Spy: (verb) : to watch secretly usually for hostile purposes

I wouldn't readily, or openly admit this to my brother and dad. At least not a few years ago, but alas, here I am in a public venue declaring..."yes, I like James Bond." That is a direct quote, from me, by me, and in the future it can and will be used against me. You see, when we (brother and me) were younger he and my dad would have James Bond movie marathon weekends. I refused to watch. I didn't like Bond (or told myself that). A few years went by and voila, I was in college and you know what?! I decided to take summer courses one year and I took a class all about James Bond...yes it was a college level class. Surprised? I was too. That class, during which we watched a James Bond movie 4 nights a week for 3 weeks (minus one or two evenings when we'd watch documentaries on Ian Fleming or espionage) fostered my appreciation for James Bond. I would sort of like to read some of Flemings work...I didn't do that for the class and wish I would have.

Imagine my brothers surprise when I asked him if we could go to the International Spy Museum while I am here in D.C.! Because of his work schedule, we were restricted to the weekend to do things together. So, we started off our Easter morning by hopping on the Metro and making our way to the Spy Museum. We arrived early and they let us in early. This was great. The same thing happened at the Washington Monument. Timing worked well for both.

While we were at the Spy Museum we saw all kinds of cool spy gadgets. There were bugs, lock pickers, cameras, and disguises. You can see the handy pigeon camera and lipstick pistol below.

We spent a substantial amount of time in the museum and I in particular learned a lot. I was reminded of the Cambridge Spies, which I had learned about in that James Bond class. I think I even wrote a paper about them. There were exhibits about Renaissance espionage, women in espionage and the influence that espionage has had on pop culture. It was a fascinating time and I will most definitely go back at some time. As I said with the Holocaust Museum, there is just too much to see in one visit. I also imagine I will do some reading on espionage and learn some more about some of the people I read about while we were there. This museum comes recommended by me. It also appears in 1,000 Places to See in the USA and Canada Before You Die.

Makes me want to go watch James Bond now...