Transfer of plans : Washington, DC 2022
Good evening Lj readers,
how are things? I : am back! from a recent trip for which I had a chance to take, to Washington DC. I last visited in 2018 with my friends John and Brian.
* Friday
I flew out on Southwest, nicely having a direct flight in the afternoon. I took the blue light rail line to the Beacon, a nine-story hotel just north of the White House. After checking in (room #922 - top floor!), I headed out to the local Whole Foods. Thanks to the diagonal nature of city street planning in DC, I accidentally ended up going northwest instead of northeast and found myself back at a two-story Dupont Circle Starbucks I visited in 2018, heh. After reorienting myself, I eventually found WF and got some food, including two things I had never tried before : cashew tofu (which tasted like potatoes, heh) and lemon-and-hops-flavored kombucha.
Back in the hotel room, I relaxed with a candy corn bath bomb, woo!
* Saturday (part 1 of 2)
I headed south from the hotel today to a new place I had never visited : Renwick Gallery, a collection of modern art in a 3-story building (well, 2 story plus basement, heh) restored from its opulent, but built in 1863, state. Two large installations plus some smaller works.
From here I took the metro red line to the Cleveland Park stop and picked up some Subway I had ordered, which I took with me as I (re-) hiked the Melvin C. Hazel trail from where it ends / begins (Cleveland Park) to the riverside @ Rock Creek park (a trail I also walked in 2018). Usually a fairly empty trail - the CP entrance is tricky to see and the trail itself has several ups and downs - as I was hiking on a Saturday there were a few other people present too. I relaxed at a picnic table on the 'other end', then hiked back and metro'ed to the National Mall.
A tree I passed during my previous walking of this riverside ravine as well :D
* Saturday (part 2 of 2)
At the National Mall I visited a museum I like - the Hirshorn - seeing a neat exhibit of activist work by group Guerilla Girls, who humourously - but correctly - critique the art world for its focus on mostly male artists. Works by the GG were recently acquired and are being shared across a few museums in the US. From here I walked south to a place I had never visited before - the Jefferson memorial! Usually seen "from a distance" since it's on the "other side" of the Potomac river, heh, I was glad to see it. Some other visitors had the wise idea of biking to it. After resting for a bit, I turned around and hiked back to the metro stop.
* Sunday
While an original plan was to head to the National Cathedral today, as I had technically seen much of it during a previous visit I instead decided to visit an "unusual" Starbucks. My original plan was to visit an ASL (American Sign Language)-friendly one, one of the only in the nation, but there was alas no close light rail stop for it, so instead I went to one in the Capitol Hill district, swinging as well into another Whole Foods (DC has a lot, heh) for some food. the CH area is quite charming! The Starbucks I went to had cherry blossoms painted on the wall and had an upstairs area with a fireplace, but alas that part was closed whilst I was there.
From here I walked northwest to the National Gallery of Art, starting with the closer modern art east building. I saw some Edward Hoppers and the special exhibit which was there - Whistler's "Woman in White" picture. I cut across the light up lower level connector to the west building (the moving sidewalk part alas not turned on, heh) and marveled at the grand halls and rare European art within.
Walking north to the metro to head back to the hotel, I passed the National Portrait Gallery and decided to explore the "other half" of it (the building is also the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and it literally split 50 / 50). It was neat to see a(nother) new museum.
* Monday
An original plan today was to perhaps explore some more of the National Mall, which indeed I have visited before, but an email in the morning informed me my easy, direct flight back home was literally cancelled. D'oh! So instead, I booked a new one (for no extra cost), but which involved a 3-hour layover in Chicago. Indeed! Nicely, I did have some time after checking out of the hotel to swing into a nearby local chain (Teaism), where I was able to try a new type of black tea from Nepal - guranse. After two flights and some waiting, I was back home!
For a gallery of 9 pictures, one may click here ~
Okay. Have a good evening !
Take care,
* Geoff
how are things? I : am back! from a recent trip for which I had a chance to take, to Washington DC. I last visited in 2018 with my friends John and Brian.
* Friday
I flew out on Southwest, nicely having a direct flight in the afternoon. I took the blue light rail line to the Beacon, a nine-story hotel just north of the White House. After checking in (room #922 - top floor!), I headed out to the local Whole Foods. Thanks to the diagonal nature of city street planning in DC, I accidentally ended up going northwest instead of northeast and found myself back at a two-story Dupont Circle Starbucks I visited in 2018, heh. After reorienting myself, I eventually found WF and got some food, including two things I had never tried before : cashew tofu (which tasted like potatoes, heh) and lemon-and-hops-flavored kombucha.
Back in the hotel room, I relaxed with a candy corn bath bomb, woo!
* Saturday (part 1 of 2)
I headed south from the hotel today to a new place I had never visited : Renwick Gallery, a collection of modern art in a 3-story building (well, 2 story plus basement, heh) restored from its opulent, but built in 1863, state. Two large installations plus some smaller works.
From here I took the metro red line to the Cleveland Park stop and picked up some Subway I had ordered, which I took with me as I (re-) hiked the Melvin C. Hazel trail from where it ends / begins (Cleveland Park) to the riverside @ Rock Creek park (a trail I also walked in 2018). Usually a fairly empty trail - the CP entrance is tricky to see and the trail itself has several ups and downs - as I was hiking on a Saturday there were a few other people present too. I relaxed at a picnic table on the 'other end', then hiked back and metro'ed to the National Mall.
A tree I passed during my previous walking of this riverside ravine as well :D
* Saturday (part 2 of 2)
At the National Mall I visited a museum I like - the Hirshorn - seeing a neat exhibit of activist work by group Guerilla Girls, who humourously - but correctly - critique the art world for its focus on mostly male artists. Works by the GG were recently acquired and are being shared across a few museums in the US. From here I walked south to a place I had never visited before - the Jefferson memorial! Usually seen "from a distance" since it's on the "other side" of the Potomac river, heh, I was glad to see it. Some other visitors had the wise idea of biking to it. After resting for a bit, I turned around and hiked back to the metro stop.
* Sunday
While an original plan was to head to the National Cathedral today, as I had technically seen much of it during a previous visit I instead decided to visit an "unusual" Starbucks. My original plan was to visit an ASL (American Sign Language)-friendly one, one of the only in the nation, but there was alas no close light rail stop for it, so instead I went to one in the Capitol Hill district, swinging as well into another Whole Foods (DC has a lot, heh) for some food. the CH area is quite charming! The Starbucks I went to had cherry blossoms painted on the wall and had an upstairs area with a fireplace, but alas that part was closed whilst I was there.
From here I walked northwest to the National Gallery of Art, starting with the closer modern art east building. I saw some Edward Hoppers and the special exhibit which was there - Whistler's "Woman in White" picture. I cut across the light up lower level connector to the west building (the moving sidewalk part alas not turned on, heh) and marveled at the grand halls and rare European art within.
Walking north to the metro to head back to the hotel, I passed the National Portrait Gallery and decided to explore the "other half" of it (the building is also the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and it literally split 50 / 50). It was neat to see a(nother) new museum.
* Monday
An original plan today was to perhaps explore some more of the National Mall, which indeed I have visited before, but an email in the morning informed me my easy, direct flight back home was literally cancelled. D'oh! So instead, I booked a new one (for no extra cost), but which involved a 3-hour layover in Chicago. Indeed! Nicely, I did have some time after checking out of the hotel to swing into a nearby local chain (Teaism), where I was able to try a new type of black tea from Nepal - guranse. After two flights and some waiting, I was back home!
For a gallery of 9 pictures, one may click here ~
Okay. Have a good evening !
Take care,
* Geoff