Weekend in DC

Lisa and I spent last weekend visiting a couple of friends in Washington, DC. It was, fortunately, beautiful weather the entire weekend. I very much enjoyed the trip and Lisa did as well. On the ride home she remarked I had not responded so positively to a large city before and we recalled previous trips to NYC, Chicago, Boston, and Philadelphia. I was impressed at the efficient design of the city (creditted to the Masons I heard?) and the cleanliness and accessibility of everything. I had not known before this trip that all the museums and monuments were free to visit and did not require long lines. I heard despite the enormous size of the city, it is largely vacated on weekends as commuters reside in suburbs. In addition, we hit great weather but at a time just before peak season, so that meant fewer street vendors, tourists, and so on. I really enjoyed the National Mall, where we spent most of our time. Sure it was vast, but what floored me was how many people made such great use of the green area. Many people played soccer or jogged and there were some guys playing rollerhockey on Pennsylvania Avenue on Saturday. People ate lunch, sunned, even salsa danced, making it really feel like a vibrant community of Americans. Saturday we went to the National Museum of the American Indian first and ate lunch there. This is where I first felt a sense of awe. The exhibit showed more than a collection of arrowheads, there were the Indian Peace Medals and the peace treaties - signed by George Washington himself and the others that followed. We caught the tail end of a tour guided by the wife of a man who actually attended an Indian boarding school. I took exception to her remark that this was the only museum in the nation to tell the story of the Native Americans from their perspective but that is a tangent I will avoid. She broke down the story of European influence as a threefold storm beginning with bibles, then guns, and ending with diseases. It was amazing that not only did they have this guide telling these stories, but they had a history of materials on the walls behind her to evidence periods in her lecture. The wall of biblical literature in various native tongues was impressive, but I was more drawn towards the wall of guns through history (some were handcrafted from wood and bone), and even more towards the wall of golden trinkets and swords. It was a very impressive display of artifacts, the genuine article. We headed out after lunch to the Capitol Building, which was guarded by a couple of officers and at least one machine gun that we could see. I strained to see what the statue atop the dome actually was, from far below it looked like a woman with a bird on her head. She actually looks like this:


Suckered in by the Dada Exhibit, We paid a visit to the National Gallery of Art. I was mostly distinterested and very disturbed by their bleak visions. I later slipped into older wings to catch some ancient medieval artwork while Lisa and Aileen drank coffee.

We walked back towards the imposing Washington Monument and were then disappointed by the surprisingly lackluster World War II Memorial. After all the years they had to develop and plan, it seems like there could be something better then a big circle of wreaths with the names of the US states and territories. It being place in the midst of the mall also meant it blocked the view towards the Lincoln Memorial. We stopped there for the evening and caught a great, affordable, Italian meal at a nearby restaurant.

Sunday we made it back to the mall and started out with a visit to the closest view of the White House possible (at Pennsylvania Avenue). We stumbled on a St. Patrick's Day parade around the mall. Then we hurried over to the Lincoln Memorial and ate lunch on the steps, basking in the sunlight. Then we read the words of Abe while sizing up his behometh statue. While leaving, a congregation of Chinese people gathered to protest against the Chinese Communist Party and to celebrate 9 million Chinese resigning from the party. They played some marching band music and gave speeches about Falun Gong and Falun Dafa. I was pleased to see someone protesting something in DC. Shortly thereafter we visited the incredible Korean War Memorial. It captured the faces of soldiers engraved on a wall on one side, names of nations engaged in the conflict on the walkway, and listed the numbers of killed, missing, and injured. It really put a reference upon our modern expectations of warfare to see tens of thousands and even millions engaged in that conflict. The statues of soldiers were just a hair larger than life, very detailed, and eerie. It felt a nice memorial that reminded you the cost with its creedo "FREEDOM IS NOT FREE" and historically documented the technologies used in its engravings as well.

We visited an incredible photorealism exhibit at the Corcoran Gallery of Art. I was floored at the artist Robert Bechtle's ability to capture replication of photograph quality with charcoal sketches, oil paintings, and even watercolors. It was sad to see his degrading relationship with his wifes and children captured through the years, but impressively done to a high degree of quality and subtle meaning in composition. Well worth the visit.

It was about a four hour ride and a great time for Lisa and I. We enjoyed getting away, being in each other's company, and getting to visit with friends we don't get to see so much anymore.