A wander around Washington DC

USA

Washington

Epic adventurer, Ralf Dominick who sailed around the world and recently travelled to Antarctica strongly suggested to me a stopover in Washington DC and following his advice, I did just that spending six days in the capital.

Dominick had spent a month in Washington living on his boat so he got to know the town extremely well. Home for me for the duration of the stay was in the historic district of LeDroit Park a short metro ride from majority of the sights.

As one of the first suburbs of Washington, LeDroit Park was developed and marketed as a ‘romantic’ neighbourhood with narrow tree-lined streets that bore the same names as the trees that shaded them. The colourful neighbourhood had a very distinct architecture with Victorian mansions co-existing with row houses that were all elegantly and brightly painted. My accommodation was terrible but the suburb certainly was fabulous and the local pub was well worth a stop, called the Boundary Stone Public House, it served great food and offered an array of locally brewed beers all on tap. A pint of DC Brau was certainly a memorable craft.

Every night after catching the last train out, wandering home I strolled past the century old Howard Theater and every night the red carpet was dressing up the pavement with limousines lining up outside waiting for their guests. The events changed nightly at the busy theatre from a glitzy CD launch by a famous hip-hop artist, to an awards evening to a rap artist concert. They were all by invite only and posters of a theatre performance being advertised was weeks away.

Each day I would venture into Washington, exploring the well-known sights. The capital for me was very monotone. All the sights, the buildings and monuments felt like it was one colour; marble-white certainly dominated the colour chart. But saying this, there was an air of excitement being in this ‘famous’ city.

I trawled the city stopping at all the main tourist attractions, saying hi to the massive statues of Jefferson and Lincoln, cruising around the manicured grounds on Capitol Hill, wandering past the heavily-secured small building of the White House, gazing heavenwards up at the Washington Monument that was under repairs from an earthquake in 2011 and pondered the meaning of war as I wandered through various war memorials dotted around the city.

The city was immaculate, with an almost Singaporean approach to litter, these was hardly any! Breaking up the monotone colour scheme were the cheerful Cherry Blossom trees. I had missed the Cherry Blossom Festival by a week but the tail end of the blooms was still a delightful treat. The daffodils were blooming marvellous, every single street had rainbow displays, if they were in pots, flowerbeds or planted neatly around traffic circles they certainly made a jolly impact.

The Smithsonian Institutions were great. I spent fat too much time exploring through the sculpture gardens, the National Air and Space Museum, National Museum of Natural History, National Art Gallery, African American History and Culture Museum, African Art Museum, United States Botanical Gardens and the information building nestled in The Castle – the only building in the vicinity that was brick coloured and not the antique colour of marble white.

The African Art Museum was interesting but I far more enjoyed the underground warren of art-clad corridors that took you into a maze of other gallery spaces. I landed up in the Arthur M Sackler Gallery and I relished the two exhibitions there, Chigusa and the Art of Tea a flavourful and insightful exhibition of the origins and traditions of tea in China and the Kiyochika: Master of the Night. This late 19^th century Japanese artist Kobayashi Kiyochika paintings reflected the transformations of modernity around Tokyo before and after the great fire that wiped out the city.

My American culinary adventures went along the lines of when in Rome, do what the Roman’s do – this included a lunch at a MacDonalds where I sampled a Big Mac burger. After a full morning exploring through the National Museum of the American Indian, I dined out on a Native inspired menu. I sampled a delicious Wild Rice and Watercress salad accompanied by a snap pea and lotus root salad drizzled with aged sherry vinaigrette.

A moving highlight was spending time at the Pentagon’s 911 memorial. With all the conspiracy theories flying around about the tragic day, visiting this simple memorial on an un-crowded Sunday was still heartfelt. Over a decade on, the injured side of the Pentagon was still a construction sight with the beeps of construction vehicles interrupting the peaceful surroundings. 

A glistening black marble wall carved with the names of the people that lost their lives that day shadowed by a proud American flag wafting about, greeted visitors. To the right was a barren park with a few young trees starting their ascent in the hopes of shading the memorial. A knee high wall cupped the park and every couple of meters on top of the wall was a sign with a year engraved. Travelling across the floor of the park was a line that came up to meet the timeline spotted along the boundary. The timeline on the wall indicated the year that the 911 victims were born; the timeline began at 1998 and ended at 1930.

Rising out of the gravel, between the lines were a number of diving boards that looked out of place without a massive shimmering turquoise pool. On closer inspection, each statue had a small serenity pool situated directly under the overhang. At night, lights shone up through the water illuminating the statues in an eerie but beautiful manner.

The 184 diving boards shot off in two directions in a somewhat sporadic order. Chatting to a Pentagon Policeman that was lurking at the entrance to the park, he explained that the statues jutting towards the Pentagon were the lives lost on the plane and the statues facing away were in the Pentagon at the time of the impact.

Another encounter with a kind police officer happened at a deserted Metro station in the city late one evening. The young officer accompanied by a beautiful black Labrador was sweeping the area looking for anything out of the ordinary. Leo the Labrador and his partner worked for the bomb unit and Leo had recently returned from spending two years in Afghanistan. He was working the quieter late shift as he had just graduated from six months in rehab after all the action he had seen. A sad reality of war that this poor Labrador had been a part of.

A couple of evenings in DC were spent at the annual Filmfest DC. Being a frequent Durban International Film Fest goer, it was great to see how other cities put on festivals. Filmfest DC should be commended for its successful weeklong flurry of films. The venues were cleverly married up to the films that it was showing. I watched a French feature film, Gare du Nord at the French Embassy and a Danish thrilling who-dunnit, The Keeper of Lost Causes at a historic old theatre that had been converted into movie houses. All the staff at the fest were cheerful, engaging and helpful.

Most days before heading back to my accommodation to change into evening attire, I would take a breather from the overload of sightseeing. The famous patch of lawn stretching from Capitol Hill to the Washington Monument was a healthy shade of green and it became a hive of activity when everyone knocked off from work. The activities on the lawns were adorned with various mixed leagues ranging from American Football to soccer to softball and even a strict class of boot camp. Sitting on the benches people watching, a steady stream of runners and dog walkers would hustle past, dodging strolling tourists. Majority of the Capitol workers certainly were in peak fitness condition, in contrast to the lumpy tourists wandering around. 

Watching the sunset over the Capitol, the city of DC started to twinkle under lights, I got to see the magnificent sights under darkness. Certainly a memorable sight.

DC was fascinating, a wonderful adventure, I am glad that I got to explore the powerhouse of the Western world. Will I rush back there again? I would have to say it is a case of been there, done that and didn’t fancy acquiring the T-shirt.