Gary-Summer: March 26, 2023

Sunday, March 26, 2023

March 26, 2023 - Washington DC

Title: March 26, 2023 - Washington DC

Hike Info : Description : Extra Photo's

Hike Info:

Type:Tourist

Walking: 2.9 miles

Description:

Farragut Statue

We have been on the road for exactly one week. This raises the question of, do I like it? There are a lot of aspects which I do like, such as meeting people and learning new things and seeing new wonders and experiencing the emotions which come with a place. But would I want it to be a permanent existence? I do not think so. It is a good change of pace. I am really too much of a homebody. I enjoy my own bed, my own room, and my own books.

Renwick Figure

I got up this morning at 7:00, pretty well rested. Read some and now will work on doing some dishes. There is not much rush in leaving today as our entry pass calls for a 1pm entry time. So we leave at about 11am on the Red Line. We get off at the Farragut North Metro station. The only thing on the agenda is to wander around the area. But we also note that one of Sherri’s items to visit is the Renwick Museum, so we head into that direction.We pass through Farragut Square with his Statue.

Seat at the Renwick

A short ways further is the Rewick. This is much more of a physical art museum than image, cultural or historical. Not much in the way of classical sculpture. But there are bowls, quilts, a few furniture items, and what I would call brick--brack. But what really catches my attention is this one large room with almost nothing in it. There is a carpet which I, and several others, lay on, to gaze at the ceiling. There is a multi-colored, iridescent bit of fishnet hanging from the ceiling. The museum has colored lights fading in and out giving me the feeling of clouds catching either the morning or evening sun. I lay there for ten minutes just enjoying the scene. Sherri is a bit stand-offish for a while and then lays down and enjoys it as well.

African-American Museum

After 45 minutes, we left the Renwich and headed towards the Smithsonian’s Museum of African-American History.

I notice that the street behind the usual view of the White House is blocked off. I wonder why? Maybe the President is going out? There are crowds of people on the sidewalk and in the park in front of the White House. Looks like everybody wants to enjoy a sunny Sunday in a park. Kits fly by the Washington Memorial and people mill around. Instead of taking 10-15 minutes to get to the Museum, it is more like 20 minutes.

An exhibit

The first thing we noticed about this African-American History building was from our walk down the National Mall Tuesday. Instead of the marble and column or block structure, it reminds me of baskets built on top of each other. The weave it turns out is a copper colored metal. The inside of the building is much more like a normal building.

We enter the Museum a little after 1pm. and stay in until 5. That is how interesting it is. Also this museum is pretty crowded. And it is the makeup of the crowd that interests me. My assumption coming in was that the people inside the museum would be predominantly Black. While there are more blacks here than lets say at the Portrait Gallery, it is not nearly so. But there seems to be at least half white with a good number of Asians mixed in. I am thinking that this is to get a better understanding of the background surrounding the African-American experience. Isn’t that why I am here?

The first stop is the cultural aspects of the African-American experience. This includes how Africans were shipped across the Atlantic, some of the slave markets, and how they were treated more like meat and machinery than humans. I suspect in order to make a slave two things have to happen. First you have to get the person into that mindset. The second, is the enslaver needs to lose any human compassion, consequently they will lose their own humanity.

As part of the culture, there was talk of the religion, “stepping”-a type of initiation dance which Black Greek Letter societies would have, and the Green Book. Even prominent Blacks who were to entertain whites would be subject to where they could eat, stay and pee. Hence the Green Book was like a AAA book of places where they would not be discriminated against. It was like a Black Bible of travel.

Then on another level was music, literature and entertainment. What can I say, this level had the most energy. You heard various performers and saw their outfits.

There was another level, but frankly, the whole experience all merged together. The museum offered not only the transition to becoming slaves and the slave experience, but also the times after the Civil War through the Civil Rights movements. How Blacks were treated, and more important today the effects past discrimination has on current Blacks. But then you also have cultural affects Blacks have had on America, from the music, to dance, to how care is provided.

We left the building around 5pm. There is still lots of activity in the Mall around us. We do stop and have our sandwiches while observing the crowds on the grounds and kites in the air. It is a regular party atmosphere. But with the crowds, there is traffic and it is classic gridlock. Pedestrians have the right-away, particularly when the stop lights give their signal to go. And we go with the flow so there are cars which cannot get out of the intersection causing more cars not to be able to move. We are so glad we are walking. But even the buses need to move through this traffic, at least they are experienced.

DuPont Circle

We get on board 52 and head towards what is considered the downtown area. I noticed that a place we saw a couple days ago is nearby-the Shake Shack. We decided to indulge there before heading towards Kramers. The hamburger is good and the shake is wonderful. A good place to stop in and get rejuvenated.

Then it is a 15 minute walk to Kramer’s Bookstore on the Dupont Circle. This probably qualifies as one of Sherri’s “creeky” bookstores. It is a fun little place-I think almost all bookstores are fun places. It is a bit small, but cozy. Of course, I look at several books and take note of a few titles.

Sherri at Kramers

And then we are off. There is a Red Line Metro which goes to DuPont Circle. But where? We see one place, but it is caged off and then walked to a second, and that is caged off as well. How do we get down? Google to the rescue! There is an entrance right next to Kramers. Oh well, we get a few more steps in. But the escalator into the station almost scares me off. It is long, it is steep. It seems like it takes forever to descend and then add in both my fear of heights and the bumpiness of the escalator. I wonder if we will make it down safely or not.

We do. The Red Line will go directly to our NoMa station. We get out there and get to our room about an hour before our family Zoom time. This gives just enough time to get a few minutes of rest. Usually one of the kids is the first off. David goes off and at 11pm, I say I need to exit as I am getting tired. This gets me some minor harassing, but with understanding. And then I go to bed..