Gary-Summer: March 21, 2023 - Washington DC-Walking the Mall

Tuesday, March 21, 2023

March 21, 2023 - Washington DC-Walking the Mall

Title: March 21, 2023 - Washington DC-Walking the Mall

Hike Info : Description : Background : Extra Photo's : Animals : Flowers and Plants

Hike Info:

Type:Tourist

Walk: 9 miles

Description:

Sherri in Union Station

It is way too early to get up. It is 5:45 and I want to sleep, but my bathroom trip reminded me of the task of the morning: rattling Trinity’s cage on the toilet. I do stay in bed until 6:30. When I got up, I texted her and she notified the building maintenance. Now the waiting game starts.

Sherri surprises me and gets up at 7:30. I was thinking about just pouring myself some granola, but Sherri wants to fix breakfast after her shower. She fixes us pancakes. It feels good having a meal under our belts-oh yeah, the pants I brought does not have a belt on them-could have created an awkward situation. Nope, Sherri loans me her belt. And then she steps out for to Starbucks-her morning coffee fix.

We lounge around for a while. Maintenance comes with a huge looking toilet snake. He does the trick and we now have a working toilet. And now we are getting ready to see DC. Our list for today is a walking tour of the National Mall. We are planning on doing these, but as a word of note, this is the plan, but plans change:

US Capitol

Supreme Court Building

And now to see what we will do on our first day. We start out at 10:30 which is really 7:30 our time-not bad. It is about the time I was hoping we would be able to begin our adventures this week.. Instead of going down 1st St NE like we did last night, we head down Capitol. A bit fresher than 1st St. But both streets we pretty much feel comfortable with. We went into Union Station just to look around after hurrying through last night. In particular, I am looking for the Philip Randolph Memorial. But struck out on finding it.

Library of Congress

President Garfield

And now we capture our first monument. In front of Union Station is a monument. We find out it is dedicated to Columbus

President Grant

. We take our pictures, but do not give it much thought-it is only later which we find out the name of the monument. But in front of that is some protesters who want better working conditions, higher pay, … the usual. One of them engages Sherri in a conversation.

The US Capitol building is looming right in front of us-we have been able to see it for awhile, but now it makes itself evident, larger than what I imagine it to be. To get to the grounds, we pass by a couple of the Senate buildings. A steady stream of aides file past us wanderers.

National Gallery of Art

And then we reach the Capitol grounds. This place is huge! Lots of school students and adult organizations are around. Still it does not seem crowded. Wander around, taking pictures and being in awe of the building. We also notice people dressed in red coats-no not the British. These are associated with the Capitol visitor staff. We must have looked particularly lost as one of them stops and asks us if we need help. We talk for a few minutes before he goes on.

We cross 1st St NE-yes the same one as our rooms are on and stand in front of the Supreme Court. All of those places we read about, and now we are in front of. The next block over we see the Library of Congress. As today is a day of walking the Mall, we are only gawking at these structures.

Smithsonian "Castle"

We cross back over and start to wander around the south side of the Capitol building. The grounds are immaculate, even with all of the people passing through. As we walk these paths, we see our friendly Capitol Visitor friend and wave at him and he greets us again. We come to a statue of President Garfield-the second President to be assassinated. There is a reflection pool in front of the Capitol, but that is all dried up, spoiling the effect.

Washington Monument

Capitol from the Mall

Beside Garfield, there is a memorial to General and President Grant. He is center stage, standing above the Capitol reflection pool. We spent some time circling around him. Also wondering about the gender of his horse. We then move to the other side of the pool, completely ignoring another statue close by-the Peace Monument. On the other side of the pool we sit and have our lunch as we enjoy our first sights of DC.

We thought we would then stop at our first Smithsonian, the National Gallery of Art. Personally, I thought this would take no more than an hour. Instead, Sherri and I are amazed at this Gallery. We have a love of Mary Cassatt’s art from seeing a painting of hers at the Huntington in Pasadena. In searching for their Cassatt, we see other French Impressionists-some I am in awe of, others, meh! But there are others which I linger by. Consequently, we only go through a quarter of the Gallery in two hours.

World War II Memorial

Vietnam Memorial

Lincoln Memorial

But there is a bit of overload, as it turns out there will be in almost all of the Smithsonians. So we move on. Before we leave, we have a sort of a dinner-lunch downstairs in the Garden Cafe. Good food-I thought it was a bit steep, but after going to some other places, I think the food was both good. fresh made and reasonable.

We wander through the Sculpture Gardens-which is part of the Gallery of Art. Also, the “butterfly path: is by there-we note it and want to come back to it again.We notice a sign talking about the Downtown Heritage Trail-something to investigate. When we saw something like this in Boston, it took over our city exploration. As it turned out, we have plenty to do in DC without taking on one more thing. We walk past the Museum of Natural History-this is to go to the Smithsonian Castle. But it is closed for renovations.

From the start of walking the Mall, the Washington Monument

Gary getting smarter at Einstein Statue

stands tall. From this point we are able to navigate much of our way. But now we are walking beside it. We have not obtained tickets for it and have not decided if we want to. But we stopped by its Visitor Center. I want to get my first National Parks Passport stamps. But there is no paper. The lady at the counter says here are some printed strips of paper for a dollar a piece. Ugh! But I also see a couple sheets of stamps which I have been looking for and buy them. I will say if the lady is any indication of workers in DC, this may not be a very delightful trip. She seems more bothered by having to do her job than as a good customer representative.

After passing by the Washington Monument, we see the African-American Museum-we have passses for entry next Sunday. We cross 17th Street. and there is a World War II monument. This is a recently constructed memorial. On one side it commemorates the fighting in the Pacific, the other side the European war. For some reason, as I wander through this, I am moved. Maybe it is by all the lives lost and the heroism exhibited. I will find this about many of the war memorials. Something grows silent in me.

The White House

The reflection pool between the World War II Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial has been drained. So no reflection there. I am wondering if they have emptied these pools for the Winter so they do not freeze.

When we come to the Lincoln Memorial, it seems more like a circus rather than respectful. JW’s are promoting their religion, someone has a loud speaker recitings parts of the Old Testament, and then there are the skateboarders and bicycle riders. We decide to only look and not ascend, saving that for another time.

On the other side of the reflection pond is the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. I have found on its website the location of two people Sherri is interested in. We find both names: Gary Parkinson and Gary Dickey. These names bring the meaning of The Wall even closer to the heart. This is the war of our lifetime. So there is the sorrow of our generation wrapped up in this wall and we feel it.

Sherri and Gary at the White House

After spending time there, we cross Constitution Ave and head to the more esoteric statue of the day. In front of the National Academy of the Sciences is a representative statue: Albert Einstein. It is a bit out of the way, but when we get there two others are by it as well-when we leave a family comes up. But while we are there, we admire it. Legend has it that if you rub his nose, some of his brilliance rubs off on you. Sherri does not want this, but I do.

The Eisenhower Administration Building

We then wander past the State Department into the Foggy Bottom area. Knowing what we know now, we would have called it a day and gone to a Metro station in the area. Instead we head over to Lafayette Square. There is a limited access pedestrian passageway which is open right now. A few groups have gathered to protest, but not very loudly. As we passed by, I noticed a Secret Service man. I asked him about taking a picture of him. He seems a bit coy about it, so I do. I notice him standing a bit more straight when I do. We have just read Zero Fail in our Osher class.

Back side of our building

This passageway goes past the north side of the White House, and is Pennsylvania Ave NW, so we are able to glimpse some of the White House. Also I can see how they have changed the fencing from what is described in the book. As we approach the Treasury building, we hear the notes of Sweet Caroline played on a trombone-much better than I could ever play it. Sherri throws a dollar to him.

And now we start our walk back to the room. Along the way, we find a sign saying the Downtown Heritage Trail. When we visited Boston, we saw a sign saying Black Freedom Trail. That came to dominate our stay then. I wonder if this will do the same for us?

But now back to our journey back to our room. If we had been a bit more seasoned in our travels, particularly in DC, we would not have walked, but taken the Metro. But we are walking, after a long day of walking around the Mall. It does seem so much further going than coming. But eventually we reach our room and collapse into a restful recline. We have our sandwiches, watch a bit of TV and go to bed.

Background

Grant's Horse. We learned from Geraldine Brooks book Horse that the horse Grant rode into battle and the one on the statue was named Cincinnati or Cincinnatus after the Roman General. This horse was an offspring of the racehorse Lexington.

Trip Advisor Reviews:

National Gallery of Art Garden Cafe. We had a lunch-dinner here. The food was good, even if we ordered only “sandwich” food. The sandwiches were fresh made, tasting real good. The only thing better would have been a few master paintings scattered around the eating are

Extra Photo's