Wednesday, 14 August 2013

Day 7 - Washington Doozie

Our two days in Washington have been brief but peppered with trips down Memory Lane. Not arriving on the first day until after midday, we turned up at friend Matt's apartment and were welcomed in by his girlfriend Anna, who then showed us their local town centre of Bethesda, Maryland and took us to a homegrown sandwich chain called Potbelly. The town resides approximately 25 minutes outside of D.C. city centre, and just over the border that separates Maryland and the District of Columbia proper.
Keen to get out ASAP and explore the capital and not wishing to test our hosts' hospitality, as appealing as it is to take two large panting sweaty gorillas into your homestad, we tumbled back onto the subway and returned to Union Station. Exiting the main doors takes you out onto Columbia Circle, an asphalt centre piece that is lined with the flag of each state in the order they joined the Union, starting with Delaware (1787) and ending with Hawaii (1959).



We took a bee-line straight to the White House, to give the old 'what ho' to Barack and the fam. They weren't in. But they were having the trees pruned, which slightly deflated the stately facade of one of the most impressive residences in the world. This jarring image of monument maintenance was unfortunately a frequent one in our sightseeing itinerary, with the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument also featuring scaffolding accompaniments. It later became known to us that an earthquake two years ago had done significant damage to the latter. In my opinion though, the reconstructive casing was not necessarily to the detriment of its overall look; the suped-up monument resembled a sort of talisman that Michael Bay would use to represent supreme phallic power.



Unfortunately, after a week of voracious sight-seeing and city-smashing, as well as a three and a half hour train ride that morning, our legs were experiencing stamina deficiency to a profound degree. Seeking refuge on a shady lawn, we lay down for about half an hour and came to the realisation that the batteries were better charged up for tomorrow than wasted on a futile afternoon of grumpy trampling. We didn't want to begrudge Washington for its breadth. We're nothing if not fair in our designation of resentment.

Capitol

Instead we stayed in the area and wandered toward the Smithsonian Museum and the Capitol Building. The Smithsonian Castle is a beautiful building of red sandstone that acts as the administrative centre of the museum complex and provides an eye-catching alternative to the ivory tone of much of Washington's avenues. The museum was possible because English chemist and mineralogist James Smithson (Pembroke College), on his death, chose to donate his fortune to the United States government with the caveat that it be used for the purpose of public education, despite having never visited America in his life.

Smithsonian Castle
We decided to go through the Air and Space Museum, which offers a nice stroll around large and comprehensive exhibits. A highlight was the piece of Moon rock that museum-goers can touch upon entry. Aircraft suspended from the ceiling also provided mild excitement. Outside the Capitol Building, the home of the House of Representatives and the Senate, we took novelty photos.


That evening, we decided to head out for dinner to Bethesda. Matt and Anna took us to a local Italian restaurant with a unique food-court style ordering process that involved queueing for your food before watching being made in front of you. After discovering that pasta favourites, Messers Fusilli and Ravioli, were missing in action, we managed to get some very al dente penne. Meanwhile Jannick had a tough time when attempting to order pizza - at an Italian restaurant. Having ordered and sat down, he was 'beeped' and told that the dough was in fact 'bad', and could he just tell the management that he had changed his mind to order pasta instead... Errrrrr, no. But feeling like a free meal wasn't enough compensation, I decided to take matters into my own hands and take gummi bears out of the bowl at the front desk without using the spoon. A strange brand of vigilante justice it may seem, but I think I made my point.

Union Station on Columbia Circle

No comments:

Post a Comment