8-23-2011 The last Grand tour - and an earthquake

The last gasp. This is it. We both had to go to a training session at the Sandia office at L'Enfant Plaza in the morning so we played hokey after that and went touring. First stop was the Bartholdi Fountains on the way to the Library of Congress. Since the LOC was my most favorite building in DC, I wanted one last taste of it - and it was very worth it. What I love about this building is the almost fractal nature of the decoration - layer within layers. We bought some memorabilia in the gift shop.

Next we walked to the Supreme court building - Sue had been in it but I had not. So we took a quick look at that.

After the Supreme court, it was off to Dupont circle via Metro. Lunch at Cosi and then a walk to the Islamic Center, down Mass. Ave. The weather was quite nice, cool and sunny. Sue stopped to get a head covering at Walgreen's. When we got to the mosque we found a guide and found that they had coverings for women - to include covering the shoulders. In we went - it is pretty small with a courtyard out front. The decoration was nice but not spectacular. There were a few men praying and the guide was going through his spiel. No pictures allowed of course.

And then we heard a rumbling, like a truck outside. That lasted for maybe 10 seconds and then the shaking started. It became clear that an earthquake was happening - earthquake? in DC? Sue, being the well-trained Californian, got in the narrow doorway to the mosque and stood there. The fellows inside did not share her appreciation of this strategy to avid harm and pushed by her, pushing both us out in the courtyard. Not the best idea, but the quake was not very strong. That was the end of that tour!

We walked on down Mass Ave, back towards Dupont Circle, looking for damage. We saw a few signs, some old walls down in places. We decided to stop and see the Society of Cincinnati building. The people inside were really excited - one lady had been sent home. A fellow said he would give us the tour - there were some other folks there as well. Just four of us though. We say the ornate interior - it is a Club for the heirs of the Revolutionary War officers. Membership is passed down in families. Very very East Coast. But it was fun to look at. Eventually, the powers that be decided they should close in case of after shocks and we took our leave.

The Metro was just jam packed. All the offices had let their staff go, the government was closed down and the roads were at a stand still. So we took a very slow (speed restrictions on the Metro), very crowded, ride home.

Talk about leaving town with a bang!

8-20-11 Kenilworth Gardens & Franciscan Monastery

Probably our last weekend for touring. We picked two places that we had heard something about but they had not been on the list. The first was the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens, on the east side of DC, by the Anacostia river. We got an early start but it was already hot when we got to the place. It is many acres of ponds with various types of water plants growing. The growth is very lush, with huge fields of water lilies. We say several animals and insects and lots of flowers. The cicadas were truly deafening and their sounds would come in waves. We spent about 2 hours there. It wasn't quite a get-away - civilization noises could intrude, but when they were quiet, no planes were flying overhead, and the bugs sounded off, it did feel like one was in the middle of boonies.

After the gardens we went to another out of the way place that took us awhile to find. This was the Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land. It is in a residential neighborhood. There is a large church, an attached museum/shrine and a large outdoor garden area. The church is on cathedral-scale. The attached museum area is devoted to the holy land, with replicas of the shrine that is the tomb of Christ, Calvary and several other events/places. There is also a replica of the Catacombs. Outdoors, the garden are is sunken below the level of the church and has a replica of Lourdes, and other miraculous places. Very interesting.

8-17-11 Scottish Rite Masonic Temple

Today the NA22 folks had a lunch for me. Jan Cerveny gave me my clock and certificate. I said my thanks. The end is near.

After the lunch, Sue and I went to see one of the more intriguing sites in DC - the Scottish Rite Masonic Temple. This is the place that featured in the final scenes of Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol. It is a fascinating place. The interior was set up like the Washington Masonic Memorial in Alexandria, at least on the first floor. But this place had a large magnificent meeting room for the gatherings. The table in the center of the room that figured so crucially in the book, was covered with religious books from around the world. Overhead was the skylight talked about in the book. It was a very interesting visit and one I am glad we did before we left town.

8-13-11 Pope-Leighy House & Woodlawn

A grey day and we are looking for something to do and maybe some things to check off. During our trips south, I had seen that there were two historic houses close to us but we hadn't stopped there yet, so that's what we did. The Woodlawn mansion just off of Hwy 1 by the Gristmill is part of Washington's properties. He gave this to his nephew and his bride. It was designed by the same person that designed the Capital building. It is a bit run down but still interesting. And it was a grey day. Sold out of the Washington line, it developed into a place where blacks were shown by the Quakers how to be farmers before the Civil War. And during the Civil War, it was an island in the South, surrounded by hostile parties.

Close by is a Frank Lloyd Wright house, called the Pope-Leighy, after the people that owned it. The story goes that the person who commissioned it (Pope) was fairly well off but FLW could bust any one's budget and was adamant about not cutting corners. Wright did agree to scale back some things but they still wound up spending much more that they thought they would. It is a very small house, only 1200 square feet. Sue thought it was claustrophobic particularly in the bedrooms, The main room was very open with lots of light (or there would have been light if it hadn't been drizzling outside). The house had been in Falls Church and was moved here when a main road project threatened it. In the picture below you can see the trademary FLW designs over the windows.

Two interesting items. Check, check.

4-16-2011 What we don't like about DC

It's a rainy weekend - doesn't seem like a good time for a trip or an outing. And we just don't feel like traveling much. So, we think, why don't we just hop on down to Potomac Mills to do some shopping and malling and so on. On the way we can drop off some old clothes at the St. Vincent de Paul store. And of course we are going to go down the Old Jefferson Highway, not I-95, which is always a mess and crowded and horrible. So off we went - Ohhhhh, the traffic! Even on Hwgy 1. Arggggg. Bumper to bumper. It took us 3 1/2 hours to go maybe 30 miles. THAT's what we DO NOT LIKE about DC. Well, it turns out that this weekend was the start of Spring Break for all the schools, so everybody was headed out of town. When we went back home, it took us like 20 minutes and all the Southbound roads were still cloged.

We went to the NSO Pops tonight, part of the series of tickets I had bought. We saw Pink Martini, a Portland band with a very "world music" sound. Very good show, we really enjoyed it.

4-9-2011 Cherry Blossom Parade, Renwick

We skipped the Cherry Blossom parade last year. Our experience with parades in DC has been dismal but we thought let's do one last try. So we took the Metro downtown on a grey morning, not too cold, actually comfortable, just not sunny. The parade was really pretty good - lots of marching bands. And it was the first parade we had seen where there were military marching units from all the services - that was unique. The Marine Band was just awesome in the marching precision with which they trooped down the street. Some excitement during the parade - a little truck pulling one float caught fire and the parade stopped as the emergency vehicles drove down the street to get to the fire. Towards the end we walked along with some bands to hear them more.

Afterwards we went to the Renwick to see a new exhibit there on wooden furniture.