Happy Valentine's Day (4 of 4): Cute Annoying Young Couples

Virtual Postcard from Washington DC_ The National Zoo

Since we just got back from Washington, DC, we thought we'd share a Virtual Postcard with you of the National Zoo, even though we did not go to the esteemed zoo; in fact, we've never been there?!

To make this fun for you (thanks for those of you who are reading this in Bulgaria, we walked past your embassy), and quick for me, we thought we'd do a DC By the Numbers entry. We think most of these numbers are at least fairly accurate.

In addition, we threw in figures from some silly things we noticed, like the number of women wearing unseasonable shoes (one was even in flip flops?!), but we did not count the joggers or dog walkers, though a part of me wishes we had.

Here we go:

310- Number of miles between Politcs and Prose, an independant bookstore in Washington, DC, on Connecticut Avenue and The Regulator, an indy book outlet in Durham, NC.

61- Number of people we saw riding bicycles, motorcycles or vespas!

32- Number of museums in Washington, DC, this includes the National Zoo, the National Cathedral and Ford's Theatre

31_ Number of women wearing unseasonable shoes. In addition to the woman in flip flops, there was another woman in sandals.

27- Ah, yes, the annoying cute young couples, one can see them everywhere in DC. One couple who smooched as we were approaching Farragut North on the Red Line really took the cake. The girl looked like a fashion model, the guy looked like a chemistry lab geek. Go figure!

13_ Number of players on the Georgetown Hoyas' men's basketball roster.

10_ Number of Starbucks in Washington, DC, alone

7_Number of Starbucks in the DC suburb of Fairfax, Va.

5-Number of Starbucks in another DC 'burb of Bethesda, Md.

3- Number of animal shelters in DC, according to the search engine we used (ok, so it was Google). We certainly hope Helga, a gorgeous, spayed female black cat who is 5 years and two months old, finds a home soon. It has been reported that many pets, like people, are now homeless in DC. Go to warl.org to find out more Helga and other cats and dogs in the city.

2- The number of hours I expect to actually sleep tonight.

Amadeus in Bethesda- DC Metro People

One of the most unique aspects of traveling in Washignton, DC, is actually the people you see on the DC Metro system. The rail passage stretches from Vienna, Va., to New Carrollton, Md., and that's just the orange line!

One of the people who must stood was a Hispanic man in his early 20s with a huge afro and a blue sleeveless t-shirt. He honestly reminded me of a character you would see on the '70s sitcom "Chico and the Man," and I thought to myself if a man has traveled to the future from 1977, this is surely him. I think H.G. Wells would have agreed! The only think that would separate him from someone from the disco era is that he did have an I-Pod. We have to wonder if he was listening to The Bee Gees.

But, the DC Metro is most notorious for the annoying young couples who board the train. My personal favorite was a couple. Both the boy and girl had blonde hair. I'm guessing they were between 19-22. They sat right in front of us. And, if it weren't for the fact that they did actually communicate to each other (without ever looking at each other) I would have sworn they actually life-size Ken and Barbie dolls with batteries in the back of their necks. They did smile the whole time. And, they held hands. He had a rugby shirt. She had white tennis blouse, a large matching pocketbook and leather sandals. Yes, they were that stereotypical. It was really a stunning sight to behold.

There was also an annoying Hispanic couple who were somehow making out while holding the pole in the center of the train. I forget what the guy looked like, but the girl had a green sundress and flip flops. They seemed to really, really like each other. I was so glad they got off the Metro before we did!

If you want to see some amazing photos of people on the DC Metro, we recommend the site dcmetropeople.com

I was thinking it would be great to write a book about people who ride the DC Metro, but the photographers who take mostly black and white photographs capture these people, their idiosyncracies (gosh, that is a hard word to spell) and their fashion splendidly well. Of course, I am jealous of them too!

DC Diary- Those Annoying Young Couples

Yes, we see them everywhere, even in small towns like Bluefield, W.Va., or Mount Airy, NC, but they are really abundant in major metro areas, especially in Washington, DC. We are, of course, talking about Annoying Young Couples.

Of course, DC has one of America's most infamous annoying couples in Tareq and Michaele Salahi, but both of them are not spring chickens. There are also annoying celeb couples like Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag from "The Hills" who made a trip to DC themselves (not while we were there) where they posed with American flags in front of the Washington Monument.

But, there was one annoying young couple which really stood out (and there were several others that were almost as awful) when I went on the DC Metro to get to the E-Street movie theatre in Northwest DC to see "I Love You Philip Morris" on Wednesday night.

This couple consisted of an Asian-American girl, who was about 23, and her beau, who was about the same age. Both were dressed very eloquently. She was wearing a brown wool coat and designer shoes of some sort and he was wearing a green sweater and fancy pants. His hairy wasn't curly, but he did sort of look like Spencer Pratt (don't all the guys who go out with cute girls).

They were quite lovey dovey as they kissed passionately and rubbed each others shoulders and backs; I think he even kissed on her nose without any objections from her.

I was very delighted to see the guy leave his girlfriend/fiance/wife and they beamed at each other so hard I thought he was going to forget to get off the train.

After leaving DC on Thursday, I thought I would at least get away from the sight of all those annoying young couples. But, sure enough, there was one sitting beside a window at Cristina's Cafe in the small town of Strasburg, Va., about an hour south of DC.

She had on some fancy shoes and a nice dress, and I think he had an English accent. They had their legs curled around each other, and they were gazing at each other profoundly. It was quite disgusting, actually.