conversation in between her serving other customers. Somehow we got talking about Wales. ‘The Red Dragon!’ she wailed, laughing. ‘Yes that’s right’ I said. Turns out she was a massive fan of Anthony Hopkins of all people. A couple of guys perched at the other end of the bar overheard us rabbiting on about Wales and they turned and asked me where I was from. ‘England” I said, ‘where are you from?’ I asked. ‘Warrington’. “No way’, I said, ‘my daughter lives in Widnes!’ Which is about seven miles away from Warringtion. Small world stuff again. I finished my G & T and retired to my room, and drifted off, thinking about the next leg of this adventure starting tomorrow, Kansas City. ‘I’m going to Kansas City, Kansas City here I come…’