Hot Cup of Coffee and Hot Sandwich!

On my first night in DC, I was instructed by so many people to take the night tour of the monuments. There are some people that disagree with this because it’s dark and you can’t see everything. I have two points to this. (1) If you are in DC for a very short time, skip this and see them during the day. (2) If you are there for a few days, do this and then go see them again during the day light. (This is what I did.)

I bought one of those tours via Expedia. I didn’t really know what I was getting into; however, the email denoted to meet at the US Navy Memorial Plaza 30 minutes before the start time of the tour. Now, let me explain something. The US Navy Memorial Plaza is ENORMOUS. (See above picture that I did not take.) There are multiple areas that could be the meeting place in this gigantic spot.

Well, I got there about an hour early because I walked from my hotel and I didn’t know how long it would take me. I looked everywhere for something. A sign that said “Tour”? No – A kiosk that looked like people were lining up? No – A huge bus? No – A small bus? No – Needless to say I was a little concerned I might not be in the right spot.

On the opposite side of the plaza, past the subway entrance, stood an officer. I made my way over to the officer. As I was walking toward him, a homeless man sitting on a granite flowerbed asked me, “Ma’am could you spare a dollar, I am hungry.” I unfortunately responded the way that I often times do in Downtown Fort Worth and said, “No sir, I’m sorry, I don’t have change.” Now, I wasn’t lying, because I didn’t have any cash on me; however, I did “dismiss” the gentleman.

I reached the officer and asked him if he could help me. I asked if he knew where this bus tour meeting spot was located. Speaking of being dismissed, I was dismissed by this officer. He was leaning up against a building and looking at his phone. He barely looked up at me and didn’t acknowledge me hardly at all. Needless to say, I was still at a loss.

As I walked away from this office, feeling defeated and even more worried, the homeless man that I had dismissed beckoned me to him again. He asked me, “What are you looking for?” I explained that I was taking a bus tour of the monuments and couldn’t tell where I was supposed to meet. He turned around and pointed to the area of the plaza that the buses would pull up to around the time of the tour. I thanked the gentleman for his help.

I looked at my watch and noticed that I had about 50 minutes before the tour. The weather forecast for me up until the week before I left Texas showed that it was going to be springy and lovely. The day that I landed a cold-front moved in. It was COLD in that plaza. I stepped across the street to the Starbucks that I saw to get something hot to carry with me on my tour. While ordering my drink, it hit me… He said he was hungry. I asked for one of the hot sandwiches to go, as well as a bottle water. I paid for my drink, the sandwich and the water and headed back out on the street.

I walked over to the gentleman that had been so gracious to assist me when others wouldn’t. I handed him the water and the sandwich and said that even though I didn’t have any cash, I could definitely buy him a sandwich and water for his help.

Note: It snowed on my tour- told you it was cold!

Lesson: Nobody deserves to be dismissed!