Walkin' in Washington

So I'm a teacher now... Weird.
This is definitely a "boot camp"-type experience. We're getting a crash course in all things teaching, and at certain points, my head threatens to explode.
One of the cooler parts of this class I'm taking, though, is getting to be in DC every day. Maybe I won't eternally be one of those tourist geeks who's in awe of all the landmarks, but so far, the cool factor hasn't worn off.
My route from the corner where my bus drops me off at 14th and New York takes me past the Treasury Department to Pennsylvania, down Pennsylvania past the north side of the White House, the Executive Office Building, a Potbelly Sandwich Works (if you've been there, you know this is worth mentioning), across the street, hopefully not jaywalking to H Street, past the World Bank and into George Washington University country.
Pretty cool. I mean, each and every day, I walk past the wrought-iron fence, see the perfectly manicured grass, the stately oak trees, the fountain and the landscaping, and I think 'The White-Freaking House." How cool is that? It's somehow reassuring to me as an American to see that house, painted its smooth white color each and every morning. There are sometimes people stirring out front, always tourists milling about, and the people with their anti-war, pro-abortion, anti-genocide signs, they are all there in one vast soup of people, and there I go, walking past. The democracy moves on while I walk past, inside important decisions being made, but on the outside, it all seems to uneventful. I like that.