I've had better days.
I woke up late, at noon, and got to the Holocaust Museum at about 1, walking past the Washington monument again:
It was free, which is good, but there was tons of people there and the first available entrance was at 2:45 pm. I was kind of in the middle of nowhere so I hung out in the cafe, loaded with vegetarian options, which is good, but to get in I had to go through a metal detector and get my bag tested for explosives.
So I get in at about 2:40. There are so many people you can literally barely move.
A bit of history, when I was in Sachenhausen concentration camp in Berlin, I bought a book called "The men with the pink triangles" and when I finished it said the author had donated his pink triangle to the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. so I was really anxious to see it.
I walked into the exhibit, 3 floors, and they had some great stuff but no triangle. So I left and asked the guard and he said "Oh, I saw that here, yeah, about 12 years ago..." and then asked someone else who referred me to the fifth floor archives. I get there and ask the lady behind the counter. I waited 30 minutes looking at a very nice white wall and she returned to tell me it is actually red and on display on the 3rd floor.
I get back down to the exhibit and there is no re-entry. The tickets for today are all gone. So I snuck in the exit. I didn't go to Berlin and Washington and come this far to not see it.
So I get to the place they told me it was and nothing. No triangle.
I start looking for a guard and see the one I talked to on the first floor. I show him the paper and we start looking for the triangle, shoving people out of the way left and right. No triangle.
We go back to the first floor and I wait while he makes some phone calls. 30 minutes later he returns and tells me its not on display. He says they only display 10% of their collection at any one time. I ask if I can see it, he says I have to call and make an appointment.
I leave him and go back to the lady on the 5th floor. She says "Like I told you, it was probably removed because its authenticity has been called into question" pointing out the description says a red star. Wouldn't they have checked that when they admitted it into the collection 10 years ago? This is the only one on planet earth.
I asked her if they had a picture of it, and she said they could scan it but everyone's on vacation now. She told me to email her.
I plan to write a story about the experience and submit it to the papers, this is fucking ridiculous. There's one of these things and its priceless and no one knows anything.
As I left (the place was closing) I bought a copy of the diary of Anne Frank. I can't remember if I have a copy but I don't think I do and it was only $6. Actually I don't think I have my copy of Night by Ellie Wiesel anymore either (the best book I've read on the Holocaust) but that was $9 and I ain't got that kind of dough.
I started walking back to the hostel and thought I'd grab some food before my 7:10 show of Boy A. I walked for 30 minutes and passed a Domino's and a Subway, everything else was closed. As this is a government town everything closes at 5. Neither had a vegan option so after 30 minutes I got a soy latte from Starbucks and dropped off the pamphlets from the Holocaust Museum and went to the movie.
It was pretty good, a British movie, a young man and his friend kill a young girl and 10 years later he's released. The review I read was right, his demeanor was too "Awe, shucks" and not enough of a dark side to make it realistic that he committed the crime and the ending wasn't great but I enjoyed it.
I got the zipper on my suitcase back on, for now.
Things I'm tired of:
- the window in my hostel allowing the wind to gust in all night because it's falling out:
- warm water, when you run the tap in the US the water does not get any colder. Actually warm liquids. There is no fridge here, everything I don't drink in 2 minutes gets hot.
- no cats :(
- people mumbling to me on the street
- being poor (who knew life was less fun when you have no money???)
- getting my bag x-rayed/checked for explosives everywhere
- the elevator here being broken and walking up 7 flights of stairs
- my room card not working and walking back down 7 flights of stairs
Here's another shot of my room:
Tomorrow the ball game and then outta here. I plan to get up at 9 to prepare me for getting up at 4:30 on Wednesday morning. Well, however possible it is to be prepared for that. The postal museum, the Capital Building, some art museums. Or maybe a long nap and an episode of Leave it to Beaver.
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