Mr. Scott goes to Washington - Act One, Scene Four: The Miracle on Independence Ave.
As I'm sure you can tell from the frequency and duration of my postings, I'm really enjoying this whole blogging thing. I'm saddened, of course, that once business starts to pick up with work and school the amount of time I have to dedicate to this latest pursuit will be substantially reduced.
This morning I slept in, had a solid breakfast, and had a good conversation with my roommate Miguel about life in Puerto Rico. At noon, I met Claire and her roommate (whose name I'll now reveal), Marie. At dinner last night, Claire and I had agreed to accompany Marie to the Smithsonian's modern art gallery and sculpture museum (she's an art major, you see) today.
Marie is interning at the EPA which is located just north of the National Mall, conveniently behind the Ronald Reagan building. After testing the metro ride to her office, we set off. First, we went through the "Castle," which was the original Smithsonian Institution and is now the central office/directory for the entire Smithsonian system. Smithson's crypt (James Smithson is the man for whom the Smithsonian is named) is just within the entrance, which I found kind of creepy... but I suppose he earned it.
From there we went out the back of the castle and through its manicured gardens to take Independence Ave. to the gallery. It was there, on Independence Ave., that the most amazing thing happened. As we were walking, this very kindly woman stopped us, asking if we'd be around D.C. all day. Confused, we replied that we would, and she offered us her tickets to the top of the Washington Monument for that afternoon. Now, for those of you who don't know, the tickets are given out every morning starting at 8.30, and are usually all gone by 9, as Claire and I had found out much to our chagrin the day before.
So, with our tickets in hand, we headed to the gallery. As the tickets were for 3pm, we only had about an hour and a half at the gallery, but we were able to go through their entire special temporary exhibit on visual music. There was some pretty psychadelic stuff in there, let me tell you.
From there we headed back across the Mall to the Washington monument, where we rode the elevator to the top. Now, I can't exaggerate how tremendous the view was from the top. Washington's a very flat city, and the weather was perfect, so from our vantage point 500 feet up we were able to see everything! I must have taken 40 pictures. Most amazingly, we could even see to our apartment buildings back in Alexandria.
As we headed back down, the elevator began to slow. Thanks - as the Park Ranger operating the elevator pointed out - to the miracles of technology, fibre-optics, and the United States Parks Service, the elevator's door panels turned from opaque to transparent, revealing the inside walls of the monument. Now, I had no idea, but a number of states, cities, countries, and private donors paid to have special commemorative stones placed into the monument, and in so doing provided the funding for its completion. All of these stones were placed facing inward, so we could watch them all go by as we went down to the bottom.
Once our feet were back on the ground, we headed up the Mall towards the Capitol. Marie left Claire and I to go see the National Gallery (where, as I'm sure you'll recall, we had visited several days ago) while Claire and I headed over to the National Air and Space Museum.
Unfortunately, there were only a couple of hours left before the museum closed, so we only managed to make it through a bunch of the space race exhibits, and to learn a bit about telescopes. We also checked out the Wright Brothers' Flyer just as the museum was closing. Suffice it to say we'll be returning there before our time in Washington is up.
After that we took the metro back to Alexandria and did a bit of quick grocery shopping before going home. While they didn't have any of my beloved All-Bran bars (I'm going to have to make a special stop on my way home from work tomorrow!), I did manage to pick up some of those delicious Keebler Fudge Stripe cookies which my grandparents used to buy for my brother and I when they'd go shopping in Buffalo. Jerko, if you're reading this, you know what I'm talking about.
Tomorrow, of course, Claire and I head off to our first day as interns at the Embassy. I can't wait; I feel just like a little kid on Christmas Eve.
Bah, who am I kidding? I feel like myself on Christmas Eve.
This morning I slept in, had a solid breakfast, and had a good conversation with my roommate Miguel about life in Puerto Rico. At noon, I met Claire and her roommate (whose name I'll now reveal), Marie. At dinner last night, Claire and I had agreed to accompany Marie to the Smithsonian's modern art gallery and sculpture museum (she's an art major, you see) today.
Marie is interning at the EPA which is located just north of the National Mall, conveniently behind the Ronald Reagan building. After testing the metro ride to her office, we set off. First, we went through the "Castle," which was the original Smithsonian Institution and is now the central office/directory for the entire Smithsonian system. Smithson's crypt (James Smithson is the man for whom the Smithsonian is named) is just within the entrance, which I found kind of creepy... but I suppose he earned it.
From there we went out the back of the castle and through its manicured gardens to take Independence Ave. to the gallery. It was there, on Independence Ave., that the most amazing thing happened. As we were walking, this very kindly woman stopped us, asking if we'd be around D.C. all day. Confused, we replied that we would, and she offered us her tickets to the top of the Washington Monument for that afternoon. Now, for those of you who don't know, the tickets are given out every morning starting at 8.30, and are usually all gone by 9, as Claire and I had found out much to our chagrin the day before.
So, with our tickets in hand, we headed to the gallery. As the tickets were for 3pm, we only had about an hour and a half at the gallery, but we were able to go through their entire special temporary exhibit on visual music. There was some pretty psychadelic stuff in there, let me tell you.
From there we headed back across the Mall to the Washington monument, where we rode the elevator to the top. Now, I can't exaggerate how tremendous the view was from the top. Washington's a very flat city, and the weather was perfect, so from our vantage point 500 feet up we were able to see everything! I must have taken 40 pictures. Most amazingly, we could even see to our apartment buildings back in Alexandria.
As we headed back down, the elevator began to slow. Thanks - as the Park Ranger operating the elevator pointed out - to the miracles of technology, fibre-optics, and the United States Parks Service, the elevator's door panels turned from opaque to transparent, revealing the inside walls of the monument. Now, I had no idea, but a number of states, cities, countries, and private donors paid to have special commemorative stones placed into the monument, and in so doing provided the funding for its completion. All of these stones were placed facing inward, so we could watch them all go by as we went down to the bottom.
Once our feet were back on the ground, we headed up the Mall towards the Capitol. Marie left Claire and I to go see the National Gallery (where, as I'm sure you'll recall, we had visited several days ago) while Claire and I headed over to the National Air and Space Museum.
Unfortunately, there were only a couple of hours left before the museum closed, so we only managed to make it through a bunch of the space race exhibits, and to learn a bit about telescopes. We also checked out the Wright Brothers' Flyer just as the museum was closing. Suffice it to say we'll be returning there before our time in Washington is up.
After that we took the metro back to Alexandria and did a bit of quick grocery shopping before going home. While they didn't have any of my beloved All-Bran bars (I'm going to have to make a special stop on my way home from work tomorrow!), I did manage to pick up some of those delicious Keebler Fudge Stripe cookies which my grandparents used to buy for my brother and I when they'd go shopping in Buffalo. Jerko, if you're reading this, you know what I'm talking about.
Tomorrow, of course, Claire and I head off to our first day as interns at the Embassy. I can't wait; I feel just like a little kid on Christmas Eve.
Bah, who am I kidding? I feel like myself on Christmas Eve.
posted by Scoops at 8:18 p.m.
3 Comments:
hey, I love those elves' cookies, I buy them in Point Bob for quickie smores! Tickets up a tower I did not even know HAD an inside has to be a good omen. Good luck tomorrow you two, it should be fun.
Mrs M.
p.s. an ironed shirt always makes an excellent first impression. - Buddha (or maybe it was me, I forget)
Mrs. Marchant,
Oh, I ironed. I ironed like I've never ironed before (or hopefully will again).
I looked up "how to iron" on google, and then spent about three hours ironing four shirts. It was utterly pathetic.
But damn, I looked put together!
Excellent, now you have a practical skill, you will never go hungry - you can always find work in a laundry - combine that with your rich safari experience, and you are clearly an asset to any organization! Who knew that you could learn to iron on the net?
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