Across the Bay

With a fine day on the cards, we decided to hit the road and head on out of town after breakfast.  However, we’ve not really discovered a great breakfast place within sight of the hotel yet and so we settled for Starbucks and hoped we’d find lunch en route.

Inspired by a leaflet we’d picked up in the museum yesterday, we decided to follow part of the Star Spangled Banner trail, across Chesapeake Bay and over to the Delmarva Peninsula.

We headed eastwards then, towards Chesapeake Bay and the Bay Bridge, which is somewhat of a landmark.  Thankfully, the weather was fine and we drove across it without problem, though we did wonder if the old duck who was volunteering in the visitor centre was one of those who’d offer to drive the car over for those who were scared.  Now, there’s an even scarier thought!

The bridge – or should i say, bridges – are quite long and rather high too.  And having driven through the washing machine this summer we could well imagine how terrifying it could be to drive over these bridges in bad weather.  So, we thanked our lucky stars and continued.

There wasn’t much traffic thank goodness and we were soon over the other side.  No worries – except we needed to go back over the same way later!

Firstly, a little orientation at the Visitor Center.  Here we were greeted warmly by the aforementioned elderly volunteer who explained her vagueness by citing a lack of caffeine this morning.  Bless her – she did her best to answer our questions but thrusting a leaflet listing the charity shops in the area wasn’t really that helpful.

Whilst my hero maintained conversation, I explored the rooms of the visitor centre and made my acquaintance with the Atlantic Horseshoe Crab and Francois the turtle – or rather, the Diamondback Terrapin

Both were housed in tanks at the back of the centre and were examples of the rich variety of wildlife we might encounter on our journey.  Thankfully, we encountered neither.

We were heading over Chesapeake Bay to a small town called Chestertown which we’d read about and rather like the sound of.  We gathered maps and other useful leaflets and set off further east, heading for Centreville.

Centreville is in Queen Anne’s County and sure enough, there she was in front of the oldest continuously used courthouse in the USA.  We ran the gauntlet of the Jehovah’s Witnesses who were waiting for unsuspecting visitors with whom to converse, took our photos and left.

We took the “byway” wherever possible, enjoying the drive along quiet country roads, through small towns and villages.

We were soon at Chestertown, where a quick conversation with a rather more helpful visitor centre docent set us out on a small walking tour.  Reminiscent of Stars Hollow, the Fountain Square and surrounding community was very walkable and we thought, very attractive.

We stopped in the bakery for a bite to eat and a cup of coffee – free wifi is a bit of a draw as well, of course.

From there we moved on, admiring the beautiful homes which lie along the river, each one beautifully restored and very attractively presented.  We stopped to chat to one of the owners, busily clearing leaves from his pathways and agreed that this must be a very pleasant place to live.

The view from his home must have taken in the old schooner moored in the harbour and the unspoiled Chester River.  Maybe he too had a private dock for a small boat?  That’s the life, for sure.

Time to get back in the car then and set off back over the bridge.  Like the Severn Crossing, the toll is on just one direction, so the thrill was free of charge this time!

We’d set the satnav for Tysons Corner – well, where else does everyone head for on a November Sunday afternoon? 

Sure enough, there they all were.  In the food court, like a plague of starlings and making just as much noise!  Oh my goodness.  Had we really done the right thing?

Some might say “yes”.

There was certainly plenty of temptation.

But, however attractive the offering, somehow, it just didn’t work out for us.  The crowds were horrendous and the noise overwhelming. We’d found Chico’s ok and I was hoping to find a new pair of black, straight leg jeans.  But the assistant didn’t get off to a great start:

“That’s a cute vest (waistcoat) you’re wearing, Ma’am”

“Oh, thank you.  It’s actually a Chico’s one”

“Really?  I don’t recognise it.  It must be very old”

The cheek!!  I didn’t enlighten her; didn’t say that I’d bought it in LA just last Autumn and actually, the same one was hanging on the rail right beside her in a different colour and finish.  Instead, I simply huffed and puffed and chose one or two things to try on, though by now, felt too tired and hot and sticky to be bothered.

 

So we beat a hasty retreat to the Galleria, where the higher end stores were situated, amongst them my favourite Eileen Fisher.  No screaming children here.  No crowds searching for 50% off.  But neither was there anything to tempt me and anyway, by now I was past caring.  Time to head back home.

An hour or two later, margarita in hand, perhaps it hadn’t been that bad?

Supper in our favourite Rosa Mexicana was delicious and somehow, I even remembered to leave room for the churros! 

As we set off to walk back to the hotel, however, it began to rain.  We made a quick decision to catch the Metro back and mindful of the House of Cards episode, stood well back from the edge of the platform

We were soon back at 15th Street NW and home.  It’s been another fun day and exactly as forecast, somewhat milder than yesterday.  The big question is, will it really be as warm as they tell us it will be tomorrow?

Watch this space!

Culture clash

The art museum is housed in one of several grand buildings along the National Mall and the huge banner advertises the current star of the show: Degas’ Little Dancer.

Like all the museums here, entrance is free of charge and from the minute we stepped inside, we were delighted we’d come.  The light and airy spaces were free of clutter and many were free of people too!

Best of all were the long vistas through archways, offering a glimpse of the treasures beyond.  The daylight from the overhead windows made the the gallery more open and inviting.

Beneath the central dome was a fountain surrounded by seasonal planting and it was easy to see why this was a popular place to meet or to sit and contemplate.

But what about the art?  We were heading for the American galleries, thinking that since we didn’t have time to see everything, we’d have a single goal in mind.  I couldn’t resist a quick peek at a few Cezanne works however, having watched the BBC programme about artists and the French Riviera on the plane coming over.

Oh, and passing by the star of the show, of course we had to take a closer look at her.  This is the original wax model, formed by Degas himself and dressed in the original ballet dress.

She was actually beautifully displayed and the audience was respectful in allowing everyone a turn  to have space to view her closely.  No pushy pushy crowds here, thank goodness.

As we made our way to the far corners, I continued to marvel at the way selected pictures were hung to be framed by the doorways.

Eventually we reached our goal and whose work should be one of the first to catch my eye, but Winslow Homer.  The Boys in the Pasture is an old friend I like to visit when we are in Boston, but here, Dad’s Coming! has that same warmth and fine detail.  The storytelling is great, isn’t it?

 

Sorry, I didn’t frame this Singer-Sergeant beauty "(“Repose”) so well, but I couldn’t resist the lavish fabrics which, from a distance look so realistic and yet, of course, when viewed at close quarters are mere brush strokes.  Emma Freud, your comment accompanying the portrait which I blogged about in London last week sprang to mind again.

With a last glimpse through doorways to paintings we’ll save for a future visit, we made our way to the central hall again, though as we went, we took a short look around a temporary exhibit.

The sight of lace curtains with bird motifs blowing in the breeze from an open window inspired Andrew Wyeth to paint the image.  Not only that, the powerful image influenced his work for years to come and many of these “window” works were exhibited here in the gallery today.  It was easy to see why windows made for such compelling subjects, because of the light and shade perhaps, but also the natural frame for whatever lies beyond.  These smaller rooms were pretty full of both art and of visitors so we didn’t linger.  However, I’ll look out for his work in future and will be interested to learn more.

Leaving the art behind, we walked along the Mall and past the Natural History museum, where the skaters were enjoying the ice rink set out in front of the building.

The National Museum of American History is in a rather more modern building next door and that was our next destination.  As always, we spoke to one of the volunteer guides at the desk and asked advice about what we mustn’t miss.

So our first port of call was the “Star Spangled Banner” exhibit – the real, enormous, restored flag which flew in Baltimore and inspired the National Anthem.  Interesting and a good place to start, we thought.

Well, to be honest, the rest of the museum proved to be a disappointment.  Rather than the serious history museum we were expecting, we found the exhibits to be more family oriented and lacking detail.

Julia Child’s kitchen was possibly the most interesting exhibit but we passed by the remainder of the food themed area in favour of the transportation display downstairs.

By now, we were recognising that we were not, perhaps, the typical visitor.  Having had the good fortune to travel widely in the USA and visit many more specialised museums and collections, this broad-brush, general approach just wasn’t going to cut the mustard.  The Auburn car collection we visited earlier in the year had so many absolute stunners on show that the one single car on show here didn’t really compare.  Anyway, when the city offers a Museum of the American Indian, is building a Museum of African American history, there’s also an Air and Space Museum not to mention so many other specialist museums in other cities around the country, what remains to show in a general “history museum” ?  My hopes of learning more about the pioneer life I’ve just been reading about in the Laura Ingalls Wilder books were thwarted  - this just wasn’t the place for such things.  Never mind. 

Feeling just a little footsore, we headed back to the hotel, just a block or two away.  When we got there, we didn’t dare sit down or else we might not have the energy to get up again!

So we jumped straight in the car and headed out of town.  After all, I had coupons for JoAnns and Michaels burning a hole in my pocket!

I left my hero reading in the car whilst I went in JoAnns first.  20% off a total purchase of $50 or more, 25% off $100 or 30% off $150.  I had a little list!  Finding things wasn’t easy, however and it took a while, even though I didn’t have any intention of buying fabric once I saw the queue to have it cut.

My purchases were more considered – large rolls of stabiliser for machine embroidery then, having done a little mental arithmetic, a few packs of sewing machine needles and other bits and pieces to take the total up to the discount threshold.  I won’t say which one!

Meanwhile, my hero had come looking for me.  Thinking I’d have finished in JoAnn’s already, he’d been into Michaels next door and encountered such a melee, he’d decided to stay back in the car after all!

All Christmas things in Michaels were 50% off.  No wonder people were wheeling trolleys full of fake evergreen trees, wrapping papers, boxes, bags and so much red and green “stuff”, it was very tempting to turn right around and go back to the car.  But hey, I had a coupon…

I found a couple of things I’d been looking for, got a few half price stickers for my December Daily album and used the coupon on a small pack of ink sprays before calling it a day.

As I left, they thrust a coupon into my hand!

We, however, progressed to the next row of shops, just around the corner.  G Street Fabrics is a well established Washington store and I knew it for quilting fabrics and Bernina sewing machines.

It’s a large store, occupying a whole basement and I had a really interesting (and useful) conversation with the Bernina saleslady who was embroidering an attractive Christmas sampler.  I wasn’t in the market for a new sewing machine however, didn’t have any accessories on my list and so there wasn’t really anything further for her to help with.

Looking around the rest of the store, though, everything seemed a little empty, especially bearing in mind the hoohah that was going on just around the corner.

Sad to say, I left empty handed.

This evening, we headed for one of the places we’d passed by last night.  The Capitol City Brewing Company looked promising and sure enough, it was an ok sort of place.  Best of all, it wasn’t so far to walk, because both of us were a little footsore tonight.  Might that be because we walked  more than four miles* back from breakfast this morning?

* “It’s not far”, he said.

Footsore

A bright and sparkling morning awaited us as we drew back the curtains.  Time to get out and enjoy the city – after breakfast!  We had a recommendation for Ted’s Bulletin on Capitol Hill and directions via the metro, so off we set in search of “our” station.  It’s in the adjacent McPherson Square – but where?

We could tell it was around here somewhere from the rumbling we could hear through the grating in the pavement.  But we couldn’t see a station at all.

Aha! Sneaky.  The sign is just around the corner, but blends in well with the scenery, don’t you think?

First buy our tickets.  We’ve done this the world over and yet every machine has its little idiosyncrasies.  This one decided that just one card was enough and was reluctant to issue a second card.  Eventually, as we gave up and began to walk away in search of another machine, it reset and we started over. 

No cute names here, just “Smartrip”.  Having bought $10 cards, we thought that maybe we’d better add a little more to each, whilst there was no-one about.  After all, there’s nothing worse than trying to do these things with a queue of locals behind, all in a hurry.

We managed to tame the monster of a machine to add another $10 to each card and set off at last.

The signs were clear and we noted we needed to travel seven stops – just as well, since the trains travel very fast, the stops are short and there are neither station announcements nor information about the next stop displayed on the train itself.

We had the train to ourselves for a while.

So, in lieu of people watching, we tried to work out the advert.

Seven stops later, we were out into the bright sunshine again.

This was a fairly smart, residential district with young families out and about enjoying the fresh air on a sunny Saturday morning.

Ted’s Bulletin was a popular spot for breakfast too, so we had a short wait.  Never mind – it was well worth waiting for!

We resisted the peanut butter and bacon cake, not to mention the home made pop tarts.

Nevertheless, we still left feeling totally stuffed, so decided to walk back rather than take the metro again.  After all, it felt so good to be out in the sunshine.

In no time at all, we were almost at the Library of Congress.

A little bit of cone avoidance was in order, because these were special Library of Congress cones!

As we approached the back of the Capitol building, we thought we’d take a selfie.

Even with all the scaffolding around the dome, the Capitol is a stunning building, isn’t it?

Walking around to the front, we remembered doing a tour when we were last here in 2002 and standing on the spot where the President stands to give the inaugural address.  Today, we weren’t so bothered and carried on past the sightseers, stopping only to take a picture of the view.

The National Mall was looking rather greener than it did back then, too, because we were here in the summertime and it was incredibly hot and dry.  It’s much more pleasant to be here at this time of the year, that’s for sure.

Though the birds were skating on the ice of the reflecting pool.  Though it was warmer today than yesterday, it’s still pretty cold – around 3C according to my phone.

We headed across the Mall, then, towards Constitution Avenue and the National Gallery of Art.  We felt we’d walked our breakfast off by now and were ready for a bit of culture.  I’ll tell you about it in the next post.

We are here

Last night, when Heathrow was very quiet, we had a little assignation.  A phone call with a ten minute warning to grab my bags and head for the valet parking, where a wave from my hero signalled me to put them in the boot as he went off to sort out the paperwork.  The last packing adjustment was complete and all my Bernina notes, London clothes and a couple of small purchases which didn’t need to be taken across the ocean and back were left in the car – and I hoped that I hadn’t left something important behind!

The travelling companions were glad to be together again!

The vehicle of choice for today was an A380 rather than the 205.   We were headed for Washington Dulles Airport, sitting somewhere in the red bit of the swoosh.

Seven and a half trouble free hours later and there we were.  A bright, crisp afternoon with temperatures hovering around zero and thankfully, no snow!

With my hero switched into US-driving mode, we headed into the city and checked into our hotel.  It’s remarkably quiet here, hardly any traffic and not so many visitors either, which is great.

We couldn’t linger and wanted to make the most of the bright sunshine to ease the time difference so wrapped up and set off four blocks west to Pennsylvania Avenue.

You know who lives there, don’t you?  We didn’t have a dinner invitation though and no-one was skipping on the lawn today, so we took the pictures and moved right along.

No, of course we weren’t the only ones there!

The Capitol building is shrouded in scaffolding, but that’s fine because we’ve been there, done that, even if it was a few years ago!  We kept on walking though, as much to stay warm as to stay awake.

I was amused by the signs here – I guess that you shouldn’t attempt to simply drive through without stopping?!

We decided to leave the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial for another day and instead, walked up the Mall towards the Capitol.

It turned out that we were walking the Federal Triangle Heritage Trail.  Who knew?

 

So that’s what we did.  Except that around about the half way point we were starting to get hungry.  And cold. We quite fancied a drink, too.

So turning up 7th St and spotting Carmines, we went right on in!  This Italian restaurant was new to us and seeing the prices, we wondered if we’d chosen wisely – it all seemed rather expensive for the simple, Italian family food it was offering.  But all soon became clear – it’s served “family style” – a huge bowl of pasta for several people.  Oh my goodness, we were stuffed when we left!  But it was good, it hit the spot and the lack of fuss suited us perfectly.

We walked back to the hotel through bustling streets and past a couple of familiar restaurants – Rosa Mexicana and Legal Seafoods are amongst our favourites in New York and Boston respectively – though whether we’ll sample them here, we’ll see.  We passed so many great possibilities for our time here, I very much doubt that we will go hungry.

So there we are.  Goodnight Washington.

It’s going to be warmer tomorrow and the forecast for the next few days is weird:  it was 0C today and the predicted temperatures for tomorrow, Saturday is 8C, Sunday 13C, and then on Monday it suggests it will be 22C.  What?!  So maybe we’ll wear two layers tomorrow, wear just one on Sunday and then on Monday, perhaps we’ll just need a T shirt and sunscreen?!

Whatever the weather, we’ll have fun.  That I know.

One last day

We’d decided to spend our last full day in the city at the Field Museum.  Our friend and palaentologist Ilja had recommended it to us when he heard we were going to be in Chicago and we agreed, it looked pretty good.  So, after another hearty breakfast at the Tempo Cafe, we made our way to Michigan Avenue and waited for the bus.

It was another sea-rokey day and there was a chilly breeze coming from the lake.  So, we were glad when the bus came and we could ride the length of the city centre and view all our favourite places from the comfort of a seat!

We were surprised to see Sting’s show about the closure of the shipyards premiering in Chicago, before it moves to Broadway.  Why not in North East England, I wonder?

Anyway, we were soon at the Field Museum on the South Lake Shore.  Quite a few school buses were arriving too and groups of school aged children on holiday programs were being shown into some of the exhibits, so the museum was rather busy.

We decide to start with the soil exhibit.

Underground Adventure presents a great deal of information about the soil beneath our feet and the creatures which inhabit it.

Strangely, we had the exhibit almost to ourselves, even though, of all the exhibitions in the museum, this one seemed particularly suitable for school aged children.  Never mind, we managed quite nicely too.

The conceit is that we had been shrunk to a hundredth of our normal size, so we wandered through roots and rhizomes.  It was quite interesting but a bit static and suffered a little in comparision to Disney shows such as “A Bug’s Life”.

As much as I enjoy learning from the exhibits, I also enjoy looking at the graphic design of the information presentation.  I rather liked this tin-can picture depicting the importance of soil maintenance and liked all the little rivets and sharp edges.

Best of all, and totally wasted on the children viewing this thing, was Elvis driving the truck!  Isn’t it good to know that someone had a sense of humour?

From there, we decided to move on to one of the special exhibitions which had attracted our interest this morning.  The 1893 World’s Fair had taken place in this area of the city and unbeknown to us until now, the Fair had provided the initial impetus for the founding of the museum itself.

This ledger recorded all the items displayed and the money spent because, right from the start there was the idea that someday, when the fair was over, many of the exhibits might be displayed in a museum.  We hadn’t known this background, didn’t really know much about the World’s Fair either, but really enjoyed imagining how it would be to visit this huge extravagance and see so many innovative new products.  Wrigley’s launched Juicy Fruit chewing gum, there were new forms of electric light bulbs, the original Ferris Wheel and the first travelators.  In addition, there were national pavilions with exhibits – including people - from 40-odd countries of the world.

And, we read, one of the people with whom we have become quite familiar was there, too.

Yes, Frederick Douglass found an opportunity to speak about equality here as well.

Here in the museum, we were able to see a few of the exhibits which had been on show during the Fair, such as this fossilised pair of fishes.

There were stuffed animals too – a lion, a huge sea lion amongst them – all were shown at the fair before being packed away and placed in a storeroom until now.  We felt very privileged to see them and could only imagine how it must have been to see such creatures face to face for the first time.

It was a remarkable exhibit and we were glad to learn more about it all.  I’ve added a book to my reading list (or a film for my Netflix list) and I’ll look forward to finding out a little more about it all.

Before moving on, we took a breather on a seat with a fine view.

We had tickets for a 3D film show about the Ice Age which was fine, though a little underwhelming and a small opportunity for forty winks

We hadn’t met Sue yet, so she was next on our list.  We had to say Hi to her from Betty, too.  Having done that, our next venue was the Machine Inside exhibit about biomechanics.

Stepping in front of the heat sensitive camera was an opportunity for some self portraits.

Of course, we travel with Hollywood celebrities who prefer not to be recognised, dontcha know?  But who’s the coolest of the three?

I‘ll leave you to guess.

One neat thing here was to be able to peer through glass windows and see what the scientists were up to.  This one was working on a fossilised fish (rather like the one from the World’s Fair) but stopped to take a photo.  Do you think he has a blog!?

A short zip through (we thought) a rather tired Egyptian room (or maybe it was we who were tired?) and it was time to go.  We caught the bus back to WaterTower place and snuck in a little retail therapy before returning to the hotel.

Tomorrow we’ll be packing up and enjoying a few more hours in the city before heading to O’Hare for our flights home.  For now, we’ll enjoy the last night of our 2014 Road Trip in the usual way – by watching HGTV and wondering where they get these people from!