On Thursday, cali foodie and I left for DC. We both took the afternoon off for the 7 hr drive. On the road with nothing but mcdonalds sweet tea and a co-created ipod playlist, we jammed back and forth between boy bands and glee (her contributions) and classic rock and modern rock (my contributions) among other genres. Entertaining ourselves through OH, WV, PA and MD with license plate games, the cow game (really fun with all the cemeteries here) and dare I say conversation, the journey was only hindered by the long stretches of nothing but mcdonalds in sight and speed limits that are actually enforced, limiting my ability to beat the gps ETAs.
We arrived into DC at about 10pm. After a fight with Calis gps (who she calls Gladys and I call GlaDOS) and a roundabout with stoplights in it (?!?!), we arrived at P-Diddy's apartment in Dupont Circle. P-Diddy's place is a nice semi-hipster like area populated by people our age and ambassadors from other countries. Welcome to DC.
Diddy works for CNN as a producer for the virtual bit used in their washington-based shows. Yeah, she's kinda a big deal and still recovering from election season, but was able to take us this weekend. We talked and chatted, reminiscing about our RA days and undergrad experience. Cali and Diddy bonded over making fun of me. Women. The two of them actually have a lot in common so it was good and easy to get comfortable for everyone.
We woke the next day and drove Diddy to work. CNN is about two blocks from the Capitol so Cali and I started walking. After passing the rather striking Union Station complete with the Postal Museum next to it. I realized this will be the DC trend: pretty building, museums all around it. Its still Fall in DC so the trees were a nice orange with green and red scattered around.
We played tourists and took pictures of all angles of the Capitol building, which reminded me of St. Pauls in London because of the giant dome (but not of St. Peters, go fig) but seemed more imposing and powerful. Maybe because it was on a hill or maybe because it was taller but I was really impressed, more than I was expecting. I think when you travel to other countries you expect amazing buildings and architecture, but I think I was surprised how much of an impact having such history and beauty here in the US had on me. A little bit of US pride going here :)
Anyway, we moved around the Capitol Building to the Grant Memorial. This shot has the the Capitol behind it and the Washington Memorial on the far end of the Mall, with Grant sitting high on his horse overlooking a still water fountain. The sad look in his face impressed upon me the weight of the world he'd held as General and later as president during tumultous times. Grant doesn't always get much credit with characters like Lincoln and Lee dominating the Civil War narrative.
We kept moseying and found ourselves in the botanical gardens which were actually pretty cool. They had miniature organic models of the various famous DC buildings maybe of wood and plants and stuff. There was also a bunch of different rooms with a vast array of plantlife. My favorite room was the jungle room which while not a full replican of a rain forest per say did give me a very good idea of what a rainforest would look and feel like. We spent way too much time there which is a testament to how cool it was but also that there just wasn't enough time to do everything we wanted.
Grabbing a map, we heading next door to the Ntl Museum of American Indians. There, at the recommendation of Judicator Brewskie and his gf, we ate lunch. Opting for the sampling of 5 dishes, we split a buffalo steak, buttered salmon, root vegetable salad, horseradish mashed potatos and a squash dish with a much prettier name than I can recall. It was very very good all of it and we were full! We passed an American Indian ceremony that reminded me not of the stereotypical Native American rituals but of a prayer group. Very cool!
We backtracked a bit and found the backside (and entrance) of the Capitol Building. Taking more pictures, we opted out of going in to have time for more buildings and turned our attention to the Thomas Jefferson Building aka The Library of Congress. This might be my favorite building in DC. As Cali put it, my inner nerd came out. I was fascinated by everything, the columned architecture, the busts on the exterior, the seal on the fllor, the quotes on the wall, the names on the colorful ceiling, the GUTENBERG FREAKING BIBLE. And that was just the public part. The private researcher part was even better but we could only stare at it, not wanting to distrub the actual congressmen and women (aides) conducting research. I was kinda drooling though.
To add icing to the drool, we went to the Folger Shakespeare Center. Here they took various historic topics and looked at them through displays based on shakespeare quotes. For example they unpacked "war" but it was really a collection of documented lynchings from the late 1800s and followed the Shakespeare quote "dead men make strange fruits" from the Tempest. There were various displays like this on topics like Love, Nature, and Art as well. At the far end of the narrow cooridor was a theater that was used year round for school during the day, traveling plays at night and every once in a while for braintrust gatherings of important people to discuss the future of art and literature. This is was our tour guide, Martha, told us as we rested our feet in the theater. She then showed us why the Center seemed so narrow: the rest of the building was a reading room for studying official documents and historic texts. We looked through a hidden viewing window as scholars handled ancient texts with padded supports and careful page turnings. The best thing in the Center, though was a copy ofbthe First Folio from 1623 which holds most of Shakespeare's plays, many of which wouldn't exist today without it. English major relic!
We headed back out, passing the Supreme Court, which was under construction and thus covered by a tarp with a picture of the Supreme Court. Yeah, washington dc tried to pull a disney and hide its construction dust. Nice try but it just looked a little funny and awkward. Justice has no veil, I say!
We moved down the Mall passing the various Smithsonian museums trying to pick one to stop in. There was a carousel at one point which I thought felt a little anachronistic but amusing. You had to pay though, unlike everything else we'd done so far. We kept walking to the Smithsonian Castle for a few pictures, but ultimately chose the Natural History Museum because one, it was the museum that had most directly intrigued Cali and two because of we passed through it we got to Chinatown where the Spy Museum was.
UNFORTUNATELY, I did not attend the Spy Museum (sorry Mama G, I really wanted to). Besides being exhausted from miles of walking, lack of sleep, travel fatigue, and the cold I've been fighting all week, we just ran out of time. We had to meet P. Diddy at CNN for a tour. There we got the inside scoop (with fancy name badges to prove it) and saw the offices of the entire Washington branch. It was really amazing to stand on the set the Situation Room was Wolf Blitzer did his bit, staring almost right at us behind the camera. The control rooms were intense, with TVs everywhere and so many people working hard to put on a good show. It was really amazing, especially to someone who'd never been in a TV studio before. I also had a good conversation with Candy Crowley, who is really nice BTW, and she recommended some touring areas. After a good hour of touring, Cali went to meet a friend in town and I joined Diddy as her guest to their post-election party at Madam Tussaud's. This was kind of surreal, because I was in a room filled with strangers, and the only people I recognized were famous actors and presidents made of wax, who I kept mistaking for real people. Add dim lighting and an open bar and it wasn't unfeasible to accident hold a conversation with a mannequin. I didn't, but I could have! Having never been to an office party before, it fit with my expectations. The CNN people were pretty nice and welcoming but I had better luck conversing with spouses who also were out of place. As karaoke amusingly ranged on and after meeting back up with Cali, we joined the after party at an Irish Bar with dancing and laughing and all around fun. It was great to be invited to something not many people see. No, I don't have any incriminating evidence of anything, because really the CNN people were great and I felt very accepted there. If anyone asks, I'm now a Calibration Technician who is particularly good with the wand. Whatever that means.
After sleeping in on Saturday, we ventured out to the White House. On the way, we debated whether Dupont Circle was actually hipster. The girls disagreed and just rolled their eyes when I pointed out hipster-y people. Then when we had lunch in a posh, pricy, Dim Sum restaurant featuring all black decor and swanky music in different languages, I continued to say this was proof. Ultimately, we settled that it was Prepster, a term that should catch on any day now, so be ready.
We also played, guess the first name of the guy in that statue game. Do you know what Lafayette's first name is? I didn't (Gilbert). Also some guy named Jose got a statue. Yeah we didn't get that right either. It was fun though to see figures like Sherman and Hamilton as we wandered through the city to a certain presidential home. Again, there was construction so we couldn't get too close. There was also a protest about Palestine marching by. But we did get some good shots and saw where Obama's room was, and wondered if sometimes they looked out the window as us plebeians
After pulling money out of the ATM next to the Treasury (I'd like to think it was newly minted), we ventured up to the Washington Monument. We passed a Kony protest, cuz why not, and got a nice panorama of the White House, Capitol, and Lincoln Memorial. The day was a perfect crispy fall day with blue skies and a few wispy clouds. It was beautiful.
We next wandered to the WWII Memorial, which I thought was rather powerful with its fountains and columned tributes to both fronts of the war. It had many great quotes from generals and important figures and made me reflective on the experience my grandfather had in the war. There was a wreath for each American state and Territory, all of whom contributed to the cause. There was also a wall of stars representing 100 soldiers who perished. I was very moved by the whole site.
In my pocket had been the buzzings of the University rivalry game, so I ventured to dinner with Diddy and Cali at the Hamilton for half-price sushi and fancy prosciutto. Then we found the Alumni bar, packed with University alumni, at watched the end of a very gratifying game. It was awesome to reconnect with my undergrad roots and cheer and scream and have a blast. There's something special about school traditions too.
We ventured out for dinner part two at Cuba Libre, a cuban restaurant where I had chicharrones and maduros deliciosos and a victory mojito. Then it was to my car where we drove to the Jefferson Memorial. Now with all the one way streets and construction, traffic and stuff was a little loopy even at 10pm at night. In seeking parking, I accidentally found my life on the road to Virginia. With that slight detour to the South, we turned around, checked a state off the list, and found a spot to park and brave the chilly but not unbearable night air.
This was my favorite part of the trip. We started at the Jefferson Memorial, where a greek-God like statue stood in an domed, columned temple-like enclosure. After climbing the steps with the Washington Monument reflecting off the Potomac River behind us, we entered an open area with the large sculpture. With famous quotes on the walls it was intimidating and reminded me how important of a figure this guy really was. A couple wandered to the base and suddenly the guy was proposing to the girl! The Park Ranger took their picture and as they wandered away he mentioned that this happens once a night. I think it was cute but definitely wouldn't ever do that myself. If I recall correctly, Jefferson had mistresses. Not exactly a marriage role model. But hey, to each their own.
We followed the path passed baseball fields I desperately want to play in some day. We reached the FDR memorial, which was a series of walled fountains, quotes and pathways that ease you into the power, hardship, and triumph of that time. This memorial was one of my favorites, because the emotion that it elicited and tribute to the era that it was. It has Eleanor. It had a Tennessee Valley Association fountain. It had FDR and his dog. It had a fireside chat. It had a breadline. It had quotes about fear, and unity, and overcoming difference and really made me proud of my country. And it ended (from our perspective) with a lone stature of FDR, in his wheelchair, sitting under a tree. At night, with the fall leaves around him, it was striking, it was touching, and it was beautiful. What a great memorial.
It continued with MLK. This one was different, with a large sandstone-esque stature in the middle, rather than the bronze of FDR. With the amazing quotes of MLK on either side, they built into a larger than life image of the man in rock, similar to a half body version of Mt. Rushmore. Behind the image of hope, was the mountain he was carved out of, despair. A very profound image. I liked it and it played well on my reflective mood.
Next we cross the street to the Korean War Memorial, my favorite of the war memorials. The right wall leading up to the quote "Freedom is not Free" was filled with almost holographic images of men and women from the conflict, haunting and diverse. On the left, were life size soldier in full gear, including blowing winter coats, stalking cautiously through an invisible battlefield, forever on patrol. It was eerie at night, but wars leave echoes, and I think this site best captured that. At the top was a clear pool for those lost, missing, and captured and of course a proud American flag.
Finally, we reached the Lincoln Memorial. Straight out over the pool with the Washington Memorial reflecting again and the Capitol beyond, we climbed the steps to see Mr. Lincoln. It was just as powerful as I imagined. I have the utmost respect for the man. I read Team of Rivals on the way to Philly last year, for those of you that have followed me that long, and when asked, I suddenly realized he is my favorite president. I cannot wait to see the movie, but I saw the memorial first. On one wall the Gettysburg Address, on the other, the second inaugural speech. And in the middle, the man himself, overlooking our nation's capitol and really, our entire nation, hopefully continuing the spirit of wisdom, patience, and duty that Honest Abe was known for.
It was cold, I was sick, but one last stop had to be made: The Vietnam Memorial. Just a wall of names of the deceased, you walk and it starts ankle high, and progressively climbs higher and higher following a rather complicated chronological order that requires a book to find people with. But at its heart, the height of the death toll towers over you, make you feel small and sad. As surprisingly simple but very effective tribute. And a good way to end the night as we took a long walk back.
Cali and I discussed the power of the memorials, the views these men had on diversity, the country, and how the dialogue today does not capture the spirit of these great leaders' legacies. We hope to take the wisdom of these people forward in the next four years what with the election last week. We ended the night with pizza at Duccini's which was a giant slab of greasy awesome that only cost $5.
The next morning, we slept in, then Cali and I took our leave of DC, but not before stopping at Jamba Juice and Sprinkles, two chains that for whatever reason bypassed Ohio for bigger and better places. Our drive back was uneventful, though we did try Roy Rogers which is like a fast food Fuddruckers meets KFC. I had work to do for my career services China presentation so we couldn't linger. But DC was truly great. I regret my minimal time with the Smithsonian and my lack of Spy museum. Guess I have to come back. In Spring. For Cherry Blossoms. Sorry I didn't see you Spotty Sister and Chai Ducky!
And Cali, thanks for not killing me, while driving or for my wonderful jokes :)
Next week, Thanksgiving updates!! Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!!!
-JTY
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