Salt

My morning started out as it normally does.

If I had to I can get to my office on auto-pilot – I ride the orange line train to the Archives-Penn Quarter metro stop, step off the train, take the escalator up, swipe my electronic farecard, stroll through the turnstile, take another escalator up to the street level, cross 7th street, stop at my local Starbucks to order a tall coffee in a grande cup (I use a lot of creamer), and proceed the few steps to work.

Except this morning, it did not happen like that at all.

I, along with about a hundred other people, were “held” on the train platform – we were not allowed to walk through the turnstiles. Upon hearing the announcement from the station chief over the loudspeaker, all of us stood looking at each other, with some bewildered, and others clearly annoyed. Off the microphone, I heard the same guy tell one of my fellow riders that there was some filming going on and they were rolling at that very moment.

I speculated that it must be a local TV news crew, but then grew increasingly anxious, since being trapped underground is not the most pleasant experience one might ever have.

We all stood there for a few more minutes and then we were released to go about our days. Once on street level, I realized it was no simple matter of a TV news crew, but a full blown movie set on location!

Check out this picture of some fo the film crew at the entrance to the metro escalators.

Below is the angle they were shooting. It is a small park in front of the Archives Metro stop.

Some film crew guys shuffled all of us commuters up 7th street. We had to walk one block north and then cross over 7th. And the cops even stopped traffic on 7th Street (a major thoroughfare). This is a picture of the corner of 7th and D Streets.

Below is a picture of all the equipment trucks on 7th.

Here is a picture of some of the crowd watching the action.

And below is a picture of an actual scene being filmed. And if you look very closely you can see a figure running across the street in a light brown coat with a black backpack on.

Guess who that is?

It’s Angelina Jolie!

If you click on the photo twice it'll enlarge and maybe you can see it better.

The building in the background is the National Archives building. The Archives Building is majestic and its architecture dominating. Besides the White House and the Capitol Building, the Archives is one of the most filmed buildings in DC.

Once I heard from my fellow gawkers that Angelina Jolie was actually here filming on location, I ditched my iPhone (which I used to take these pictures) and pulled out my new Canon SX110 from my own backpack and then started shooting better pictures of her standing around between takes. I found out the zoom on my new camera is great!

I’ll post the pictures from my Canon tonight when I get home. I have to download them to my laptop at home. There are some good ones too!

By the way, the movie is an espionage thriller called “Salt."