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The Kirchners, with a more relaxed agenda in Washington
La Nacion
April 12, 2010

Until yesterday they had little official activity and a lot of free hours

Mariana Ver n
Special Report

WASHINGTON. With little activity in this city, where they've been since Friday, the Kirchners are passing the time walking and enjoying the streets and museums of the U.S. capital. They sampled various kinds of restaurants, passed through commercial streets and had long chats, coffee and tea usually in the lobby of the Park Hyatt hotel, in the attractive Foggy Bottom neighborhood.

Apart from the other 44 heads of state that will participate in the global summit on nuclear security starting today, and started to arrive yesterday afternoon, the Kirchners installed themselves here three days earlier. The presidential party includes the governor of Tucuman, Jos Alperovich, and legal and technical secretary Carlos Zannini, among others. Since its arrival, the official activity has been a meeting with businessmen on Friday, a visit the day before yesterday to the museum complex of the Smithsonian Institution, where there was a showing of Argentine artists, and a meeting with Justice Sonia Sotomayor of the Supreme Court, yesterday.

The couple and their companions had their gastronomic tour. The first place chosen was Smith & Wollensky, a well-known restaurant specializing in meat. On Saturday, at noon they chose to retreate to the very high-end Caf Milano, with Italian food, on Prospect Street.

The commercial M Street, the avenue of the exclusive Georgetown neighborhood, yesterday was witness to the President's curiosity for the architecture of the buildings, all low and only two stories. She was seen entering a place, but exiting shortly after, apparently without having made purchases. She seemed calm and without aim, much like a tourist. Neither was she seen to be agitated by her husband. "Where are you??" Cristina asked by telephone, the night before last, while waiting at the door of the hotel for her car. "How could you go for a photo in front of the White House if you already have one?!" she said to Kirchner, on the other end of the line. "Here I am and the reporters are listening to everything," the President warned, in good humor, where she'd approached where the press was and tried to tell all that they'd discovered his photographic stroll.

It was late on Saturday, and the President has just awoken from a long nap. Her husband had escaped the security guards and decided to immortalize his moment emulating Barack Obama. The ex-president and deputy chose the back of the White House to take a photo in the gardens of the headquarters of U.S. power. The image was taken by Ambassador H ctor Timerman and presidential spokesman Alfredo Scoccimarro, the two who accompanied him for the half hour that the walk took to the White House.

An image that shows that the ex-president is in no hurry. Without commitments, like each time he accompanies the President, Kirchner enjoyed free time in the lobby talking politics with the members of the official party.

Different from other trips, where protocol meetings would come and go with full agendas, since they arrived there have been few activities that the President had to assume. With only one per day and little time at each, the schedule allowed for enjoying the rare luck of rest in the local springtime.

The weather helped a lot for so many jaunts. After the cold that reached 12 degrees Celsius on Friday, yesterday the city showed its better face with a radiant sun that made a trip in the fresh air something not to miss.

The couple, who love physical activity, spent hours strolling around Washington, D.C. And not with slippers. Kirchner just doesn't change his clothes and goes out as he is, in elegant sportswear, with his black moccasins. Cristina decided to leave her high-heeled boots behind and chose black boots with low heels, comfortable for long strolls.

In all, the presidential couple will spend five days here. Until this moment, waiting for the summit that begins tonight, they lunched with businessmen, visited the Smithsonian to mark the Bicentennial celebration that the most important headquarters of museums will dedicate to Argentina, and yesterday received Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the first Latina woman on the Supreme Court of the United States.

After the meeting with the judge, the President spent only five minutes changing clothes and, already in sportswear, chose to lunch in the hotel restaurant. The sampling of every kind of cheese is their speciality and not one member of the presidential party missed out on the delights.

Just after finishing eating, the Kirchners and a part of 20 people among ceremonial personnel, security and officials, like legal and technical secretary Carlos Zannini, and the just-arrived Planning Minister Julio De Vido, went out again to walk. De Vido returned quickly. Active, he began a series of meetings just yesterday.

The Secret Service agents, in charge of the custody of the President, sped ahead on bicycles to cut through the streets where the couple walked, two anonymous people on the streets of the U.S. capital.

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