Washington, DC - Day 1

November 13, 2009

The hotel offered transportation to the subway station but when we realized that it was just three blocks away, we walked in the mild rain. Our first destination was the Ford Theater, which was newly renovated. Unfortunately, there was rehearsal there so we were not allowed into the theater but there was a very interesting museum downstairs. There were many displays informing us about President Lincoln's assasination. He was carried to the building across the street - the Petersen House -where he died the next day.

Near this building there was an old waffle house - not the Waffle House chain but a local restaurant where people had been eating for a long time. We decided to check it out. There was grits on the menu and I mentioned to the friendly waitress with a sparkly smile that I had never had grits. She pointed at a man's plate nearby to show me what it looks like. "Maybe you want potatoes instead". "No, I want something new". So I ordered salmon cake, eggs, grits and toast. The grits were very bland. It needed some perking up with something. The salmon cake was good.

Afterwards I used the restroom way downstairs in a well worn area. Jalil did not want to go. When I returned up the stairs, he decided he wanted to go to the bathroom so I sat down at the counter to wait for him but not in my old seat. The waitress came over and asked if I wanted something else. "I am just waiting for my husband. It takes him a while to go because of his prostate." She wanted to know what I was talking about so I explained that the prostate gets larger with age and it makes it difficult to pee. You have to kind of push it out. "Oh, do I have a prostate?" she asked concerned. "No, women do not have prostates but they have the opposite problem. The urine comes too easily." She seemed relieved that she did not have a prostate. She gave me a beautiful smile. "If you are still here tomorrow, come back to see me." This was one of the pearls of our trip. She was so genuine and dear.

It was still raining but not bad so we walked to the White House passing a statue of General Sherman. You have to get tickets to see the White House from your Congressperson or Senator which we had not done, as we did not know when we would arrive in DC. I did see it in 1966. We walked along the metal fence and we did see Michele Obama's garden. Then we headed towards the marble Washington Monument (555feet tall) with all 50 American flags surrounding it and across to the Smithsonian Information Center - the Castle. This is housed in the original Smithsonian building which looks like an old castle. James Smithson was a wealthy British scientist, who willed his entire fortune (half a million dollars) to a country he had never visited. He wanted to "found at Washington under the name of the Smithsonian Institution an Establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge..." Congress did not know what to do with the money and some congressmen wanted to return it. Eventually, they settled on a natural history museum in 1846. Now, there are many, many museums and galleries - 18 to be precise and the 19th is planned for 2015 - the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Nearly all (ten) of the buildings on the National Mall are Smithsonian museums. All are free except for the IMAX movies. We saw a 3D movie called Wild Ocean about the fish in south east South Africa. The fish swam right at you. We also explored the National Museum of American History which was so interesting but it is difficult to retain all we saw. Took a few pictures that I will share with you. The two chairs belong to Edith and Archie Bunker. The wall is the Berlin Wall.

The museum was closing and we wanted to see more so we asked the security guard. He suggested Lincoln Memorial. I wondered if it was safe to wander around in the dark and he assured me that the Park Police was patrolling. Jalil thought it was crazy and grumbled quite a bit but I wanted to see it lit up in the dark. At first we were the only ones walking but with time there were more people walking on the path. First we found the Vietnam Veterans War Memorial (1982) - a polished black granite wall with every dead and missing soldier's name listed chronologically by date of death. It was quite long. There was an occasional flower and a wreath. It was designed by Maya Lin - a student at Yale University at the time. We had seen her work at Yale - the Women's Table. The Vietnam Memorial design was very controversial at the time. James Watt, the Secretary of the Interior, at first refused to issue a building permit due to public outcry against the design. But now it has become something of a shrine. It has 58,159 names listed. There was a book in plastic where you could look up the soldier's name. Jalil tried to find Marina's brother but he looked under California and not Hawaii so it did not work. Close by we did see a statue of three soldiers but we missed the the memorial honoring the 265,000 women who served in the war.

Nearby we could see the lights from the Lincoln Memorial. It was more majestic than I had expected. It is made of marble with 36 columns - one for each state in existence at the time of Lincoln's death, which symbolize the Union. There is a huge statue of Lincoln sitting inside the memorial with two of his famous speeches carved on the walls. Jalil had now stopped sputtering and was very interested.

From here we figured out how to walk to the nearest subway station which was George Washington University station. The train took us to the Rosslyn Station in no time and we walked to our hotel after a full day.