Day 39 - Anything but Normal!

Turns out the Jennifer Aniston/Adam Sandler film we hired for $1 was really funny and didn’t bore us to sleep so we were fully awake at 2am still.  Thought best not to see the sights of Washington today so just chilled around the camp site.  Getting up late meant there were no free sunloungers around the two pools – grrr -  so we got a blanket and sat by the lake for a couple of hours instead.  Thanks to doing a food shop yesterday we had a choice of things for lunch so I make us a picnic of bagels, strawberries and cherries. 

A few weeks ago we managed to get tickets for a show tonight called Next To Normal which is touring and here in Washington for a bit.  After a few hours in the sun today we got spruced up and headed into the capital.  We’ve been advised not to drive the RV in town so we caught the little bus from the campsite which takes you to the Metro, 11 stops later we had to change to other line with 5 more stops!  Hurray out of the station we then had to get a bus for about 10 mins to take us to the Kennedy Centre where the show is being performed – think it took us about an hour and half….found myself missing the English tube!

The Kennedy centre is massive, it has a concert hall inside and has a few theatres in it,  one of which was performing the musical Wicked, one of my faves and was almost tempted to wander into that theatre instead!  We had just over an hour before our show started, not long enough to have a sitdown meal but a member of staff suggested we go to the terrace café, he said it was self service but gourmet.  And I must say it was very classy indeed, Oli had chicken, green beans and herb potatoes and me a salad… that I made myself… very gourmet!!  It made me chuckle to see men in tuxes and women wearing flowing gowns (must have been going to the concert hall and not Wicked) and were carrying trays like school dinnersJ

We hurried to our seats (with just a quick stop at the gift shop) and waited in anticipation for the show to start.  We have the soundtrack to this show but have never seen it.  Oli sang a song from it in a cabaret night we were in in February and introduce it as “possibly the most depressing show ever written”!!  It’s basically about a dysfunctional family and exploring all their deep issues – not exactly a night of light entertainment! 

The cast were fab and some were the original actors on the soundtrack, we really enjoyed it (enjoyed the right word I’m not sure with all the talk of drugs and dead babies)!  Funny the way some people behave in a theatre, we’ve all paid quite a bit of money for the tickets but some people fidget and talk and I think WHY you paid to come here so watch it!  Others were in floods of tears around me, and others would gulp their drinks and open rustly sweets just when the stage went silent!!!  The theatre is possibly the only time I am silent (Oli says I even talk in my sleep!)

After such a lovely evening we couldn’t face that long journey back so opted for a cab, after all it’s only about 12 miles or so.  No cab would take us as they don’t like going out of Washington and we’re staying in Maryland.  Just as we were about to give up hope and figure out something else a cab driver said he would drive us home.  Patrick turned out to be a Sierra Leone born 63 year old grandfather, he has been living in the US since 1970.  He actually lives in Maryland so didn’t mind the drive at all.  He was a chatty little thing and turned his reggae music down when we started driving to point out sights and give us a free history lesson – Oli understood the political talk more than me – I can discuss Michelle Obama’s wardrobe but get lost during talk of left and right wings!

Back home safe and sound and we are discussing what to do tomorrow, we were going to go back in to Washington to sight see (caught a glimpse of the tall Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial today but want to go inside them) but not sure I can face the two buses and metro again so soon, so may wait til we head back in on July 4^th!


J&O