Again with the Fish...

Some time ago, I mentioned that St Johns Wood is the only station in the London Underground which does not share at least one letter with the word 'Mackerel'.

Later this week I will be departing for Washington D.C. for the latest meeting of the American Academy of Religion/ Society of Biblical Literature. I depart Friday and return the following Wednesday. It will be a great time to catch up with friends, make some new acquaintances, buy discounted books, and hear some great papers. But in preparation, I have been dutifully studying up on city in which I will be staying, and its various, uh, high points.

For example, I can now name, off the top of my head, what are considered the five best pizza restaurants in the District (in no particular order): 2 Amy's, Pizzeria Paradiso, Matchbox Vintage Pizza Bistro, Ella's Woodfired Pizza, and Vace Delicatessen. (My snap judgment? Pizzeria Paradiso has a funny URL (eatyourpizza.com), but I suspect Vace might actually be best because it has no web site. As I've said before about Tacconelli's in Philly and other similar places: It's all about the pizza.)

[Trivia: I grew up outside Chicago, but the first place I ever tasted Uno's Pizza, an absolute mainstay of the Chicago-style pizza scene, was in Georgetown in D.C. It's a true fact.]

And, yes, I have even dutifully recorded which station in the Washington D.C. Metro (underground) system shares no letter with the word mackerel: Huntington.

I like to think that Gower Street is a public service as much as it is anything else...