Day Seven

Day Seven: Monday I woke up knowing it was my last day in DC, but knowing too that it was my vacation and I didn't need to feel pressure to finish the town off cause there was no way I could accomplish that. So I had lunch at a downtown pub with Stephen and a friend of his from work and then walked back to the National Gallery. I went in the East Wing this time and saw some amazing contemporary art. But as fantastic, abstract and surreal as it was, I had to return to the West Wing to have one last look at Degas et al. So I did. And then I went Christmas shopping in the Gallery's store.

After having satisfied my capitolist consumer fix, I returned to the capitol to lazily lay in a tree and listen to music. I had planned on cooking dinner for Stephen, Ryan and Kristin that night (after the debaucle the night before) and had a little time to kill before returning to Stephen's townhouse to start up the fire (so to speak - I don't actually cook with an open fire. The open stove proves dangerous enough).

Dinner was delicious even though someone who shall remain unnamed bought the wrong kind of soup for me to add to my famous recipe (I actually only know how to cook two dishes and don't deal well with change). Then Stephen and I went out for one last night on the town to see the monuments.

The monuments at night are almost cooler than they are in the day for several reasons. A number 1. It is literally cooler as the sun is down and the air blowing off the Poltomic is nice and...well...cool. B number 2. There are fewer tourists and C number 3. It just looks rad with the lights against the night sky.Stephen made me read Lincoln's second inagural address since I'd skipped it the first time around due to crowds. We also saw the Korean War momument which was eerie at night. The Jefferson, Stephen's favorite memorial, was still serene and larger than life.

It seemed appropriate to end my trip with a visit to the monuments who so startled me when I first flew in over the city. Kind of like my fixation with cacti and palm trees here in Texas (absent in Missouri), the monuments always seemed like a fairy tale about some place where cool stuff happened that somehow affects me now. But as Al Franken notes in his book, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, "politics can be vicious and dirty and cruel. Or... it can be part of what makes us human." The monuments were a larger than life reminder to live as such. To live as if dreams really matter, democracy matters, human lives matter and dreams really can come true.

And that, my friends, concludes my trip to DC.

Day Six: I went to Ravensworth Church on Sunday and then out to lunch with some peeps at a joint called "Five Guys." You can imagine how that went over. I fault those five guys for the grease that splattered on my cutie-patootie brand new skirt. I must now leave that topic.

After the hamburger and fry guys, Stephen and I visited the portrait gallary that just opened up after having been under renovation for 7 years or something. It has...shocker...portraits. And other art too. Note that the pic of the woman at the desk is none other than the author of my favorite children's book, Goodnight, Moon. Awesome. The other photo is of a huge, mm probably 12 by 12 area of one janitor's unfinished interpretation of the book of Revelation. But get this, it's made completely out of foil and cardboard and stuff. Note the crowns and suns and thrones. I'm not sure I would interpret the final book of the New Testament in such a manner, but the artist passed on before his work was finished, so I suppose now he knows better than I what the hell that book's about.

That night I hung out with Stephen's roommate Ryan and his friend Kristin, also from Austin. We mainly argued over what to eat for dinner, drank and talked about music most of the night while Kristin fell asleep on the couch. It was a fun time for all. It almost made me feel like I was back in Austin...sigh. Can't I have both worlds?

(Day Four Pics - the computer wasn't working yesterday when I blogged!)

Day Four: The Zoo!!! Stephen took off the afternoon and together we metro-ed to the Washington National Zoo. Of course it was fabulous. One could tell it was old, but there were so many completed and under construction renovations that it proved to be a satisfactory habitat for the animals. Of course my favorite was the baby Panda who just turn one a few weeks ago. The turtles were pretty pimp too as I saw bottleneck turtles which look like half snakes half turtles cause their neck and head are so long as they stretch out from their normal shells. The arangatangs were feisty and feeding when we arrived. One male regurgitated his food and licked it onto the glass where it hung sticky and thick. Um gross. Stephen began giggling. Then the mammel began to lick back off the glass the food he just stuck there. The kids around the cage began their chorus of "Eww's" and Stephen laughed like a child. It was pretty amusing.

For dinner, Moxi and I invited Kevin and Stephen to dinner atRoyal Mile Pub in Wheaton, Maryland (my third state to visit this trip - just for the record). When we arrived I discovered that Shredtha and her husband were joining us! I hadn't seen Mox's sister since college so that was a fun surprise. The salmon linguini was delicious even though Moxi made fun of me for ordering a rolling rock with my dinner. We laughed so hard that night at old times that I didn't even care.

Day Three: I was dropped off at the Congressional Office and Cannon House Office Building at 8:45, just in time for my 9am appointment at Lloyd Doggett's office for my tour of the Capitol. I love Lloyd even though he doesn't know me. I signed a petition once (or twice) and got an email thanking me for my thoughts. I like congress folk like that. Not to mention that he has a soul. That helps.

Anyway, I and two polish women and a girl from DC trying to get a job as an intern took a tour of the Capitol with two relatively new (one week old and three weeks old) interns. It was so rad. The best part is that every state was offered the opportunity to send two statues to the Capitol for display. Of course I asked the two new interns to please point out Texas and Missouri. They knew where Texas was (one guide was originally from Austin), but MO's statues whereabouts were of course unknown. Shocker. And I can't imagine why. No Mark Twain, no Truman... we've got somebody named Blair and another guy named Blanton or something. Who are they? Oh well. I took pics next to Stephen F. Austin and King Kamauhamauha (Hawaii). I totally just spelled that wrong, but I gotta send that pic to Aunt Glo. Fun fact: that statue is so heavy they had to put it in the corner on one of the beams otherwise it would break the floor. It's just like the one in Honolulu in case anyone's interested.

Okay, so get on with it. I also say the Monuments on Thursday: Washington, WWII, Reflecting Pool, Lincoln, Jefferson and FDR. I called grandma while I was at the WWII memorial to ask what exactly grandpa had done during the war and to thank him. Lincoln, whom I was really looking forward to seeing, proved a disappointment, but mainly because of all the noisy tourists. Instead, I found reflection and inspiration at the new FDR memorial. The pic is of me and Eleanor whom my Great-Aunt Ann Catherine gave the introduction-of-speaker for once at a speech Mrs. Roosevelt gave in Minnesota. We're tight, me and Eleanor.

I then toured the Holocaust Museum, but after the first floor realized that if I was to be any use to my friends that night, I would need to hurry through the rest. The horror was too overwhelming. America, damn. We did fine fighting the atrocities, but we didn't do well...

For dinner, I visited Bus Boys and Poets which kicked Austin's ass with regard to cool coffee shops, restaurants. Sorry Tx, but it's true. This bookstore/dive was amazing, producing excellent food, music and ambiance.

Day Two: I ate lunch at a pimp cajun restaurant called Acadiana with the head pastor of Calvary Baptist, Amy Butler. Fun. She's fabulous: smart, funny, cynical and full of love for God and the church. A real role model. How she keeps it all together is beyond me, but I thought she was fabulous. A kindred spirit. Stephen was wise to introduce us. After lunch I toured Calvary and then returned back to the center of DC to check out some museums. I lurve museums and I love Degas. Needless to say, I visited the National Gallary and saw some beautiful paintings including some Toulouse and Van Gogh. I looked at Girls in the Olive Fields and felt a twang of sympathy with a troubled artist shut up in a room trying to find himself. I remembered not only my love for Degas' reds and ballerinas but for Vincent's plea to be free. But then I turned and saw his self-portrait. My empathy turned to anger as I remembered another lover of Van Gogh who painted his own self-portrait and in my rage I pictured myself attacking the million dollar painting, ripping through it and pulling it to the ground. But I didn't. Obviously, since I'm writing this and not from a prison cell. Not even my grandparents could bail me out of that. I just sat there, wanting to write in my journal, but not having a pen. Not even a pen. Nothing but my feelings and me and Vincent all sitting in a room staring at each other. Surreal. Art. It does something to you.

I visited the Smithsonian Natural History Museum as well day two because I wanted to see the dinosaurs. Well, them and the hope diamond. The dinosaurs were every bit as cool and scary as I imagined. Huge bones connected and I was amazed that we as people are smart enough to excavate those animals without screwing up. People are so smart. I'd have totally "fresh break"ed a bone or something (that's what Itzac used to yell at us in Israel when he'd find a pottery piece that we'd excavated and broken in removing it from the ground)l. Anyway, the dinosaurs were super duper cool. The hope diamond was alright. I'm not saying I wouldn't mind wearing it once or twice, but God did a better job with the rocky mountains in my opinion.

Wednesday also brought Nationals Baseball Game Night. The Washington Nationals played the Braves and won 9 to 6. It was fun being at a baseball game, eating hotdogs and drinking beer just like Swell and Brooke, Zachy and Matt and I used to do in college. Believe it or not, this was my first professional baseball game to attend that wasn't in Royals Stadium. It paled in comparison, even if the team was (gulp... brush away tear) more impressive. Ah the Royals. What happened?

Day One: Since all my DC friends work during the day, most of my sightseeing adventures happen tout seul (mom - check my french). The first morning I headed to Union Station to catch a trolley that carries you all around the city with fun guides like Marcel and Jazzy Jan who offer fun facts and commentaries on the sites along the way. I only got off at one stop: the Washington National Cathedral. It was b-e-a-utiful. I loved it. One of my favorite things so far. Of course I walk in just as a funeral is ending and who do I practically bump into? The Reverend Jesse Jackson. What else is new. I just saw him a few months ago, so I yawned at the old news and headed to an episcopal service led by a priest who I swear was a Baptist in a former life. The church, gardens and museum were so lovely and peaceful. See pics above. And that's all I could manage to wait for to put up on the slow internet I'm using.
Day one also included dinner with a friend at the Notte Biache, a posh Italian place where for "Restaurant Week" we received a three course meal complete with three complementary wines for a third of the regular price. It was quite a treat.
Day One conclusion. DC is fabulous. I could get used to this vacation thing.