Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
MiG-25 jet fighter. All of this used to be kept in a wonderful old Gothic brick building on
the Mall called the Castle, but now the Castle is just used for administration and to show
an introductory film.
I strolled down towards the Castle now. The park was full of joggers. I found this a little
worrying. I kept thinking, shouldn't they be running the country, or at least destabilizing
some Central American government? I mean to say, don't you usually have something
more important to do at 10:30 on a Wednesday morning than pull on a pair of Reeboks and
go sprinting around for forty-five minutes?
At the Castle I found the entrance area blocked with wooden trestles and lengths of rope.
American and Japanese security men in dark suits were standing around. They all looked
as if they spent a lot of time jogging. Some of them had headphones on and were talking
into radios. Others had dogs on long leashes or mirrors on poles and were checking out
carsparkedalongJeffersonDriveinfrontofthebuilding.IwentuptooneoftheAmerican
security men and asked him who was coming, but he said he wasn't allowed to tell me. I
thought this was bizarre. Here I was in a country where, thanks to the Freedom of Inform-
ation Act, I could find out how many suppositories Ronald Reagan's doctor had prescribed
for him in 1986,* (*1472) but I couldn't be told which foreign dignitary would shortly be
making a public appearance on the steps of a national institution. The lady next to me said,
“It's Nakasone. President of Japan.”
“Oh, really,” I replied, always ready to see a celebrity. I asked the security man when he
would be arriving. “I'm not allowed to tell you that either, sir,” he said and passed on.
I stood with the crowd for a while and waited for Mr. Nakasone to come along. And then
I thought, “Why am I standing here?” I tried to think of anyone I knew who would be
impressed to hear that I had seen with my own eyes the prime minister of Japan. I ima-
gined myself saying to my children, “Hey, kids, guess who I saw in Washington-Yasuhiro
Nakasone!” and being met with silence. So I walked on to the National Air and Space Mu-
seum, which was more interesting.
Butnotnearlyasinterestingasitoughttobe,ifyouaskme.Backinthe1950sand'60s,the
Smithsonian was the Castle. Everything was crammed into this one wonderfully dark and
mustyoldbuilding.Itwaslikethenation'satticand,likeanattic,itwasgloriouslyrandom.
Over here was the shirt Lincoln was wearing when he was shot, with a dried brown blood-
stainabovetheheart.OvertherewasadioramashowingaNavajofamilyfixingdinner.Up
above you, hanging from the gloomy rafters, were the Spirit of St. Louis and the Wright
brothers' first plane. You didn't know where to look next or what you would find around
