Yesterday at 17:00 o'clock we were at the Reagan National Airport in Washington. I took a plane to Philadelphia, where I would take the plane to Amsterdam. The trip to Philadelphia took only half hour; it's basically getting into the air and then landing again.

I had a very good flight to Amsterdam. The plane wasn't very busy, and I could stretch out on three chairs next to each other. It's the first time I really slept on a plane. The time difference made the night very short -- at the moment I'm writing this I'm pretty tired.

Jaap picked me up from the airport (thanks!). My suitcase was extremely heavy (with books). Today Jaap and I prepared tomorrow's graduation party. We picked up an extra stereo tower from Weesp, and we went to the supermarket. The beer came at 17:00 o'clock, and everything's pretty much ready now. Just some light cleaning. (1 comment)

Yesterday was the last day of my stay in the States and we spent it well. In the morning Rosa took us for a ride and I met Susan, a friend. She lives in a very beautiful house in a quiet neighbourhood. We had lunch at a new Thai place, near the World Bank. It was delicious.

Later we went for a short trip to the harbor of Annapolis, a small town outside Washington. There was a boat-sale going on, so the whole harbor was closed for non-paying visitors (like us).

But just around the corner was the US Naval Academy, where we could walk around freely and see the harbor from the other side. The town and harbor is remarkably similar to Medemblik, a Dutch harbor town close to Opperdoes (where I was born). (comments?)

Sunday we took it very easy, a relaxing day. We went out for brunch in Georgetown. We arrived there around 13:00 o'clock, so we're getting hungry.

We found a nice real American restaurant where there was a brunch-buffet being served: all-you-can-eat. There were many different types of food, and a lot of American things I hadn't tried in years. Very delicious!

We noticed that the personal looked non-American; in fact, one of the girls looked like a Bulgarian. When we left we asked her, and she was indeed from Stara-Zagora, Bulgaria. She and her collegues were working on the same type of program as Sasha and I did five years ago. Perhaps they will be coming back to the States once, and have waitresses and waiters who work the same program, too... (comments?)

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Friday evening we met a friend from a long time ago: Anthony. He used to work with us in Antonio's, the restaurant where Sasha and I met each other, in upstate New York.

It was great to see him again, after five years! We weren't even sure if we would recognize him but that turned out to be no problem.

We went from dinner and had a fun evening. Next time shouldn't be in 5 years! :) (comments?)

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On my first day here I saw the White House. Today it was time for the other 2 branches of government: Congress and the Supreme Court.

I went for a tour through the Capitol, the building where the Senate and House of Representatives are. It was really very nice, the guide had good stories about the history and present of the Capitol. After the tour I went to see the Chamber of the House of Representatives, which is the room where the President holds his State of the Union speech.

Afterwards I went to the Supreme Court. I was there yesterday afternoon as well, but the main hall (where the judges work) was closed, because there was a session. Today it was open to the public, and a lady gave a short lecture on how things work at the Supreme Court. It was very nice to be inside such an important institution. (comments?)

I went to the Library of Congress Wednesday afternoon. It's a must for somebody like me, who loves books and reading.

Next to the building, which is really pretty (see the picture on the left of the main reading hall), there is also a museum inside. They had a lot of special items on display. I particularly like the notebook of Edison, with sketches and drawings of his design for a phone.

In the evening we went to see a movie, Once Upon a Time In Mexico. It was nice, but not all the actors were very good. The music was wonderful though. (4 comments)

I am writing this from the main World Bank building, in the center of Washington. It's really interesting to be inside here. I got a visitor's badge, with my picture on it, that allows me to go around in the building. Before you enter there's a security check, like in most public places here.

The building is made with a lot of glass. The main hall is very light and it's huge. I saw the place where Sasha is working, on the 4th floor. She has her own office, very convenient.

Monday we had lunch together in the Bank. There are more than 120 different nationalities working here, so there's a enormous wide variety of food to choose from. I had an Etheopian meal. The chicken was very delicious, it was made with some spices I didn't know. It came with a small portion of vegetables (I thought). When I tasted it, it was some sort of sour sambal: extremely sharp and spicy. It's nice to experiment a bit... (Read More... | 2 comments)

Yesterday I made a trip outside Washington. I went to Mount Vernon, which is the mountain where George Washington lived.

It's about 25 kilometers from the city; I went there by metro and then I took a local bus. It's a long trip, but I enjoyed it quite a lot. I bought a newspaper (the Washington Post of course), and read it entirely. It's really big; it's the size of Saturday newspaper in the Netherlands. (Read More... | comments?)

I made a long trip through old town Washington today. I started in the US National Archive, which was really interesting. I saw the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights (the real ones!). They also have online versions.

I visited the National History museum as well. That place is just enormous, and I'll definitely go back there again this week. The cool things is that all these museums are free. This makes it very easy to walk in for just a while, without the feeling that I'm wasting my money. (1 comment)

Yesterday we travelled a lot. Rosa, a friend, brought us to a town called Alexandria. It's an old harbour city with a rich history. Robert E. Lee, the General of the Confederates in the Civil War lived there. We had lunch in a Tavern where George Washington and John Adams used to visit. The town is carefully preserved, and many house are in the old style, really pretty. Next to his Tavern we also saw the church where Washington used to go, and the house he used to live in (before he moved to a bigger place on a hill near the city Washington).

In the afternoon we went to Baltimore; a city north of Washington. We saw the harbour there, which is a beautiful place with many bars and cafes. Regular readers will know that I love books and reading. There was a wonderful, huge bookstore there, with 5 stories of books, books and books.



Today I'll read my travelguide of Washington, and after lunch (here in the World Bank) I'll go and see some other touristic things. (comments?)

Saturday we spent in the city to see some landmarks. Of course we started in the center, where we saw the White House and had coffee in Starbucks.

Later we took the metro to the Pentagon, something I really wanted to see. It's a massive building, very big. We walked around it, and saw the reconstruction from the damages of September 11th.

From there we took a long walk back to the city, over the Memorial Bridge towards the Lincoln Memorial. We had dinner in Union Station, the big trainstation of Washington that has recently been renovated. Saw a beautiful exposition there with pictures by a famous photographer (I've forgotten his name) of the city. (2 comments)

I am in Washington! It's really very nice to be here -- we had a great weekend together. I'm in the World Bank now, I'm writing this from a library.

I had a nice journey. The flight to Philadelphia took about 8 hours. It has been years since I flew so I really enjoyed it. Of course there was a movie, I saw "the Italian Job". Security was pretty tight on the airports. At Schiphol there was a interview, and everywhere there were extensive luggage checks.

In Philadelphia I took a domestic flight to Washington. I had 2 hours, so I looked around at the airport, and tried a real American hamburger. The flight to Washington was really short, it took about 40 minutes to get there. The plane flies right over the Potomac river, which makes for a great view over the city. You can immediately see the Capitol and other famous buildings. Sasha came to pick me up; it's very nice to be together. That evening we went to George Town, an older part of the city.

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Finally, I'm in the plane now! After a lot of preparations and arrangement I'm going on holiday.

Of course, I'll be still reachable by e-mail (my hotmail address is the best). And for the bad guys: the house is locked and guarded by a nice electronic system.

I'll try to update the website when I'm there; probably not this weekend anymore though. (2 comments)