DC & New York: IV

David and I had grand plans for our last day in DC, but ended up having to scale them back. Dave needed to catch up on some rest, and I suffering from a sort of traveling muscle pain that was making walking a bit uncomfortable. As we had all our luggage to cart around that day it seemed prudent to just take it slow.

We decided to go to Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, which is located at the Catholic University of America in the far North-East of the city (so far east that my guidebook assured us that even the criminals don’t get out that far!). So eventually we got up, ate our last hotel breakfast, settled our bill, and then sprinted across four lanes of traffic (that I managed this with a pulled muscle, my suit case, and my big ol' pregnant belly should impress everyone...that and David helped me) to the side of the road with an actual sidewalk. I was a little anxious about making it through dodgy neighbourhood that was en route to the metro stop with all our luggage. Obviously we wouldn’t have done it if it wasn’t safe, but it’s certainly not an area that I would want to linger in and it made me glad that we had stayed at the place we did, safely on the side of the highway.

We got to the basilica quite early, because we did not want to have to worry about organising our bags right before Mass started. This meant we had ample time to sit in the downstairs cafeteria and get caffeinated, and I was able to go browse in the basilica shop. I was hoping to buy an icon, but they only seemed to have proper icons on sale, meaning that the prices were upwards of one hundred dollars. So I bought myself a pretty gilt picture of the Virgin, with the memorare prayer at the bottom, and ended up being quite glad I had since the picture was closer to the decoration in the basilica than an icon would have been.

Mass was what I have come to expect from large formal churches—difficult to hear with a choir that was too elaborate to follow. After Mass we wandered around the basilica looking at all the different side chapels. It is a very beautiful church and the side chapels were all very individual in their styles of decoration. Nothing seemed too out of place or modern, which was impressive as it is often difficult to find churches with good modern decoration. I suppose it depends on the grandeur of the building, as Ely Cathedral is another place that I can think of where the modern pieces work alongside the older ones.

Instead of walking from Foggy Bottom to the Capitol, as had been our original plan, we got off the metro in central DC and went for lunch at the Tram Spot (or something like) where we feasted on pulled pork and bbq burgers. Then it was off to Barnes & Noble for a comfort break and David’s run-in with security. Apparently they are so unaccustomed to people buying books in their stores that they assume browsers are there to blow up the place. Fortunately I emerged from the ladies just in time to rescue my Unidentified Male and our Abandoned Luggage from the overzealous security guard. We bought some locally made pies from the cafe before making our escape to the street and heading towards our train to New York.

David tried to befriend a squirrel, but it did not much fancy the coated peanut we fed it.

I actually managed to stay awake for our journey this time. It was neat watching the countryside fly past, and I found it quite exciting to cross a few states in three hours. We made it to New York just as the daylight faded but the area around Penn Station is quite used to traveler traffic so it was easy to find our way to a taxi, and thence to mid-town East.

David’s mum has a very kind friend who lives in New York and who let us use her downtown apartment for four days. She was even thoughtful enough to stock up the fridge with some breakfast foods and give us a couple of subway cards to get us started. After a brief visit with her, Dave and I went out to locate some cheap and quick pizza. Fortunately there was a place just around the corner, and I finally managed to cure my chicken wing cravings with a slice of buffalo wing pizza (it even had ranch dressing drizzle). Then it was back to the flat for some brief unpacking and a chance to put our feet up. 

DC & New York: III (and a little bit of Father's Day)

Father's Day Adventures: 

The plan is to use cloth diapers for the most part, but a couple of trusted friends have said to buy some disposable ones for the first little while. I’m still hoping we won’t have to use them much, but I can definitely see the wisdom in my friends’ advice. So strong as my leaning is towards cloth diapers, (I’d say my feelings about them are almost as strong as my feelings about contraception!) I decided to get a pack of disposables. I think David and I made a delightfully befuddled pair as we stood at the [very limited] shelf of our local grocery store, trying to pick which of the options to get! I changed my mind about twenty times, finally bought a pack, and then tried to insist on returning them once I got home. Fortunately I have David around to point out “they’re only nappies, not a lifetime commitment”.

Also, apparently coffee shops are the place to take your newborn baby on father’s day. Either that, or it’s the place to go on father’s day when you’re not English. I suspect all the real English fathers were down at the pub.

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On our last full day in DC we took time to visit the National Gallery of Art together. We both love art galleries and this one certainly did not disappoint. The building itself is beautiful and the staff were very friendly. We decided to spend our time looking at the collection of mostly European art, starting in the Middle Ages. This meant a trip to the top floor, and we discovered that in the main areas under the domes they have these beautiful fountain pieces, surrounded by flora and fauna:

The art collection itself was extensive and impressive. I won’t bother listing all the artists here, although pictures of our favourite pieces can be seen in our holiday album on Facebook. The gallery even has one of da Vinci’s paintings, so that should give you an idea of the caliber of artist they’ve managed to get their hands on. As David said at the time, it really does live up to the idea of being a national gallery:

Four Seasons in One Head -- Giuseppe Arcimboldo

 A Marian piece by El Greco

Young Girl Reading -- Jean Honore Fragonard

After the gallery we went our separate ways. I continued down the mall towards the Capitol, where I had reserved a time for a tour of the building. The security steps to get into the building and get onto a tour are complex, and the beautiful weather we’d been having unfortunately decided to change into a torrential downpour which even my English umbrella couldn’t help against. I was soaked to the skin by the time I’d made it through the first security line and into the building. 

 

Once inside, I collected my tour ticket and then killed time by looking at the various forms of statuary on the ground floor. Eventually it was time for yet another lineup, where I made friends with a lovely American couple who were visiting from Oregon. Then, finally, we could make our way into the auditorium for the first part of the tour—a video on the history of the Capitol/Washington DC. The video was well done and very informative, and really got me thinking about how impressive early American history is. You have this group of colonials who get an idea into their heads and decide to take on the British Empire. And they win. And then the British (via Canada!!) set fire to their city and burn down part of the Capitol, but instead of giving up they just rebuild it into something better than before, and use loads of marble so that it can’t be easily torched again. There is such pride and independence in that statement.

After the video our tour began. It was just a short walk and talk through the dome room and into the side room that used to be the original meeting place of the senate, but it was quite interesting and the interior is very beautiful to look at. The acoustics inside the building are strange in spots—at one point you can stand about 12ft away and whisper, but the sound is loud as if the person were next to you. When you leave that spot the noise dies down. The halls are full of statues, and we learned that each state was asked to contribute two statues of their claims to fame. I really enjoyed how throughout DC you see this sort of tribute-donation by the states. I think it’s a great way of showing their unity while at the same time their individuality. 

very American statuary in the room where the Senate used to meet

I was still quite damp by the end of my tour, so I decided to try some hot food from the Capitol’s cafeteria. It wasn’t in the budget, but I excused myself by sticking to soup and by figuring that eating lunch at the Capitol sort of counts as a tourist experience. The cafeteria was pretty neat, for a cafeteria, in that it features various types of American food—bbq, burgers, italian-american, and lucky for me, new england clam chowder. The soup was surprisingly rich and creamy, so even tho it was just a boring old cafeteria it was still a fun experience.

My original plan for the day was to head to the National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, but the skies were still raining and I felt I’d be wisest to avoid an afternoon of getting soaked. I was disappointed to have to change plans, but it didn’t seem worth jeopardizing the rest of the trip partway through by risking a cold. Instead I headed towards the Smithsonian Galleries of American Art &Portraiture. En route I passed a protest outside of the Supreme Court, where a large group of Washingtonians were protesting the Obama-Care bill. It certainly called into question my earlier thoughts on America’s revolutionary spirit. In New York, David and I had a chance to discuss Obama-Care with an American friend and understand why so many people dislike it, but to someone coming from both the Canadian and British healthcare systems I confess that the mind boggles at first glimpse of anyone disliking ‘universal’ healthcare as we experience it here.

A DC Protest -- helping to make my visit as authentic as possible!

The Smithsonian galleries fell short of expectation, although not so much as the American museum of the day before. My primary interest in going was to see their folk art, but apparently our definitions of folk art are very different so they mostly had a display of hideous pop art from the 70s. Horrid, nasty stuff! The rest of the galleries were mostly unimpressive but with a few good pieces. It wasn’t a bad way to spend an afternoon, but it did pale in comparison to the National Gallery and even to some of the small local galleries I’ve seen in England.

The best bit of folk art I found was in the portrait gallery: Benjamin Lay -- William Williams

Considering how ignored the story of the Native Americans is in DC, I thought this piece was particularly interesting.

This is one of my favourite pieces, from our whole trip. Up close it was very impressionist and blurry, but when photographed it became 3-dimensional: The Mirror -- Robert Reid

David was attending the conference dinner on Saturday evening so I was on my own. I was a bit nervous about dining out on my own and then getting a cab back to the hotel, but as usual in these situations I just remind myself that I managed to get halfway across the world and through Heathrow Immigration on my own and that usually bolsters enough confidence! I decided to treat myself to dinner at the zagat rated Haad Thai. My appetite, which had mostly vanished thanks to jet-lag, suddenly returned with a vengeance and I think I did justice to the menu. I had a delicious minced pork stir-fry with noodles for my main course, a sweet Thai iced-tea (I believe it had coconut milk in it) to help cut the spice, and allowed myself to be tempted with one of their signature desserts—tempura fried ice cream with chocolate sauce. The batter was light and not greasy, and the ice cream melted only the slightest bit. It was delicious and meant that I could cross “eat American novelty food” off my list. Then I dodged the rain and surprised myself by managing to hail a taxi cab right away. I really hate riding in taxis on my own, as I find most of the drivers vaguely sinister, but I got back to the hotel safely and spent the evening reading and relaxing. It was perfect.

DC & New York: II

Our second day in DC was David’s day for speaking at the conference. I spent an anxious morning worrying about getting into town, as the one thing we’d learned on our first day in DC is that calling for a taxi pickup does not work like it does in the UK. On our first morning we called for a cab and it never arrived. After waiting for over an hour we ended up having to hail one on the side of the highway! So on Friday morning we got up early and ordered one for a specific time. It was still late, but only by 15 minutes, meaning that David got to his conference with enough time to spare for coffee.

My first stop for the day was the Holocaust Memorial Museum. The security to get in is pretty high—they even made me take a drink out of my water bottle once I cleared the xray scanning machines. I also wasn’t allowed to take any pictures inside. I began my tour with a special exhibit on the use of propaganda in Nazi Germany / WWII. It was really interesting to see how different messages were sent out via various forms of media (radio, posters, and film) in order to achieve the different goals of the various political parties and countries involved.

After that, and some serious resting on the benches, I moved to the permanent exhibit. Walking through that exhibit was one of the most mentally horrific experiences that I’ve ever had. I am no stranger to what went on during the holocaust, and I have probably read more about it than your average person, but in the exhibit there is no reprieve from the constant and growing horror that humans can inflict on each other. There are many pieces on display that were salvaged from the concentration camps, and in many places there were such graphic videos playing that I could not bear to watch them—some were films made by the Nazis of their scientific experiments, and others were films made by the Allies when they first stumbled across the camps. Thankfully the particularly graphic films were in TV sets that were encased in huge concrete barriers, meaning that you did not have to see them.

The exhibit is spread over three floors. The part which I found the most moving was near the end. A long corridor leads towards the final parts of the exhibit. The corridor appears relatively plain, but in the heat of the day it is the smell that hits as soon as you step inside. It is the smell of warm leather, and as you look around you notice that it is the scent of thousands of shoes. Both sides of the corridor are lined with heaps of shoes which were taken from the prisoners as soon as they arrived at the camps. You may be able to choose what you look at, but you cannot choose to ignore the scent which gives testimony to so many lives lost. Then, beyond this corridor and through some rooms is another passageway. At one point it is open up to the roof of the building, and the three stories are a huge collage of family photographs. Then there is a glass walkway and the glass is etched with the names of all the villages in Europe that suffered huge losses. As you move towards the end of this walkway there is another smell, this time one that I recognised. It is the warm, heady scent of beeswax. There is utter silence, and you emerge at the door of the shrine. Inside there are hundreds of candles burning, and at the farthest end is an eternal flame on an altar stone lined with the earth from the camps. Were there no shrine at the end, I think that the exhibit would be simply too much. It is only this place of prayer and remembrance that provides the necessary catharsis.

It is certainly not a happy place to visit, but I think that it is a necessary one. As President Clinton said during his speech at the museum’s dedication ceremony: I believe that this museum will touch the life of everyone who enters and leaves everyone forever changed; a place of deep sadness and a sanctuary of bright hope; an ally of education against ignorance, of humility, against arrogance, an investment in a secure future against whatever insanity lurks ahead. If this museum can mobilize morality, then those who have perished will thereby gain a measure of immortality.

When I pulled my itinerary together I had rightly assumed that I would want to do something light and fun in the afternoon. So I decided to go see the Smithsonian Museum of American History. On my way there I passed the Washington Monument:

  

The Smithsonian Museum was a bitter disappointment. I had been looking forward to going there for years, but aside from a few key pieces (George Washington’s suit, first lady Inaugural Ball gowns) the exhibits were lacking in anything worthwhile. A couple of the pieces I’d really wanted to see, namely Dorothy’s ruby slippers and Julia Child’s kitchen, were not available to the public. The power-crazed security guard at the entrance to the building made me open every single zipped pocket on my backpack, which was no small feat considering it has at least 10, and I mostly spent my time being thankful that it was a free visit! All that said, it is probably the perfect place to take little children, but I’m afraid that as an adult who has been able to enjoy some of the best museums in the world it is really lacking.

By the time I left the Smithsonian I felt that I needed to just sit somewhere and rest. I decided to call an early end to my afternoon and spent the rest of my David-free time enjoying a giant iced tea in the Starbucks attached to David’s conference hotel. It was the only day of his conference where he could get out at a decent time, so we took advantage of the early end of the day to head north-west to Dupont Circle, home of DC’s best pizzeria.

The first thing that David noticed when we exited the metro was a huge used & antiquarian bookstore. So we browsed its shelves for awhile, but generally found that the bookseller was one of those horrible types who overprice everything. Thus no purchases for us, although we did get some entertainment value from watching everyone else wander around with their overpriced purchases while making comments about ‘more money than sense’. Then it was across the street to Pizzeria Paradiso, where we were told it would take at least an hour before we could get a table. Fortunately for us we both decided that the wait would be worthwhile.

All the people on the right are part of the crowd waiting for seats--it's that popular!

The manager of the pizzeria vaguely resembled Nintendo’s Mario, which I think is what sold David on the idea of waiting. When we finally got in, we began one of the best meals we had on our trip. A little dish of olives was brought to the table to take the edge off our appetites as David perused the extensive beer menu (I think he found some imports that cost nearly $16). The pizzas were delicious and the topping combinations were inventive but complimentary, instead of trendy but weird. I stayed fairly safe with a mushroom pizza, but David went towards the odder end of the offerings by ordering one with mussels. I had a bite and it was surprisingly delicious. Each piece had one mussel on it, in a shell, so that they didn’t overpower the whole dish. The pizzas were thin crust, baked in a proper pizza oven, and had base of chunky roasted tomatoes instead of sauce. They used real mozzarella as well. David’s paper had gone really well that morning, so to celebrate we treated ourselves to dessert. Dave got tiramisu, which he assured me was excellent, and also espresso which was served with a slice of lemon—we learned from our waitress that the lemon juice cuts the bitterness of the coffee, so David gave it a shot and pronounced it one of the best espressos he’s had. Meanwhile I indulged with a fantastic dessert of wine-poached pears, topped with a biscuit layer and cream. It was like a pear crumble, only ten million times more delicious. Given the somersaults in my stomach which I experienced all through the meal, I think it’s safe to say that even the baby was enjoying it.

DC & New York: I

Much of winter, 2012, is a blur. I think I was mostly just exhausted, getting through work and ante-natal appointments just to come home and rest in bed. My energy slowly returned tho, and by early spring I was almost back to myself—just in time for our trip to America!

David was giving a paper at the Renaissance Society of America conference, which this year was held in Washington, DC. I decided to join him, as I figured it was my last chance for a vacation away before August, especially as plans to travel in late June or July would be severely hampered by the trouble of trying to get a flight to take a heavily pregnant woman. I had only thought of taking a week to do his conference and see DC, but David proposed that we instead go for 10 days and split our time between DC and New York. It was an opportunity too good to be practical over!

It was a fantastic trip. Because we live far from home, it’s been very difficult for us to get vacation time for just the two of us. Usually one or both of us is flying home to see family, or else we take time off to tour family and friends around where we’re living. All of that is great fun, but it was really nice to have time together. David’s laptop broke as we were heading for our outbound flight, which meant that he was actually forced to take a proper vacation after his conference instead of his usual working until 3am.

I was really nervous about going to DC. It’s a very expensive city and we don’t have a lot of spare money, which meant that we had to stay in an inexpensive hotel near the border of the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ area. I was also worried about how safe I’d be getting around town on my own. Thankfully, with some general precautions and street smarts we ended up having a safe and fun time. Google Maps was a great help for ensuring that the hotel was in a safe-looking location (ie: not a rundown neighbourhood, but right off of a busy highway), the money we saved on our stay meant that we could take taxis to town center and back and thus didn’t have to walk around DC in the dark, and I stuck to well-populated tourist locations (obviously, as I was touristing!) and used a tiny travel wallet which could be hidden on my person if necessary.

My first day in DC was one of the highlights of this vacation. Once I’d safely left David at his conference I had the whole day to myself. The weather was summer-warm, I was armed with several maps, and I had a new city to explore. I started off at Ford’sTheater, where Abraham Lincoln was shot. Being Canadian I have only a general impression of American history, so it was really neat to move through the historical site (the tour package includes a museum across the street in the boarding house where President Lincoln died). I certainly gained a new respect for President Lincoln and America’s history from the tour.

Balcony where Lincoln was shot (in case you couldn't figure that out from the flag overdose)

Ford's Theater

My next step was to navigate the metro system to Foggy Bottom, home of the White House and the Daughters of the American Revolution headquarters. It’s also home to the Breadline, a rather posh sandwich place where I stopped for lunch. I unfortunately couldn’t go on a tour of the White House, but I was able to spy it through the high gates. It is so beautiful—just gleaming white in a sea of well-kept green lawn. Sad to say it makes Buckingham Palace look really ugly. From there I continued on to the DAR Headquarters, which happens to be the home of an American folk museum and various period rooms. Given various hints of the DAR’s history of racism, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to bother visiting them, but in the end I was glad that I went. The period rooms were really cool—each state donated (ie furnished) a room for a certain function and time period in the style that would have been prominent in the state at that time (meaning there was a Californian whaling captain’s drawing room, among other things). It meant getting to see a lot of folk art in situ, and then getting to enjoy more folk art up close in the actual museum. I was a very happy camper.

Colonial Kitchen

The DAR Museum took longer than I thought, which turned out to be a happy accident as I had to rearrange my schedule. I ended up making the US Supreme Court my next stop. It’s across the street from the Capitol, so it’s in the gleaming white building part of town. As luck would have it, I arrived at the Supreme Court just in time for a lecture in the courtroom! It was really cool to be able to sit in the Supreme Courtroom, especially since no cameras of any kind are allowed in there, and listen to a talk on the building’s history and the workings of the court. This is the sort of happy accident that makes traveling quite fun.

I was getting pretty tired by the time I left the courthouse. I had overestimated the amount of walking that my pregnant body could handle, and by this point I’d been walking/on my feet for about 6hrs. So I scoped out the neighbourhood where I was to meet David and then I took off for the National Archives, as it meant I could sit on the metro for a little bit. That trip sort of took me beyond my limits, although I’m glad I went there. There was a lot of standing in long, slow-moving lines (not the best for sore feet and hips). I did manage to meet one of those lovely nice Americans who is perfectly willing to have a jolly conversation whilst waiting in line, so that made the time pass quickly. And getting to see the Magna Carta, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights was pretty cool even if I felt like an 80 year old woman by the time I was done. I ended up sitting on a bench with all the elderly people, sipping water and trying to gear myself up for the trip back to David!

When I picked up David from his lecture at Folger’s Shakespeare Library we headed back towards the town center to find some classic American BBQ for dinner. We ended up at a chain called Ruby Tuesday where we were served by the world’s nicest waiter. David was exhausted from a long day of lectures + jetlag, although a meal of ribs & fixin’s soon put some life back into him. I felt a little guilty that my poor husband had spent a day in meeting rooms whilst I’d been out in the hot sun and fresh air, seeing all the neat tourist sites and not having a care in the world. It’s one of the perks of being an academic’s wife.

Christmas

Both this blog and my personal journal are horribly behind when it comes to capturing all the big events we’ve had this year. Even so, I keep feeling that I haven’t done anything. Yet when I look back I find that I haven’t even said much, or anything, about the Christmas season. It was a big year for us but celebrations were kept to a minimum as I did not have the energy to do much. 

A little bit of decorating...

Fairy lights always brighten up the grey months.

The tree is definitely *not* moving with us, but my special foil star is!

My favourite Christmas cookies. I spent the weekend making them whilst David was at Windsor.

David had a big birthday, but with our friends and family either gone for the holidays or stuck in Canada we just had a private celebration (we’re hoping to get to Canada for a visit after he is granted his PhD and then we’ll have a big party to ring in everything). Prior to Christmas, he at least got to spend a weekend away at Windsor Castle as part of his scholarship. He stayed at Cumberland Lodge, which featured in both The Kings Speech and in the actual abdication (his room was above the room where the abdication message was broadcast). We had a very spoiled Christmas morning, especially once we started opening the big packages that came from our families. 

 

My husband also took his thoughtfulness to a new level, giving me a beautiful cameo of the Madonna & Child.  

 

David oversaw most of the Christmas dinner cooking, as I was struggling to feel up to cooking. He did a great job, following a Gordon Ramsey recipe for his goose. 

It's not burnt--that's just carmelisation from the honey sauce on it :)

Christmas Dinner--our dear friend Anne joined us

Boxing day saw our usual tradition of going out to see a movie. New Years was also very quiet—we had been planning to go up to the highlands with a few of our friends, but between saving money for the baby and my total lack of energy we decided to keep a low profile.We kept our usual tradition of the New Years Day brunch, and managed a spot of good luck in the walk home where we saw a water rat out for a morning stroll in Jesus Ditch.

Ratty!

It was strange to think that this would be our last Christmas in this little flat, and also our last Christmas with just the two of us. Next Christmas so much will be different, and it reminds me of how glad I am that I did not know my last Christmas with my family would be the last in that form. It is too easy to spend time mourning what has not yet passed.

The highlight of the Christmas season for me was my Christmas present to David (and myself)—two tickets to go see La Traviata at the Royal Opera in London. My boss let me rearrange my work hours so that I could get to London in the late afternoon, and the opera was on a Friday which meant that I could just relax and enjoy the evening without dreading how tired I’d be the next day. We had a great pub supper (I found food I could eat! This was an accomplishment!) and then browsed in a few antiquarian bookstores on our way to the opera house. The opera experience was marvelous. Being the Royal Opera, even the stage curtains have the Queen’s monograph on them. The sets were incredibly intricate and involved actual changes, not just rotations, between scenes. The costuming was superb. The dress worn by Violetta for the opening ball scene was incredible—snowy white and glittering with hundreds of crystals. And of course the music was good too (it’s one of my favourite operas). There was champagne at intermission, and that gave me a chance to snoop and see the extravagant amounts they were charging for sandwiches (£11 for a little tray!). I was surprised at how under-dressed most of the London crowd was, compared to my opera outings in Canada. Many people had clearly just come from work. It at least meant I did not feel under-dressed as I had worn a nicer-than-usual outfit to work that day, but certainly no ball gown.

It was the best experience I’ve ever had at the opera. I had been somewhat apprehensive beforehand, because my Toronto opera experiences were always such a disappointment. It was nice to know that I could go to an even bigger (and better) city and get the opera experience I want, not some modern artsy interpretation. Seeing David’s face when he opened his opera ticket package on Christmas morning was also priceless, as I had spent several months telling him that it was nearly impossible to get affordable seats at the Royal Opera as we had missed purchasing when the season opened so it might be one of those things on our ‘to experience’ list that we’d have to forgo.