Another week has passed, more to see, more to do. I am missing my family, but thankful that Camille and Mike stopped to visit for a few hours Sunday on their road trip back home from New York. Bob and the girls will be here the end of next week, so I have been developing their itinerary for sightseeing -- especially now that I have inside knowledge of our nation's capital!
Over the past week and weekend, I explored new areas of town, visited a church and a few museums. Highlights of the week include a very long walk from work via the Smithsonian Botanical Gardens to the Columbia Heights neighborhood (long walk, some not-so-great areas) in search of a Target, tooling around the shops at Union Station, and exploring an indoor/outdoor marketplace called Eastern Market in the Capitol Hill area. I grocery-shopped at my new favorite grocery store, Trader Joe's, and commuted home via the Metro, two overflowing reusable grocery sacks in hand. The district charges five cents per plastic bag when shopping, which encourages one to bring reusable bags and more importantly encourages one to be green. Maybe Florida should take note?
Eastern Market was a neat place to explore. It's an indoor/outdoor marketplace open on the weekends year-round with vendors selling produce, flowers, jewelry, handcrafts, meats, baked goods, etc. I could have eaten my way through! I also survived (and actually enjoyed) my first solo-dining experience ever at a Mediterranean restaurant near the market.
I took a Capitol tour Saturday afternoon, and learned a lot of history about its architecture and contents. Our tour guide, Danny, was quite the comedian. Sunday, I went to the National Cathedral to fulfill a special request of my coworker Robin. It is a stunning work of architecture, currently undergoing some renovations, but stunning nonetheless. I attended the Evensong service, which was a prayer service with the choir, Bible readings, and a homily (message) given by the Reverend. It was a very formal and structured service with beautiful music, so holy and reverent -- also a first for me to attend an Episcopalian service.
My discovery of the week was extended hours at several of the more popular Smithsonians. So, after the church service, I went to the Air and Space Museum. My only wish after looking at all the huge airplanes, spacecraft, and reading some of the history of flight was that I understood more about planes and how they work. It's definitely out of my realm of knowledge!
Back to work today -- trying to pare down all the literature I have to a simple sixth grade literacy level webpage which is eye-catching and user-friendly. This in itself will be the biggest project for me! My goal is to have the text done by the end of the week.
Here's a link about the Eastern Market and the National Cathedral, and my pictures to follow:
 |
| Smithsonian Botanical Gardens |
 |
| Flower vendor at Eastern Market |
 |
| Fresh produce at Eastern Market |
 |
| Indoors - Eastern Market |
 |
| This is appealing to some? |
 |
| Books, books, books |
 |
| Cheers to me! |
 |
| My visitors :-) |
 |
| National Cathedral |
 |
| Entrance, another angle |
 |
| One of several altars inside the cathedral |
 |
| The pulpit -- all carved, so ornate |
 |
| Shout out to my Uncle Logan, retired TWA captain, National Air & Space Museum |
Gardens!!!! Seems like the flowers there bloom so perfectly. Now I can see how people on TV get such perfect bouquets when they stop to take them home..I always thought it was a TV trick of perfection.
ReplyDeleteAgain, the architecture. Beautiful pieces of history that are actually tangible.
Were you able to climb aboard some of the larger planes in the museum? Amazing how such history was performed with these now archaic planes...and kept in beautiful condition!
Glad you are enjoying work and vacation. You needed the rest.