The Value of serendipity

What do you do when just a few days before traveling to Washington DC the government shuts down?

With most official sites closed, it was impossible to follow my original itinerary. But as an exchange student with very few free days to travel, and not a lot of pennies to waste, cancelling was not an option.

I decided to make the most of it and explore the city anyway.

Walking around I found black metal barricades surrounding Abraham Lincoln’s memorial. Still, people gathered at the bottom of the stairs demanding access and shouting at the guards.

I continue to ramble through the streets, and made it to the White House. There, just like a scene from a history documentary, lots of protesters were standing outside the building, carrying their placards and chanting political slogans.

Then, right in the middle of the commotion, I saw a guy wearing a Guy Fawkes’ mask. It reminded me of home, back in London, so I took his picture. He came close to me, said his name was James and started talking to me.

He asked me to join him and his friend Matt for a meal. But none of us knew were to go, so we wondered around for a while trying to find something open.

We stumbled upon a place near Chinatown called Café Mozart. It looked like it was a sandwich selling deli and a mini supermarket. But at this point we were starving so we ventured in.

To our surprise, there was a German restaurant hidden right at the back of the deli. We went through the wooden door and realised the place was huge, with two large salons decorated in proper Bavarian fashion.

There were flags and other colourful ornaments hanging from the ceiling, a woman in a traditional dress playing the accordion, and of course, a wide selection of authentic beers on tap.

Their menu had everything, going from potato goulash to the famous Bratwurst, which is a large pork sausage served with potato salad and red cabbage.

But the best part was the extensive selection of cakes they had. Strudel, tiramisu, Black Forest Torte, you name it they had it. It may sound weird but the three of us had beer and cake that night.

It was surreal, one minute I was in the middle of a political demonstration in the American capital, the next I was back in Europe visiting Berlin.

As usual, the clock burst our bubble. Matt remembered he had parked their car in a garage that was closing soon and they had to go. I never saw them again but in visiting Washington under shutdown I learned the value of serendipity.