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All hail from the Capitol, Washington D.C.
Arriving by train into Washington, the snow is behind us for now. It’s due to catch up before the day is out though, so time is of the essence.
We grab a cab to our Airbnb apartment and are very glad we did. Between the four of us it barely costs more than the subway and is much more convenient. I usually make a point of finding the cheapest transport options but given the oncoming storm we need speed and efficiency. And a taxi is by far the simplest way to get from any transport hub to a place one has never been before.
A Little Luxury
The apartment I’ve booked costs a bit more than many travellers will be willing to pay. But you certainly get what you pay for! It’s HUGE! Four bedrooms all with queen or king beds, three bathrooms, two sitting rooms and a modern kitchen. Everyone is in awe at the sight of it. It is absolutely worth splashing out a little to be comfortable and each have some privacy. There’ll be plenty of room sharing coming up in the trip after all.
With the snow on its way we dash to the market for supplies, and right on schedule the snow starts around five pm. It is nowhere near as bad here as back north up the coast though. We really are lucking out with the weather so far.
Travel days always take it out of me. I have a headache and am pretty tired. We quickly knock up pasta Bolognese and spend the evening chilling out watching Wild Wild West on TV. I give up way before the movie ends though and crawl into my epically huge bed for the night.
It is our fourth city stop and I can’t believe we’ve been in America for two weeks already. It is all going by so quickly. Amazingly there are still ten weeks to go and many more places to visit. It is such an amazing feeling to be travelling for a long chunk of time. I don’t think I’ll ever get enough of it. The travel bug has sunk its teeth in and won’t be letting go for years to come I feel.
Washington Walkabout
Our first full day in Washington is all about exploring.
I am not exaggerating by saying it is incredibly cold. The wind is particularly biting, so walking a lot outside isn’t an ideal way to spend the day. But we only have one full day free to see all that Washington has to offer, which means braving the elements! We managed the Boston Freedom Trail in the snow, and we can manage DC in sub zero temperatures!
We start at the Washington Mall which houses all the main tourist sites. And as will be the theme of the day, immediately dash for the first indoor attraction we find!
It turns out to be the Smithsonian Castle Information Centre. Now admittedly my knowledge of the Smithsonian is almost entirely based on the TV series Bones which is set in a fictional version of the institution. But stumbling into the Information Centre turns out to be a winning decision.
We learn that this building is central to the nineteen museums that make up the Smithsonian across the city. Plenty of which are dispersed around areas we plan to walk today. Being the Information Centre, it provides information about each one so you can effectively plan your visit. There is everything from the Natural History Museum, to the Air and Space Centre, and the American Art Galleries.
The Castle Information Centre is also home to a collection of random artefacts. For example, there is a collection of hair trimmings of various Presidents, and a miniature Liberty Statue. Turns out it was sold prior to the construction of the full sized lady in New York to raise funds for building costs.
The Washington Monument
Deciding to once about brave the outside, we continue our walk down the mall. We’re aiming for the iconic Washington Monument in the centre if the park. Hopefully unlike its Boston Counterpart, it won’t be closed due to ice.
The stone obelisk is halfway between the Lincoln Memorial and Capitol Hill. It honours the first US President George Washington, and is made of marble, granite, and bluestone gneiss. It once boasted the title of tallest building in the world. Nowadays it is still both the world’s tallest stone structure and the world’s tallest obelisk, standing 555 feet 5 1⁄8 inches (169.294 m) tall.
Originally designed by Robert Mills with construction beginning in 1848, it took decades until the monument was complete. According to the official website: “The combination of the Civil War, the Know Nothing Party’s rise to control of the Washington National Monument Society through an illegal election and lack of funding led to a halt in construction in 1854.” Construction eventually resumes in 1879 and completes in 1884 by the hands of Thomas Casey and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Visiting the Washington Monument is FREE and this includes the tour and the observation deck! Usually I recommend to book tickets online (for a $1 reservation fee) or get there early to pick up day tickets. Luckily for us, due to the cold weather there are plenty of tickets on hand at the site when we arrive. The lack of queues also mean we get to go straight up the monument upon arriving.
It’s an amazing view, and from the top you can see all around DC. Apparently you can see for 25 miles on a clear day.
Definitely worth a visit for the view alone. Plus, on the elevator ride down there is a section where you slow down and the frosted glass clears to reveal the inside of the monument. Inside lay the 194 memorial stones that states, cities, foreign countries, benevolent societies, other organizations, and individuals have contributed to the structure.
Ornithophobia
Returning to ground level we continue our walk west aiming for the Lincoln Memorial.
Now I have been instructed that I must include my slightly (possibly majorly) overreaction to the monster flock of geese we encounter along the way. Apparently my attempts at using Hayley as a human shield was particularly amusing… (I am a almost a whole foot taller than her…)
I hate birds! It is a long and enduring phobia I cannot explain. But one I usually manage to control or at least avoid making a complete fool of myself over.
Not today.
I doubt anyone has seen me panic quite as badly as I do when a swarm of giant Canadian geese turn from their peaceful mooring on a grassy knoll to take flight and head directly for us.
Yes okay, they are actually aiming for the other side of the reflecting pool but did they have to wait till I was walking by to make this collective decision to move?!
Later Alex and Ruth tell me there were literally hundreds of them. I am most grateful they keep that to themselves whilst I hide in Hayley’s hood, adopting the ever effective toddler logic that if I can’t see them, they can’t see me.
WWII Memorial
We pause to walk around the World War II memorial. It boasts two long panels of very impressive three-dimensional bronze carvings displaying scenes from the war. These panels line the walkway to a circle of huge pillars, each carved with the name of a state on it, surrounding what in warmer months is a massive fountain.
The back of the circle in the centre displays a wall of 4,048 stars, each one symbolising one hundred American servicemen who died in World War II. At the time we can’t figure out the reason of the order the states were in, so later look it up and find this:
“Much like a formal gathering of military or governmental leaders, the guest or place of honour is at centre. In this case the place of honour is held by the field of gold stars that symbolizes the number of American dead and missing from World War II.
To the right of the place of honour would be the next important element in rank, seniority, or designation. In this case, the State of Delaware, the first to ratify the U.S. Constitution. To the left of the centre would be the second, in this case the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Then the order goes back and forth or right and left, around the circle, much like a military procession, or march of States as each entered the Union. The States are followed by U.S. Territories, again in the order by which they became such, alternating right to left.”
Very complicated, but nicely symbolic I feel.
Four Score and Seven Years Ago…
We continue on to the Lincoln Memorial and view the famous statue of Abraham Lincoln atop his pedestal. He sits looking out across the reflecting pool towards the Washington Monument.
He remains very well kept and gleams white inside his trusty house at the far west of the Mall. The interior of the Memorial contains three chambers. The north and south side chambers present carved inscriptions of Lincoln’s second inaugural address and his Gettysburg Address. The central chamber is for Lincoln himself.
The whole Memorial is full of symbolism. For example: the 36 columns represent the states in the union at the time of Lincoln’s death; and the 48 stone festoons on the attic above the columns represent the existing 48 states in 1922 upon the memorial’s dedication.
I’ll stop teaching you all random American history facts now and return to our usual mayhem!
1600 Pennsylvania Ave
Walking towards the White House we do our best to sneak a look through the fence and take some photos. You can’t get very close of course, but we zoom in as much as we can!
If you really want to know more about the White House there is a Visitors Centre adjacent to the property. We are hungry and cold however, and honestly, not that interested in a museum about the White House. If we had more time in the city then perhaps we’d go, but not today.
And in case you’re wondering, the only way to actually tour the White House itself is to arrange it through your Congressman or Foreign Office. Obviously that is not happening for us!
The Truth Is Out There
Whilst in the area we stop for lunch in a café called Cosi. It’s very nice to warm up for a bit. And as we have been wondering where the FBI building is, whilst in the café I look it up…
It is next door! Literally across the road from us. You can’t make this stuff up!
Hayley and I do a quick recon of the area but alas Fox Mulder was nowhere to be found. This doesn’t deter Hayley from trying again tomorrow whilst inebriated, but I’ll come back to that later.
Continuing our walk along the Mall now heading east of the obelisk, our destination is the Capitol building.
Warming Up
The cold is really getting to us now. Happily, completely by chance we happen upon one of the an open building with free admission so dive in to warm up. And which one is it I hear you cry? Why The United States Botanic Garden!
Bliss!!
We shed our coats and walk around that gorgeous greenhouse jungle until we have seen every plant and my hayfever actually starts to kick in.
Capitol Hill
Now nicely warm we walk the final steps up to the Capitol building and proudly survey the National Mall from its most easterly point.
The Capitol building itself is undergoing renovations during our visit, but it is still pretty cool to see.
It’s quite the achievement I feel to have walked the entire perimeter of the Mall give the weather today.
And our reward for this day of walking?
Homemade Czech goulash and dumplings! It’s one of my specialities, having become obsessed with it during a trip to Prague. And now the dish has been taught to Hayley and successfully made in America despite a few continental differences in supermarket supplies! Quite pleased with how it turned out!
The Night They Invented Champagne! (and cocktails!)
Our last day in Washington DC is also the first day with a pre-planned date specific activity.
Ruth and I have tickets to see Gigi tonight in its pre-Broadway run at the Eisenhower Theatre at the John F. Kennedy Centre for Performing Arts.
So the day is spent staying warm indoors and catching up on the laundry again. Which unfortunately goes awry when the dryer fails. We had plans to go out for drinks and dinner pre-theatre all together, but Hayley and Alex kindly salvage our laundry by finding a laundromat and therefore Ruth and I have to go our alone.
Don’t fret, they make up for it later! I’ll come back to that after the theatre review.
Ruth and I have a yummy dinner accompanied by a kalua oreo milkshake, then make our way to the Kennedy Center.
A bit of background about Gigi for those who are unfamiliar. The show is based on a 1958 film which is based on a 1944 novella by French writer Colette. The plot revolves around a young girl’s education in etiquette to become a “courtesan” in early 20th Century Paris. Instead of wanting Gigi to marry, her family encourage the lifestyle of becoming a mistress to a wealthy man.
I have always really enjoyed the original movie and the newly revised stage version is also very good. I am pleasantly surprised by Vanessa Hudgens’ performance as Gigi. She adopts Leslie Caron’s mannerisms to great effect whilst maintaining her own humour in the role.
The show alters a fair few things from the original but understandably so given the content and current social climate. Having an elderly French bachelor singing “Thank Heaven For Little Girls” probably wouldn’t go down too well with critics, so Mamita and Alicia sing it instead in a slightly more comical rendering.
Suffice to say I enjoyed the performance and am now humming the score as I write.
Ruth and I aren’t the only ones who have an evening of entertainment though.
Having successfully gotten our laundry dry, Alex and Hayley decide to go out for drinks and want to take some night-time skyline photos.
Now I am not fully aware of what goes on during their outing. I do however possess a very entertaining voice note from Hayley declaring her love for Fox Mulder, and how she must find him.
They stumble in just as I’m getting ready for bed and I encounter a VERY drunk Miss Rowe in the hallway. She is very excited to see me and gives me hug, which would be lovely had she not just been throwing up and stunk to high heaven.
Being the good friend I am, I guide her to her room (unsuccessfully navigating a corner on the way) and promptly leave her to sleep it off.
Later I learn they made friends with a barman who let them up on the roof to take some very nice city shots, so all is forgiven, if never forgotten.
The next morning we are leaving Washington DC and picking up our car! The road trip is finally becoming a proper road trip!!
Only issue: Hayley is meant to be driving…
Previously: Philadelphia
Up Next: Hitting the Road
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