Visit to Washington

Washington, our home for 47 years and a wonderful place to share with other visitors! On Sunday afternoon, April 16, long-time Arlington friends Phil and Maggie, who had hosted me the past two days, delivered me to the Holiday Inn near the National Mall, where I shared a room with Lilli and Violet for the next four nights. Also checking in there were their neighbors from Cambridge, Rich, Jenn, Imogene and Eleanor. Violet and her friends had a week off from school. From this spot close to the L’Enfant Plaza Metro Station, we could walk to many places enshrined in our nation’s history. Often I was reminded of tours I’d taken with other groups, such as my Phillips friends in April 2000.

First, we visited Planet Word, a new private museum, not yet enshrined, but deserving of this separate post. From there we walked to dinner at Capitol City Brewery on New York Avenue and prepared ourselves for three days of intensive sightseeing. Lilli had done a great job of planning and making sure we had timed tickets to all the places that required them.

1. While others slept or exercised, Lilli and I visited the Museum of the American Indian Monday morning just as it opened. I remembered seeing it years ago with my friend Carol and with my nephew and nieces. Here our my photos from this 2023 visit.
2. Monday afternoon we had timed tickets to see the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. The first rooms were crowded, dark and depressing, but important to see. Finally, the darkness opened up to light and hope. Having been there years ago with my friend Judith Morris, whose father was a victim of Auschwitz, I took only these thirteen photos this time. Seeing them now prompts reflection and prayer.
3. While the others took a Big Top Bus around the Mall and Arlington Cemetery, I walked to the National Gallery to meet my friend Carol Starr. Along the way I discovered a new Smithsonian Urban Bird Habitat outside the Museum of Natural History. It brought to mind my own efforts to attract birds, bees and butterflies.

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4. The National Gallery East Building, which opened June 1, 1978 (10 days before our daughter Shelby was born), felt like home to me. Alexander Calder’s Mobile welcomed me to sit and rest after my long walk; timed tickets were not required. Among the great works Carol and I saw was an exhibit about French artists. In 1890s Paris a group of painters, including Pierre Bonnard and Édouard Vuillard, pushed painting to new levels of abstraction. They called themselves the Nabis, the Hebrew word for “prophets” and were an influence on Matisse.

   

   

   

   Two more exhibits we saw were Called to Create: Black Artists of the American South, which included a reference to Joseph Albers (see Colors of Savannah), and Mark Rothco, The Classic Paintings. I was curious to see how Rothco’s work related to Albers. This album  contains photos from the East Building of the National Gallery of Art, my favorite art museum since we first came to Washington in 1968. Carol and I had a lovely dinner at Jaleo, the Washington restaurant of José Andres, the great Spanish-American chef.

5. Day Two:  Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Veterans Memorial and World War II Memorial.

   

   

   

   

6. More of Day Two, Tuesday 18 April:  the Goodes and the Smiths reported early for a 1:10 tour of the US Capitol and had time for a very efficient lunch in the Visitors’ Cafeteria, surrounded by many statues. Upstairs, with a guide, we saw more statues and huge crowds of visitors. On earlier visits, I had attended hearings or visited the Galleries; not this time. Being in the center of law-making provides a new perspective on daily news. As you see, my focus was on honorable women.

   

   

   

   

   

   

7. After the Capitol tour, the others took a break, but Lilli and I crossed North Capitol Street to visit the Library of Congress, where our friend Maggie once worked. Luckily, we were able to enter without timed tickets. The grand ceiling, the Gutenberg Bible, and the special room devoted to George and Ira Gershwin were there to be admired. And April is National Poetry Month, which the Library sponsors.

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8. That evening the Washington Nationals played the Baltimore Orioles just two Metro stops away. The weather was perfect; the Silver Diner had good food and service, and the Nats lost only 1-0. The new system of limiting time for pitches meant we got through the first 8 innings in just 2 hours! The organ music kept us revved up.

   

   

   

9. Wednesday the 19th was our last full day in DC. At the National Museum of African American History and Culture another family from Cambridge joined us. Arlene, and her daughters Elizabeth and Abby, arrived with her sister Adele and her nephews Giacomo and Theo, who were hosting them at their home in DC. The tour began four stories underground with Slavery, the Middle Crossing, the Civil War and Reconstruction. After lunch at the Sweet Home Cafe, we explored the upper floors and admired achievements in sports, music, and art. It was an immersive experience. We also enjoyed views of the other memorials we’d seen from the high windows of the Museum. Here are this years’ photos and here is a link to a past visit.
10. A short walk took all nine of us to the White House Visitors Center, on the bottom floor of the US Department of Commerce, where I worked, 1972-73.  Afterward we walked to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, just a block from where I worked for McKinsey & Company Management Consultants, 1968-72.

    

    

11. The Washington Monument, or as my children used to call it, “the pencil,” rises above all the clamor of the city. The Goodes and Adele’s husband Fred joined us there at 3:00 for an elevator trip to the top, my first! Great views, interesting facts. Photos in this album.
12. Dinner at Cactus Cantina with “Wild Rice Women” Elizabeth and Carolyn, friends since 1962. Lilli and Elizabeth’s daughter Kirsten represented the Wild Rice “Sprouts;” we missed Carolyn’s daughter Lisa. Violet and two of Kirsten’s daughters, Billie and Joni, comprised the Wild Rice “Seedlings,” a third generation. Just a month before, David, a Wild Rice “Shoot,” and his family had dined there with Elizabeth and all of Kirsten’s family.

    

    

13. Before my plane departed on Thursday morning, Lilli and I walked a block to the Eisenhower Memorial. It featured an unusual, large (width of the building x four stories), metal Tapestry drawn by Frank Gehry and executed by Tomas Osinski. I remembered being leader of the Riney Drive Ike Club of Phillips TX in 1952 and still have my pin, along with another showing a party switch.

    Here is an album of photos from the Eisenhower Memorial,