DC 3.0

I went to the National Mall on Wednesday. I got on a bus that went through picturesque Georgetown and then got out at around 17th and H, a couple of blocks from the White House.

I am not too pleased with my photos, I don't know why, maybe it's because in the winter you're racing against the fading of the light, so I felt rushed. And I guess I didn't want to be sightseeing alone.



I had ALL this ground to cover!
On the west end is the Lincoln Memorial, then follow the mall east and you see the Washington Monument. South of the WM is the Jefferson Memorial, and North of the WM is the White House. Then there is the mall lined with representative institutions of the nation, and at the east end is the Capitol, which is the center from where the city is split into Quadrants.




The back of the White House near the Ellipse. I decided to see the front after I'd come back round from walking the Mall.


The Washington Monument is separated from the White House by the great Ellipse, just a giant grass oval.



Slightly zoomed in view west to the Lincoln Memorial and WWII Memorial, from my position under the Washington Memorial


Very zoomed in view south to the Jefferson Memorial from under the Washington Memorial


From the Wash. Mem. :--- North - there's the front of the White House I was looking for, South to the Jefferson Mem., East to the Lincoln Mem.


Standing in the central point of the Mall, at the old Smithsonian Castle, view north across the Mall to the Museum of Natural History. Then look east back towards the Washington Mem, and west to the distant US Capitol.


Look north to the Justice Department


While I am standing southerly in front of the Hirshhorn Museum


Built in 2004, the National Museum of the American Indian


Very pleasing lines, don't you agree?


The National Air & Space Museum. Like many of the Museums along the mall, all part of the Smithsonian Institution


The National Gallery of Art across north from the Air/Space Museum


Finally at the Capitol


A statue of Meade in front of the US Courthouse


The National Gallery of Art as it faces Pennsylvania Avenue. I was now on my way back round to find the front of the White House


The National Archives of the United States of America, this building is vast. It was the last photo I took because the light was really going. I didn't make it to the front of the White House - but I got close on 14th and G, and should have turned west.

However, I kept seeing signs for Metro Center to the east, and I really needed to top up my metro card and find a restroom. So, walked past Macy's, got on the metro 7 stops to Friendship Heights (my new neighborhood), which I swear only took 10-12 minutes - YAY!

I went into Mazza Gallerie which is a mall, home to Neiman Marcus, Ann Taylor, Saks Fifth Avenue, Williams Sonoma, and a few other rather exclusive shops. I don't need to go back there for a looooong time. I will in future make do with the T J Maxx across the road and have a look around for the younger Ann Taylor Loft, which I love.

It was dark out by then so I got on a bus that would take me back down to where I'm staying. What I like about the buses here is that the names of the stops are announced, so you know when to get off. The whole reason I usually avoid buses is I feel lost and out of control, and I like the subway because at least I know what stops are coming and I can get out and find my way from there. Another good thing is the bus stops are 1.5 blocks apart, so you never have to hunt for one or get lost in between them.

One day I will go into all those museums, but hey, I'm going to live here so I have plenty of time - let's just hope I don't keep putting it off for that same reason.

I didn't show you the FBI, the State Department, and so many other buildings radiating out from the mall - the heart of the city, the brain center of the nation.

Gallivant III: Coney Island to Brooklyn Bridge

The last day of Jason's visit.

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But first I have to tell you about the best instance of self-queueing that I have ever seen.  The other evening walking to 86th Street, here in Bay Ridge, I saw a line stretching for half a block and wondered what they were waiting for.  They were queueing for a bus that wasn't there yet.  I crossed the road laughing.  So, Matt, the Brits have competition!  

Indeed, I noticed that the last time I took a bus here, there was a small queue.  Getting onto the bus I braced myself as usual, prepared to have the people behind ending up on the bus in front of me (never figured out how that happens).  I was pleasantly surprised as I climbed the stairs to discover I had retained my place.  Felt quite civilized.

In London, the crowd sort of mills about and when the bus comes it's a slow but sure free for all as a glob of humanity attempts to climb on at approximately the same time.

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The last morning was a slow one.  Chris made scrambled eggs with tortillas, and then after we'd left, we kicked ourselves for forgotting to pack some of the oatmeal cookies we'd baked the night before.  In this freezing weather you get hollow in no time.  Without flour we had improvised with some Bisquick mix and Quaker oats, and we made cookies to go with our cocktails.  Chris measured the ingredients, Jason whipped the mix, and I volunteered at the wrong time - to stir as Chris added the oats, man that was some stiff stirring, so Jason took over again, and I spooned the mix onto the baking trays.  They were very good.  I made sure to leave them in the oven beyond the estimated time to get a bit brown and crispy :)

Anyway, the boys carried my bags back to Brooklyn, we retied our shoelaces, and headed a few stops north on the R so we could catch the N down to Coney Island.  The Intrepid Sea Air and Space Museum, we can do another time.  

They were arguing last year about Astroland, the old theme park at Coney Island: Chris insisted it was closed, and Jason insisted it was open, and I agreed.  Chris and I were supposed to go there before he started his job, but we ran out of time. Then, in August, it did close suddenly, and many rides were auctioned off.  So we went to see it before any more changes take place.

N Train terminus at Coney Island

"Let me turn your cup around so you can see the name."  As though the signs above his head don't already show it.

Who are they kidding, sure the menu is huge, but everyone goes for the dogs.  Corn dogs, hot dogs, chili dogs, cheese dogs, you name it, they got it.


My camera had been hijacked for a few minutes, so there's me in the corner


Lurid Lomo colors of a bunch of flowers on the fence of Astroland.  Nobody wanted the park to close.

The legendary Wonder Wheel in Lomo style



Coney Island Boardwalk





Long shadows of a winter afternoon


A fake palm tree on the frigid beach


The 1950s-era Parachute Drop





In trying to fix it, he broke it more





The sun was setting fast


The legendary Cyclone is very old

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Temperatures were near freezing, but armed with hot chocolate we made our way across the Brooklyn Bridge.  It took just over half an hour to walk across the bridge to a subway outside Brooklyn City Hall.

Eerie arches of Brooklyn Bridge


Halfway to Brooklyn across the Hudson River

The Manhattan Bridge to the north as seen from the Brooklyn Bridge



Pier 17 and South Street Seaport to the south


Looking back towards Manhattan


Manhattan from the Brooklyn Bridge

In Brooklyn, I parted with them and wished Jason all the best in his flight test later this month.  

Then I went home and came down with a cold a couple of days later!  But it was worth it.  All in all it had been a great few days with truly good friends.

THE END

Gallivant II: The UN and BBQ

Third day of Jason's visit to NYC.

In terms of experience, this was the best day!  What did we do?

Hold on tight because there are a lot of photos, and I know you all like those!  

:-)

Chris suggested that I sleep "under the stars" which was what Vera did when she stayed with him.  That is, on the (comfy but very narrow so no turning for fear of falling off) sofa with the blinds open.  There is a wall of windows looking out to Manhattan and no matter how often I visit, I never tire of snapping photos.

The sun rose at 7 am sporting all sorts of lovely colors.  It was impossible to sleep after that, with the light, and the reminder that I was missing so many pretty pictures, so finally at 7.30 I jumped up, took a pic, then closed the blinds and slept again until 9.30 when Chris marched in and opened them back up and put on the heating.  Which meant it was time to get up.

The sun was a little higher by 7.30, so only the Empire State Building was pink.  Nice touch.

Of course the view is much closer in real life, but photos never show the full visual in-your-face impact of such things...*sigh*.

We ate porridge for breakfast and because there were three of us it took 3 hours to get ready.  

While waiting for the bathroom, we played the addictive Japanese game Katamari Damashii in which you, a little prince, have to collect into a rolling ball all sorts of random things from insects to hairdryers to people, according to your size ("the earth is full of things") so the king can recreate the stars, which he destroyed on a drinking spree.  Oh my lord, I think they were smoking mushrooms when they designed that game.  The King of All Cosmos with his psychedelic barrel head and his rainbow yawn ("I feel a swoon coming on") is only the start of it ("BA-NA-NA").  The music is awesome, and the parts where the king talks to you has music that reminds me of A Clockwork Orange.

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We went to Battery Park, where Chris hunted high and low for the cruise we went on when the gang came over from Houston in August, to no avail.  Meantime Jason and I took pictures of the waterfront, where we could see Jersey and the Statue of Liberty.  You saw those pics in the summer so I won't repeat them.

The following is one of my favorites out of the entire batch.  I approached to take a shot of this seagull at rest on a pier in front of the USCG building, but the bird was suspicious of my pointing lens, so after eyeing me sideways for a second he unfurled his wings.  I snapped immediately, and was pleasantly surprised to see what I'd captured:

With no water tours available, we opted to try the free Staten Island Ferry, but as we looked at our watches and noted it was already 2 pm and we wanted to see both the Intrepid Sea Air and Space Museum AND the United Nations, we decided to drop the ferry and get moving.

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We took the subway to Times Square and from there needed to catch the bus that has the Intrepid on its western terminal and the UN on its eastern. This was my assignment - to get us to the Intrepid which was not far away.  However, in reading the bus maps, my eyes only saw "UN".  I totally forgot we needed the Intrepid and we ended up at the UN further away.  In the end, this was just as well because we booked into the last tour of the day.

When you enter the United Nations, you are no longer on US soil.  Isn't this an amazing concept?  Likewise, in London, when you enter the US Embassy, you are no longer on UK soil.  I find this endlessly fascinating.  Also, the statue of JFK in London is standing on a little piece of American soil.

Olivia, tangent.

Back to the UN.  

Piccies galore (pun?) for your viewing pleasure:

It might be 1960s brutal governmental architecture, but it sure makes for good photos.

I ran the following photo through the Russian Lomo effect.  I think it really suits the modernist glass and concrete:

On our way to the visitor's entrance, we passed this section, which I believe may house the circular Security Council chamber. It certainly looks like a bomb shelter, doesn't it? It is usually part of the tour but is closed for the next 5 years for refurbishment.



We waited in a long line for the airport-style security screening, but it moved quickly.  Meantime, another Lomo style pic.  This is one of many Sfera con Sfera sculptures by Arnaldo Pomodoro found all over the world.  I first saw one in the courtyard of the Vatican museum.  Another was damaged outside the World Trade Center and now sits in Battery Park, a warped golden egg.

Right inside the entrance there is a Foucault Pendulum, another UN object found worldwide.  I've seen the two in the science museums in London and Houston, and the original at the Pantheon in Paris, of course.

As for the squiggly blue paintings, Chris claims he was trying to tell me (but I wasn't listening) that this painting goes - *sigh* seemingly like everything else here - all over the world.  Not sure how and can't be bothered to find out right now, but I believe him because he doesn't forget a thing.  Neither does Jason.  My cousin tells me I have Alzheimer's, I'm so forgetful, but Jason and Chris are like having a walking diary.  Just like how I'm Vanessa's walking encyclopedia, well, if there's an entry I'm missing I can just ask one of them.  And Jason will be able to recite verbatim any one of our hilarious conversations a year from now.  Did I mention, they were still making me laugh too much?

Incidentally, speaking of things going all round the world, there is a huuuuuuge Flemish tapestry in one of the open spaces outside the General Assembly.  Our guide told us that if unravelled, the yarn would circle once around the globe.  Something that hangs on one wall in the UN could do that!?!?!  Boggles the mind.

This is the wall of UN Secretary-Generals.  There have been only 8 since 1946, starting with Trygve Lie of Norway.  The first one I remember in my lifetime was Boutros Boutros-Ghali but Kofi Annan served for much longer.  Which one do you remember first?  

If you were to look closely, they would look like pointillist paintings.  This is because they are carpets - prayer carpets, in fact:

Chris:  "Oh my God, I look so much like Ban Ki-moon!"

Jason took this photo downstairs.  His comment:  "Yep.  Good enough for government":

Early in our tour, we were encouraged to glance over a wall filled with modern tapestries depicting the tenets of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  I could relate every one of them to a human condition or to an historical origin, but I shall put that aside for now.  They are all very noble ideals, but the UN has neither the power nor the resources to enforce them.  If every nation in the world had a constitution based on this document, we would probably be living as close to Utopia as this world is likely to accomplish, human nature aside.  [Can someone please improve that sentence for me?  I don't like the wording.]  If I remember correctly from school, Eleanor Roosevelt had a hand in the development of this document, and it reminds me very much of the US Constitution and Bill of Rights.  Take a look at them - what do you think?

The UN General Assembly:

A center of great power and proclamations.

After exiting the Assembly, we were shown a variety of sumptuous objects in glass cases, gifted to the UN by the governments of assorted countries over the years.  A 300-pound ivory carving from China (given a few years before the ban on ivory trade came into effect).  Golden filligree temple box/bells from Malaysia.  A scale model of the King's barge from Thailand. An abstract brass representation of New York City from the King of Sweden.  And so on.  I wish I had taken a photo of the Soviet-looking tapestry in flaming colors on one of the walls.  (The tapestry in this collage is not it.)

Does this not look to you like an abstract flailing man?  Does it perhaps represent the abundant flailing that undoubtedly goes on within these walls?  I am sure it stands for something completely different, but we were being escorted out of the tour area by this time to hand over our badges, and I was snapping at random.

The next one is a bit tricky.  It was dark when we went outside, but we were able to take some interesting photos.  I like the stark lines in this one, but mostly I was thrilled that Venus was bright enough to send some light through my camera lens, and here you see it:

It had been an eventful and exciting day, though probably not as prolific as we'd intended.  And we were hungry.  So we walked westward into town in search of dinner.  

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On our route along 42nd street we saw some perfect art deco office buildings, like the terra cotta Chanin Building - a real gem - and the New York Daily News Building, complete with globe, where Clark Kent worked in Superman.  Later on we came across some brass plaques lining the sidewalk, depicting these and other landmark buildings in the area.

I've never seen a city with as many artistic brass plaques in the sidewalks as NYC.  Earlier in the day when we were downtown on lower Broadway or "The Canyon of Heroes", we noted the commemoration of each ticker tape parade since 1886 is actually set in brass letters on black granite at regular intervals on the sidewalk.

Luxury department store chain Lord & Taylor in its Christmas finery. To think I used to shop there once upon a time!

The Empire State Building on its Christmas light schedule.

Sorry, that was another tangent.  

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Chris's original idea had been dinner at Chevy's Mexican on Times Square, but when a few blocks south of there we passed some Korean BBQs, I made a decision.  This was also on the list, but as the next day would be Jason's last in town, I decided that Texans should never come to NYC to eat some mediocre so-called Tex-Mex when they can get the real thing at home.  So I suggested we pick a Korean place - right now.  Chris remembered that he'd met some friends once at an out-of-the-way place last year round there, and they had all enjoyed it.  I remember I was supposed to go but couldn't because I was at my cousin's place.  We circled a couple of blocks and found it surprisingly quickly.

I can honestly say it was one of the best meals of 2008.  I am no fan of beef, and the last time I ate some it made me unhappy, though it's usually ok as a burger.  As a result of this dinner, I have resolved that the only time I eat unground beef will be at a Korean BBQ.  The tender cuts of angus beef were just perfect.

Beef has just been placed on the gas-fired copper grill. There is my cold saki and a glass of blackberry wine.  We are sitting trying not to demolish the plates of seasoned nori (seaweed), kim chi (spicy cabbage pickle), bean sprouts, and daikon (radish), which were to be wrapped in the lettuce leaves along with the beef.  I drool just thinking about all of the wonderful fragrant food and aromatic delicacies, and how happy your stomach can be without carbohydrates.

We did have starters.  The beef was so outstanding, though, that I can't remember what they were.  Steamed dumplings?  And a complementary plate of something battered?


Jason doesn't usually like to be photographed, and regarding a photo of the three of us, he kept saying, "Eh, we'll do it tomorrow" at which I knew it wouldn't happen.  I noticed that Jason was always quick to jump out of frame, but Chris was not, which is funny because he usually whines about being photographed - he certainly did in London last year.  Still, he appears a few more times in my frames.  On Facebook, Chris pointed out that we never did take that pic of the three of us, and Jason said he'll just have to come back sometime so we can take it. Most of my friends stopped reading this blog when I moved to Facebook, so I can say all sorts of things about them here and they won't be embarrassed!

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We decided we were going to get drunk at home.  Ever since I can remember, we've failed at this - yes, at university - therefore I have never seen any of my Houston friends drunk.

So we put on our jammies, drank Grey Goose vodka (impressive!) with cranberry juice, and settled in.  In the end, we each had only one glass.  I know, what?!

I battled valiantly with my eyelids for a while, but fell asleep during the last half hour of Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull.

I loved how every time Jason brushed his teeth, he came out of the bathroom to talk to us unintelligibly, or Chris walked around in the morning tucking in his shirt and asking me if he should get a pinstripe suit.  This is what happens with people you've known for 10 years.