Let’s go!

At 10pm last night, the sky at Heathrow was looking lovely.  Our evening began with an hour or so at the first post-concert Stuart Singers rehearsal, where my Hero had a few things to sort out.  All fine and dandy there, except they were starting on the new programme for the December concerts which meant a sweet run through of “Silent Night”.  Just the thing for a balmy June evening and to kick off our road trip.  There followed a tricky journey to Heathrow, with road closures and several speed restrictions on the M4.  At times, we wondered, would we ever get there?

Well, get there we did and as we pulled up to the Valet parking at Terminal 5, a smiling clerk greeted my Hero from behind his desk. 

“Hello Mr Thomas, nice to see you again.  I see you have a new car”

(Who says we are always off somewhere?  But flipping heck, do they keep track?! Anyway, that car is at least a year old now!)

As we checked into the Sofitel, the reception desk was busy but eventually, we reached the front of the queue.

“Hello Mr Thomas.  You have your usual upgraded room”

Oh my.  I don’t think we stay here that often?  But thank you, we didn’t complain

Tonight, we are in Milwaukee.  We picked up our rental car (and Mary!) at O’Hare, where once again, Mr Thomas was greeted by name but on this occasion, it was Avis marketing rather than an especially friendly staff member.  Never mind.  Thankfully all the traffic jams were in the opposite direction as we headed into Wisconsin.

A few raindrops on the windscreen messed up my picture but it was good of them to let us know they’re glad we’re here, wasn’t it?

We decided not to stop and explore this ABANDONED Haunted House Complex but drove straight through to our destination for the next three nights.

And here we are.

Our hotel is right downtown and we had a couple of recommendations for dinner tonight.

One was Mader’s German Restaurant, which is where we decided to head for this evening.

Though the weissbier was good, we gave the place a mere six out of ten and came back to the hotel to blog, catch up on email and to watch the weightlifting Granny, the man doing stunts with a chainsaw and the racing tortoise (yes, really) on America’s Got Talent.

At least one thing was explained when we spotted the sign on this building.  Mark had thought Mary was referring to a strange local custom when she suggested we “sling a sausage on the riverbank”.

Maybe tomorrow.  For now, it might only be 8.30pm here but I can tell you, it’s beginning to feel like 2.30am…

New trend or a local custom?

Whilst we’ve been here, we’ve noticed an unusual – to us – greeting.  When bidding someone goodbye in a shop or in the hotel, during the last few days we’ve heard a different reply from the norm.

“Be well” was the response in the drugstore.

“Stay Safe” said the hotel staff as we went out the door each morning.

“Be Thankful” was the reply from the museum docent.

“Be blessed” wished the waiter in the restaurant last night.

I don’t know if these are the latest variation on “have a nice day” or if such things are the norm in Washington DC.  I don’t even know if I appreciate such responses and certainly can’t decide if they are over pious or totally insincere.  Being the bumbling Englishwoman that I am, I’ve simply smiled and muttered “oh…er…thankyou”.  What I perhaps ought to have mastered is the simple, non-commital American reply of “uh-huh”.

Give me a bit more time and I’ll get it.

Almost time to go home

Just a few more hours to spend before heading to the airport, so after “our usual” breakfast, we collected the car and headed off west, into Virginia, with the intention of exploring a couple of small towns on our way.

This sign confused us a little – a National Park for the Performing Arts?  We need to find out more, but till then, we’d better keep going.

Out in the fields of Virginia, we were fascinated to see the landscape littered with huge houses – I mean h-u-g-e by anyone’s standards, each on a five acre plot or so, many of them situated on hilltops overlooking the others or worse, the freeway.  No fences separating them, no hedges or tree-planted windbreaks, just acres of lawn.

We couldn’t imagine living somewhere like this; so exposed and so “in your face affluent”.

But further affluence was just around the corner, in Waterford, an old village of fine houses situated on a hillside just off the freeway. 

Though many of the homes were modest, elegant and clearly cherished, the village itself felt bleak and empty, devoid of the character and personality that warmed us to Chestertown the other day.

Still, if the idea of living in this historic Virginian village tickles your fancy, there’s a fine property for sale.

We’re quite happy where we are, thank you, so we let the satnav guide us on through the byways until we hit an unsealed road and some signs.  Not wanting to upset anyone, we drove a little further to find somewhere to turn around.

There, we found further signs which did make us wonder, what on earth is going on down there and what do they have to hide?  We continued on the byways until our car creepily found its way to Leesburg Corner.

With a couple of hours to kill, the outlet mall seemed like as good a place as any in which to spend them.

Though I think that for a while, we might have been the only shoppers there.

But hey, black jeans needs were satisfied!

Then, shortly afterwards, underwear supplies were replenished too.

Though I think that some Virginian men might have a story to tell?

Then, having discovered the “search for shops” facility on the satnav, we found ourselves in JoAnns again – this time, without the crowds and with coupons in my hand.  I had a printed coupon from my last visit, but as I entered the store, I thought I’d check on my phone to see if there was a better one.  Sure enough, there it was – 60%. 

It was clear from the abundance of blue and white sparkly fabric that Frozen remains the inspiration for dressing up outfits around here!  But I wasn’t looking for such frippery and was delighted to find a huge roll of stitch’n’tear for my 60% off purchase.  Needless to say, I found a couple of other things too, so was pleased to find that my printed 40% off coupon worked on everything else, too.

The thing is, where there’s a JoAnns, there’s often a Michaels not very far away and it being the cut-throat commercial world that it is, each accepts the other’s coupons…

Sure enough, just around the corner, there it was.  Heaps and heaps of tacky Christmas decorations, all heavily reduced – if only someone was after such things!  I wasn’t – but I did find some papers for my December Daily journal at 50% off and a couple of Heidi Swapp Colourshine sprays which were half price too. 

I have no idea what people are doing with multicoloured cable ties, but they were all over the place.  Maybe next year’s big hit?  Leaving them on the shelf I went to check out, spotting a pack of my favourite MaryJane sweets by the cash register.  As everything was half price already, my coupon didn’t work – but lo and behold, I got 60% off the price of the sweets!

(Meanwhile, my hero was enjoying the peace and quiet of the car, sitting reading his book which is unputdownable, he tells me)

And that was that.  We opened the suitcases to put our purchases inside, to check in, and continued along the freeway for a short distance to the airport.

We said goodbye to our car and made our way to the terminal to check in.

We’ve already reserved our favourite seats behind the red swoosh and so we simply dropped off our luggage and are now enjoying a glass of something cold and white and a bite to eat whilst we await our flight home.

What a great time we had!

What to do with all of those Tunnocks Tea Cake wrappers

I left you ogling that full on scene of silverware, labelled “The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nation’s Millennium General Assembly”, by James Hampton.  Looking more closely, it becomes clear that it’s not silverware at all, but aluminium foil wrapped over wooden frames, or scrunched up into balls.

Actually, when you take a closer look, it’s not that good at all!  But the overall effect is pretty eyecatching, wouldn’t you say?

So there.  Something to work on.

We followed on round into the American art section, immediately recognising this work by Edward Hopper.  Just around the corner was another exhibit of Presidential portraits, one of only two complete sets in the whole country.  Two stood out for me, firstly a warm and affectionate portrait of Richard Nixon, by our favourite Normal Rockwell.

Quite how Rockwell does it, I have no idea.  But his work always has a friendliness and approachability to it, regardless of the subject.

The other one is of JFK.  I’m not sure I like the style, don’t think I’d want to live with the portrait either.  But having read that the man never stood still for more than thirty seconds, the impression it gives could well be quite accurate.  Since his is one of the most photographed faces too, I was glad to see something a little different from the norm.

There was more to see, but mindful of our aching feet and dwindling attention span, we decided to call it a day and leave the rest for next time.  We collected our coats and made our way outside.

Look what we spotted opposite!

Our favourite Shake Shack from NYC, there on the other corner, large as life.  Of course we had to go and get something – we weren’t hungry at all, but shakes and floats and custards and concretes beckoned.  We sat outside for half an hour, savouring our choices and watching the world go by.  Perfect!

Slightly fortified, we staggered back towards the hotel, passing the alleyway on F street behind Ford’s Theatre, where Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.

Half an hour in Barnes and Noble, perusing craft books, magazines and road trip maps was a fun diversion, too, but the meanies have taken away all the chairs so it’s not the refuge for weary feet it used to be!

So we really did feel the need to go back to the hotel this time.  4pm in Thanksgiving week and here was a young woman walking in front of us wearing a light dress and cardigan, no coat nor tights and open sandals on her feet.

The weather forecasts snow for the day after tomorrow, incidentally.

We did manage to stagger out for some dinner later, in the still balmy evening air where the reindeer and Christmas lights just seemed totally out of place.

We’ll sleep well tonight, I’m sure!

Here and there and back again

We started out quite perkily this morning, stepping out over the road to grab a hot drink and a bite to eat.  We returned somewhat heavier of foot later in the day, weary and footsore but what a great day we’d had.

 

The forecast had predicted unseasonably warm temperatures today, so we left several layers of clothing in the hotel and set out with just T shirt and jacket.  Sure enough, as soon as we were outdoors, we recognised that we were not going to need the jackets for long – even at this time of the morning, men were walking around in shirtsleeves.  So strange.

We were heading for Georgetown and caught the metro to Foggy Bottom, by Washington Circle, there just below the centre of the map.  From there, we’d walk a few blocks, we thought.

Would it be quicker to cross the centre of the circle or to walk around it?  We chose to walk across the middle and soon decided that it had been a mistake!  No worries, we weren’t in a hurry because places in this part of the city don’t open until 10 and we had ooodles of time.

As in many American cities, the same street names keep cropping up in different areas and it can be rather confusing.

But we persevered and shortly before ten, we were arriving in Georgetown, a smart historical district.

Suddenly, we weren’t in a large American city any more but a small English market town, it seemed.

M Street NW had the feel of Upper Street, Islington though, with smart individual shops, bars and cafes targeting young, affluent singles and families.

Some parts felt very much like home – the Stone House is the oldest building in Washington DC having been built in 1765.  Now run by the National Parks, the house and adjacent garden were a bit out of place, really.

 

The big names were here too, of course, but tucked into small, individual buldings like this one.  I’d been looking out for Anthropologie so was pleased to step inside and see what’s what, but really, it was too small and tightly packed and I couldn’t find the thing I’d been looking for.  Never mind.

Across the road was Paper Source and though they seemed to be stocked with the same old same old seasonal goodies as previous years, nevertheless, I was glad to have a mooch around and find a couple of things for my December Daily journal.

One great thing about Paper Source shops is that they are always well stocked and neatly organised, unlike the cheapy “warehouse” style of Michaels et al.

Mission accomplished and Georgetown ticked off, we jumped on a bus to Farragut Square, from where we could catch a metro train back downtown.

By this time, we were both carrying our coats – what a pain!

It was so good to sit on the train though and rather cooler down there in the tunnels.

We arrived at the Gallery-Chinatown station and were heading for the American Art Gallery across the road.

Guess what time it opens?  Bingo!  Perfect timing!!

The doors were opened as we climbed the steps to go in.  We were so pleased to be able to stash our bags and coats in a locker and wander freely around those cool corridors for a while!

It’s not a huge museum and divided into two: the Gallery of American Art and the National Portrait Gallery.  We’d really come to see the portraits, so made a start with them.

Here were familiar faces – Benjamin Franklin was one of the first to greet us.

Louisa May Alcott was in the next room – not that I’d have recognised her, but isn’t it interesting to put a face to such a familiar name?

Further down the corridor, what on earth is this doing here – a sewing machine?

The answer was on the wall alongside – here is Isaac Singer, actor and inventor, whose scandalous private life forced him to live abroad in Europe but who nevertheless found time to pose for this rather extravagant portrait!

Alongside him was a rather quieter gentleman, from the look of his portrait at any rate.  Thomas Edison looks a bit more ordinary and somewhat younger than I’d have guessed.

Whilst we were looking at those two gentleman, a very familiar face was looking across at us – here for the umpteenth time this year is our friend Frederick Douglass, one of the stand out characters of our road trip earlier in the year.

There nearby was his good friend, Susan B Anthony and just across on an adjacent wall, Elizabeth Cady Stantion, whose home we’d visited in Seneca Falls, too.

Seeing portraits like this is a very effective means of learning about American history for non-historians like me!

But even I was familiar with this couple, once I’d read their name.  This is Mr and Mrs Ghirardelli, Italian chocolatiers in Lima, Peru before they chose to emigrate to California in 1849 and start trading there.

There was a jar of their wares in the coffee shop next door, too!

We decided it was time for a sit down, then, and found a space in the atrium for a while.  When the time came for us to get up and get going again though, we wondered if it had been a good idea?!

No photographs were allowed in the next exhibit, but both of us loved Richard Este’s hyperrealistic paintings.  Not normally either of our things, these very detailed paintings captured street life in New York amongst other places so well and made for really good viewing!

As we left the exhibition though, what greeted us was quite an eyeful!  Had the museum stripped out a cathedral or something?  What was all of this glitz and glitter?

It’s not what you (or we) thought.  I’ll tell you about it in the next post!