Annapolis Adventure

It's not often I wait until Wednesday to blog about the weekend, but it's been a busy week and I can't quite figure out evenings.

I work from 9.30am-6.30pm.  I've worked those hours before in London, with an equally long - but much more tiring - commute.  Perhaps the reason I'm confused is that back then I stopped planning as soon as I got home.  Now, the 9 o'clock hour is reserved for talking to Jeff, so I like to get chores done beforehand and internety things afterwards - and weekends are also no longer laundry-filled lolling about in pyjama days.  I have things to see, and places to explore, with somebody!

So anyway, this has been a hard week so far, mainly because of this one English project.  I got one phase of it QC'd and handed over but it was mind-boggling because the client gave it to us so mangled up the project managers and graphics department are in overdrive.  And I have to sift through that confusion.  I tell you, it was such a relief to turn to the relatively simple Italian documents sitting on my desk all morning.

You know what I like hearing when I am on the metro?  Leaving the Foggy Bottom-George Washington University station, the driver often says, "This is the last stop in the District of Columbia.  Next stop is Rosslyn, the first stop in the Commonwealth of Virginia."  I'll have to tell you more sometime about Virginia, the Old Dominion founded in 1607 as the first English settlement in North America.  And of course you know it's named after Elizabeth the Virgin Queen?

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But you want to know about Saturday, of course.

It was a lovely nearly-hot day which was pushed a little late because J had training to do at the office.  When he picked me up, we went to get a hat for me (which I couldn't wear because it was so windyu) and a pair of sunglasses for him (which he wore because it was so sunny).

On to Annapolis.  It's only about a 45-minute drive so we were there around mid-afternoon and wandered about a bit, taking in the atmosphere and watching the people, including midshipmen (male and female) in their summer whites.  It is a quaint, pretty, quirky town full of arts and crafts, seafood bars, galleries, antique shops, cafes.

Then we came upon a 40-minute boat cruise on the Severn River, which took us past the US Naval Academy, towards the Chesapeake Bay.

Up the Severn River with the US Naval Academy to the left

A pretty sailboat

Afternoon skies over the USNA

Sunset over the Severn River

Sunset over the USNA dorms and chapel dome.

The dorms are the second largest in the world, housing 4,000 midshipmen.

The chapel dome has a gilt cupola on top.

Returning to dock after the cruise.

Jeff's cool new sunglasses and my old ones

McGarvey's Saloon and Oyster Bar on Pinkney Street, Annapolis.

It was all wood-panelling, tile floors, marble tables, Tiffany lamps.  There was an atrium room where we ate in the left building, which had a real tree growing out of the floor and it reached the glass ceiling.  I couldn't take a pic as by then it was too dark.

I was taking a photo of the chocolate marquise we shared to round out the 3-course seafood dinner.  Even this we couldn't finish.  We rarely finish anything.  And yes, J is well aware that any photo I take could end up here, which is kind of why he did that.

The Maryland State House and Flag on State Circle, Annapolis.
Built in 1772, the state house is the oldest continually-used capitol building in the US, and for a short while even served as the nation's capitol.
The Maryland flag is unusual and probably the only one in the union to be based on heraldry:

It represents the quartered Calvert and Crossland family crests.  MD was founded in 1639 as a English colony by Cecil Calvert, 2nd Lord Baltimore.  Crossland was his mother's family and as she was an heiress he was entitled to use her family crest in his own (the red and white cross bottony).  The yellow and black palisades represent a fortress.  Maryland is the only state to display a gold cross on its flagpole.

NMAH II

Today was very English - grey and overcast, breezy, mild enough to go out with a scarf and gloves but take them off after a few minutes walking.

I walked about 3/4 mile down to Tenleytown to go shopping at Whole Foods, and as I exited the store just the right bus came along.  It's possibly my first bus ride since last time I was here (I tend to avoid buses, unfortunately) but as you know from before, they're easy here because the next intersection is usually announced AND they stop every block and a half so you can't really get lost.

Anyway, I've come to realize I need to re-learn a few southern courtesies.  I've been working on remembering to smile at people, or how to respond to a neighborly exchange.  Well, when I got off the bus, the person in front of me thanked the bus driver, and the person behind me bid her a good evening.  As I walked home, I felt as though I'd been remiss, and am now resolved to fix this.  I'm trying to remember if people say hello when they get on too.

I am no longer in either London or NYC, that's for sure.

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Continuing on from the first part, let us move on to two permanent star exhibitions at the NMAH:

First Ladies at the Smithsonian

The ever-popular and changing First Ladies exhibition at the Smithsonian which holds most of the inaugural gowns.

L, top: Mary Lincoln, 1861

L, bottom: Mrs Warren Harding, 1921

Center: Mamie Eisenhower, 1953
R, top: Martha Washington, 1789

R, bottom: Dolly Madison, 1809 (or maybe Mrs James Monroe, 1817?)

In a case alone, the inaugural gown worn by Helen Taft, 1909

The pale yellow Oleg Cassini gown worn by Jacqueline Kennedy in 1961 did not show up so well in my photo. There was also Laura Bush's 2001 fuschia gown. Michelle Obama's has not arrived yet.

In the center of one exhibition there was a huge Colonial Massachusetts farmhouse in various stages of "undress" from the layers of wallpaper to the mortise and tenon structural joins and ceiling joists. As you walk around the exhibition viewing objects and events occurring during the house's different historical eras, the room setups change to reflect the style of the day. So, for instance, in the Abolition section opposite the Wedgwood "Am I Not a Man and a Brother?" pendants, the house would show the parlor set up in mid-19th century style with the Bible and abolitionist pamphlets on the table.

In our photo above we see a Colonist's evolution into a Revolutionary. An English settler who becomes a Minuteman to fight for his new country. The ribbonlike textile attached to the sleeve is a length of homemade lace, with the bobbins hanging from it.

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The Star-Spangled Banner

The right side of the above image shows the entrance to the iconic exhibition (no photos allowed), The Star-Spangled Banner: The Flag that Inspired the National Anthem - excellent online exhibition here.

Where do I start with this? It covered the War of 1812, a crucial rite of passage for the young nation seeking credibility and a place on the world political stage.

There was a charred piece of wood from the White House. Here's something I remember from history class. The White House is white because the British tried to burn it down in 1814. After refurbishment, in order to cover up the charring and fire damage it was whitewashed and so it has stayed ever since.

I won't get into the whole story of the war, that could be its own post, except I don't do politics here :)

The Star Spangled Banner, the flag itself, is made of English wool bunting and was sewn by Martha Pickersgill over seven weeks in the summer of 1813 with her daughters and a servant. They were contracted by the Fort and were specialists at making ships' colors and signal flags. At 30 x 42 ft, it was larger than the footprint of the house so the work was moved across the street to a brewery and upon completion was hung on the ramparts of Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Maryland, an important seaport which was the site of the pivotal battle. The British bombarded the port for 25 hours while the Americans throughout the States held their breath.

Francis Scott Key was watching from aboard a ship a few miles distant. As morning arrived he could see the flag still flying and the British ships withdrawing, the United States having withstood the bombardment.

Inspired by the sight of the flag intact in the sunrise, he penned his famous poem.

The flag remained the property of the family for the next 90 years while the song gained in popularity across the nation, but it was displayed at local celebrations. They lent it to the Smithsonian in 1907 and a few years later officially gifted it to the nation. But the Star Spangled Banner did not become the national anthem until 1931. And before the War of 1812, the flag was not the most iconic symbol of this nation but used mostly to identify ships and forts. During the Revolution 30 years earlier, the major symbols were the eagle and lady Liberty.

The flag is now 10 feet shorter and missing one star, owing to the family giving out cuttings to keepsake collectors, and thus it remains. After a major painstaking preservation and reinforcement project in the late 1990s, it has been held in a special climate-controlled protective display chamber and tilted at a 10-degree angle for both support and visibility.

The most amazing technological feature at the exhibit is the giant interactive table onto which is projected the flag in movable sections, with point and click info boxes. Almost like the Microsoft Touch table. Another fantastic interactive flag is available here.

I was quite touched to imagine how Key must have felt seeing that flag still flying in the morning, and penning his four inspired verses.

O say can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hail’d at the twilight’s last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight
O’er the ramparts we watch’d were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there,
O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

[...]

O thus be it ever when freemen shall stand
Between their lov’d home and the war’s desolation!
Blest with vict’ry and peace may the heav’n rescued land
Praise the power that hath made and preserv’d us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto - “In God is our trust,”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Onto lighter things, I bought a pin for the cherry blossom festival. Difficult to read the card, but it says: The National Cherry Blossom Festival is an annual two-week event that celebrates springtime in Washington, DC as well as the 1912 gift of the cherry blossom trees and the enduring friendship between the people of the United States and Japan. (Proceeds go towards the Festival to offer cultural and community-based events that are free and open to the public.)

I also bought a pin of the Great Seal of the United States of America (proceeds go towards the mission of the Smithsonian Institution, "the increase and diffusion of knowledge"). The card says:

"Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson were given the task of creating a motto and seal for the Nation by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. The official seal was finalized on June 20, 1782. The Great Seal features the American bald eagle as its main element, a symbol that represent the American spirit.

The Eagle breast is a shield made up of thirteen vertical stripes representing the thirteen original States. The Eagle's claws clutch thirteen arrows in one and an olive branch in the other. The banner in the Eagle's beak is inscribed with E pluribus unum, which means "out of many, one".

A huge vat of marbles at the museum shop, thus ending on a fun note :)

NMAH I

On Thursday, I went to the National Museum of American History.

Well, first I went to a pre-interview test, but let's just say...have you ever walked into a place and wanted to walk right back out before anyone noticed you'd arrived?  Yeah, it was like that.

But it was a gorgeous day, around 10C/51F with dazzling sun and a mild breeze, so I decided that rather than going home, I'd stick around downtown.  Deciding to skip the metro, I was lost around Dupont Circle for nearly half an hour wondering which way to go and not remembering which had been the correct way to my original destination for when (if?) I go back next week for the interview.

I waited for a bus for a few minutes but I have no patience for that kind of thing, so I used my feet instead, which feels much more productive.  In fact, from leaving home to returning at night, I walked a total of 6 miles on this day.

I headed south a little too soon so ended up at the western end of the Mall, to the west of the Washington Memorial.  Needing a little rest, I sat at a bench in Constitution Gardens overlooking the water.  I felt SO HAPPY in the moment that I sent a picture message entitled "Peace" to my dear friends Diva, Pandy, and Amy.  Diva enjoyed it so much that she blogged about it, and sent me a return image of her own "Peace"!  Indeed I agree with her in that the wonder of modern technology allowing you to share special moments with your friends thousands of miles away can be quite miraculous.

As soon as I'd texted them, a couple of ducks came waddling over, female in the lead, male bringing up the rear just like a couple going shopping.  She stood there quietly pleading for some lunch while her hubby stayed in the background preening.  Craning her neck as high as she could and peering up at my lap with her big brown eyes, she'd look down from time to time to inspect the floor or nibble my toe, convinced I had a sandwich and insisting I could share it with her.  I leaned over, talking to her and showing her my empty hands, and I am sure people walking past thought I was off my rocker.

Hello there, large two-legged being.

Do you have any lunch?

I'll wait.

Hm, your toe looks tasty.

The Canada geese have been arriving over the past weeks, and are out in full force grazing on the open green spaces.

Looking West on the Mall


Looking East on the Mall

By the time I finish blogging about all these museums, you will know what's at all the Washington DC compass points!

The splendid Environmental Protection Agency sits across the road from the Museum of American History.

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Soon I was at the museum learning all about American history and it brought all that book-larnin' to life for me.

The collections and exhibitions encompass so many interesting things such as:

Penicillin

Plastics

Bomb shelters

The Pill

Nuclear power and the Manhattan Project

Laser

The 1950s middle class housing boom

Julia Child's Kitchen (she was the American Fanny Craddock/Delia Smith)

DNA splicing

The patented DuPont Oncomouse (the first patented animal developed to receive the cancer gene for research)

Oil-eating bacteria

The Texas Supercollider

CFCs and the Ozone Layer

Colonial life

Abolitionists

Immigrant workers

Wartime homemaking

L, top:  A Renaissance automaton, the Walking Monk.  When wound up, he rolls forward turning his head from side to side, opening his mouth, rolling his eyes, and beating his hand on his chest while holding a rosary with the other.  There was a video showing a complete version in robes and church paraphernalia.

L, bottom:  An early 20th century chemical laboratory

Center:  "Stanley" won the DARPA Challenge 2005, one of many robotic cars competing to make their own driving decisions.  In case of emergency, they can be overriden to go remote control.

R:  A small cross-section of the Texas Superconducting Supercollider, a giant project which Congress closed down in 1993 but which was supposed to be the largest atom smasher in the world.  It has now been replaced by CERN underneath Switzerland/France.

Let me know if you're interested in finding out what exactly is accomplished by smashing atoms.  I could rustle up a blog post about it...

Or anything else.  Please cast a vote for what you would like to read about.

FLIGHTY, the following is especially for you, part of one of those neat little glass cases stuffed full of little accoutrements, the best snapshot of an era.

WWII Ration Book.  One coupon for meat, fats, fish, and cheeses.  Another for 5 lbs of sugar.  There were also mileage and gas coupons for motorists.

In the next installment, we will learn about the Star Spangled Banner and the First Ladies' gowns.

DC 4.0

Hey there, Good Readers.

Just wanted to thank you for popping by every day to keep up.  I know you're not used to me blogging every day now, so I appreciate the visits since I'm trying to stay ahead of the game on this visit, instead of letting it lag for weeks.  Obviously I won't have time for anything when I return to NYC as I'll just have two weeks to pack and move!

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Today I intend to get right out to the Air & Space Museum before the historic aviators wing closes on Sunday for renovations until May 2010!

But I have to get this post out of the way right now, yes?

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So, Thursday:  I spent the afternoon wandering around Georgetown.  There were not many tourists out, so I felt somewhat conspicuous using even my phonecam.  So I waited until dark.  It's the kind of villagey place that would look better with the lights on anyway.  You'll see.

Georgetown is twee.  It is the original Old Town, so it's like Colonial/Federal style overload, which I love.  It's full of tiny antique shops, little art galleries, and boutiques for many things. You know you're in a posh place when you walk up the street and see:  Ralph Lauren, Karen Millen London, Reiss London, Lacoste, Rugby, United Colors of Benetton, Occitane en Provence, Bo Concept, and so on.

If any of you have been to Richmond-upon-Thames, in SW London, you will know what I mean.  Georgetown is even more twee than that, more spacious, less crowded, even more picturesque, and cleaner.  (Washington is the cleanest city I've seen in aaaaaaages!)

Like Richmond, it's on the river - the Potomac.  It also has the C&O canal which was once a major shipping and transport route all the way up to Ohio.  It was preserved from paving over in the 1960s, and is today a walking and bike trail.  

However, by the time I reached the Canal I had spent too much time at Barnes & Noble choosing from a wide array of DC maps and looking at too many books *ahem* and so it was dark out.  But again, don't worry.  When I am living in Friendship Heights, I can hop on the bus at FH station and pop down to G'town anytime I want.

I got a great waterproof, tearproof Nat Geo map.  I love how the new foldout paper maps are lightly matte plasticized and less fragile while still being lightweight.  I want to put a good, clear map on my wall so I can finish memorizing this city.  I am pretty familiar with it already from studying apartment locations over the past few months, but I need the overall layout burned into my mind.

So who wants to see cute pics?

As it was dark when I left the bookshop, I walked up to near where the water is.  Rick, I did see Grace Church - in the dark, but didn't even know it would be there!  

I was getting hungry and was a little fed up of the grocery store quick meals I've been on this week, so decided to eat something proper.  So as I was walking up Wisconsin Avenue, I stopped at a little Mexican restaurant called Los Cuartos.

The a good restaurant salsa experience:  warm, thin, crispy tortilla chips, and a spicy salsa with lots of cilantro and no black pepper.  (They don't know how to do it in London or NYC, where the chips are thick and hard, there's not enough cilantro or chile, and too much black pepper.)

Guacamole, pico de gallo.  Under the cheese:  chicken tamale and chile relleno.  Rice and refried beans.  I have never ever eaten the last two items, preferring to fill up on the important stuff!

A little shop called Paper and Tea off Wisconsin Ave.

Paper and Tea from across the road - a cobbled road with an old tram track.

A home decor shop across from Paper and Tea.  The back of this store was also cute with ivy, a little gate, a little door, and a basket on a chair.  

A little Episcopalian church on Wisconsin Ave.

A cute little wine cellar.  I had liked the front door while passing it in the day.

An antique store window dressing in true Federal style - which is the American version of the early 19th century Empire (French) or Regency (English) styles

Carrots luxuriating on my corduroy trousers......again.

Another thing I have liked about being out and about in DC is not hearing the abrasive Noo Yawk or hard Northeast regional accents. Plenty of normal cosmopolitan American voices.  I heard a few Southern accents which made me smile.

First week of April

Except that I do want to complain about the 2.5 hour commute I endured on Tuesday morning. There were no eastbound services on the Tube, and I work at the eastern end of the Metropolitan Line. And it had taken 45 minutes southbound, stuck in a tunnel for half of it, to find that out! Followed by 3 buses and then a 15 minute walk.

Oh, not to mention a power outage on the entirety of the line I live along, on Thursday evening. Some people were stuck underground for 3 hours.
Fortunately it started before I left the office and so I took the Met line and a bus.

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My suburban street (spacious Edwardian houses) on a typical grey day. Once upon a time it was probably tree-lined with these huge trees, but they have been lopped to halt the damage caused to the house foundations.



I went for a little ramble last week because it was still light when I left the office!
Here you see Spitalfield's old shops.



Spitalfield's new shopping street next to the shiny ABN Amro building (see top left corner), Spitalfields Church, and the old shops opposite all span centuries



Christ Church Spitalfields, 300 years old, restored in 2004 not as a church but a venue



Lincoln, the life of the party, taking a nap whilst trying not to miss a thing.



With my honorary nephew, taking a guess as to where the phonecam was pointing, hence all the empty space.



Alicia and me covered in grins.



Snow on Saturday, my early birthday present.



Very wet clumpy snow which fell off soon after and melted.

Back in Time Tag

Selba tagged me quite a while ago and I only found out this week! So, here goes.

In short, I wish to go back to my early 20s when life was good.

Longer Version:

I wish to go back to my early 20s. I was at university, enjoying my studies, living on campus with Vanessa, the best roomie ever and hanging out with Jason and Johnny, to whom I would entrust my life. They were part of my close, adventurous, fun, varied, cosmopolitan, caring group of friends (who are still there). We would go to the opera or the ballet downtown, or to the beach, or for pancakes at midnight. I was emotionally strong and intact, there for my friends, ready to listen to problems, a shoulder to cry on, a voice of comfort, the therapist-to-be. I was also funny and witty, and my father and I were like a stand-up routine.

Finally filling out after being underweight my whole life, I had my hair in its first short cut and was discovering fashion because clothes finally fit without alteration. I was stylish for the first time ever.

I wanted for nothing and had access to more funds than I could ever need. I had my own car and even spent 6 months driving my Dad's sporty car, which is when I properly learned to drive, to corner, to floor it, to feel the feedback of road under wheels, and the round sound it would make at optimum speed which felt like the sweet spot on a tennis racquet.

I was making great grades, a committee chair in Program Council - used to run a coffee cart every Wednesday for the night students. I was President and Treasurer of our uni's chapter of Psi Chi (psychology honor society). I even worked part time in the psychology department and at the student volunteer office.

My parents were still together - they laughed and teased, held hands, kissed in the kitchen; everyone who saw them wanted what they had. We lived in a big four bedroom house in the pine forest north of Houston, part of a close knit community, a beautiful hometown with its own ballets and symphonies, but also the summer home of the Houston Ballet, Grand Opera, and Symphony. Every summer we would go to concerts and festivals; every October to the Greek Festival or International Fest downtown - I had more culture there than I do here.

We had neighbours to share homebaked cookies with, or invite round to use the jacuzzi, floating a bowl of grapes back and forth, or I'd babysit their dogs; the type of neighbours you wave at as you pass, roll down your window or park and walk over for a chat while they wait for the school bus; BBQ on someone's driveway on National Neighbourhood Night Out. Go to the grocery store for 5 minutes and end up taking an hour because you chat with everyone - friends and strangers.

We had a big front yard with roses and flowers for the hummingbirds. A big backyard that produced all manner of flower, herb, tropical fruit and vegetable - and hosted all manner of wildlife, some things we only saw once (like a flying squirrel). Plus I was always rescuing animals like the wren, the baby red cardinal, the wood pigeon, the newly hatched finch. My snuggly bunnies Lulu (the smart dog-cat-rabbit), Dapple (the soft shy velvet one) and Muffet (the white tailed spunky one) were still alive. We had a canary called Romeo who sang to break your heart, and a Society Finch called Lena who loved to watch TV.

Dad and I used to stand on the driveway at 3am watching meteor showers, and the silhouettes of the pine trees against the full moon.

I had the security of a stable home life and love, and that abundant confidence of the undergrad who knows the world is her oyster. I want that oyster back...


I tag (can sisters count as one? Ha!):

1. Um Naief & Jahooni
2. Lotus
3. Beanzzz & Zee
4. Nikki
5. Guyana Gyal

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Instructions:

Title: The Age That I Wish To Go Back To
Requirement: Write about the one age that you wish to go back to and why?
Tag Mode: 5 bloggers
1st - You leave blog and post link and add to the list below.
2nd - Let the blogger you want to tag know they had been tagged by commenting in their blog.

The Age that they Wish to Go Back to:

Amidrin wish to go back to age 22 to correct back some mistakes in life.
Lemonjude wish to go back to age 6 to enjoy kid’s life.
Hui Sia wish to go back to age 16 to meet her first lover again.
Giddy Tiger wishes to go back to a childhood life with no worries in the world.
Rinnah wishes she could turn back time to the happiest days of her life.
Ehon doesn't wanna go anywhere.
Chen wanna go back to age 19 to take a different pathway in life.
Selba wishes to go back to the time where she could persuade her parents not to move to Indonesia.
Olivia wishes to go back to her early 20s when the world was her oyster.

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Two Works

Antony Gormley's Angel of the North, 1994 - on a hill overlooking Gateshead, Tyneside, UK




Arturo Ballester, Loor a los heroes, Confederacion Nacional del Trabajo poster response to the 1936 Spanish Revolution.


What do you think? Discuss.