exploring the city

At Sonoma, a couple weeks ago, Jen (see picture to the right) told stories about traveling with her soon-to-be Columbian mother-in-law who truly enjoys taking life moment-by-moment. She gave an example of a trip to Egypt where the mother-in-law wanted to hang out by the pool and have a relaxing dinner at the hotel. Jen, on the other hand, was like many of us, wanting to visit the many ancient sites, the pyramids, and exploring the region. They were in Egypt afterall, not at the local Starbucks. This weekend in DC, I decided to combine the best of both of their perspectives: seeing the sites while taking a few moments to stop and smell the flowers.

The day started with a members only tour of the Smithsonian castle. It was fun to be able to get an insider perspective on the hallowed halls of the Smithsonian: see the Regents room, explore the second floor, and catch a few glimpses of the gardens from above. Can you see in the painting below the face that looks like it was painted over? Mysterious....

Afterwards, I watched a really freaky film called La Rivière Gentille at the Hirshhorn Museum. Maybe it was because I don't have a clue who Louise Bourgeois is, but this 96-year-old woman made me realize why it's bad to spend too much time alone. (She hasn't left her house in the past ten-years). Everything that people said to her, she wanted to write down. She was drawing strange pictures on notebooks. Her calendar and notepads were full of short stories, vignettes, memories, and random thoughts. Wait -- damn, it's too late -- that's what this blog is for me. I have seen my future, and it's scary. Ha!

Tipping my hat to Jen's mother-in-law, I took a moment to enjoy a capuccino and cheesecake. While in line, the lady in front of me was ranting about how she hadn't got a discount even though she was a contributing member. The cashier explained that because she hadn't shown her card before the bill was finalized, it was impossible to now give her the discount. Meanwhile, I showed my card to the cashier next to her and began my transaction. The second cashier thanked me for showing the card, and explained to the older lady, that that is what she should have done ... shown her card early. Turns out, didn't matter that I had "shown my card" to save... I didn't get the damn discount either!

Next, I went to the Freer Art Gallery. Art exhibits give me a reminder that artists can truly be out there. Many thanks to my mother for having a couple of drinks while I was in the womb! I'm happy I got some smarts, but gee, a few more IQ points and I really would have been weird! ;-)The docent, also, turned out to be the artsy-type. At the Islamic World art display, she went on and on about how shocked she was to see Jesus depicted in art from the Islam world. Really? Really? Jesus, last time I checked, was considered a prophet to Muslims... just not THE prophet that Christians hold him to be. Besides, Christianity and Islam started in generally the same region... so, it doesn't seem that odd to have found artifacts that include some cross-pollination of ideas. Differences of religious beliefs, granted, have caused a ton of wars but that doesn't mean everything is so black and white. This same woman, throughout the tour, was REALLY, I mean REALLY, excited about a "peacock room." Pictured is one part of the peacock room, with the docent excitedly explaining some of the finer points of this "famous" dining room.

I wandered around The Mall, doing people watching and enjoying the warmth outside for a couple of hours. Another tip to the mother-in-law. Unfortunately, I got lost in my attempt to find L'Enfant station. But that was ok. I was able to take some interesting photos.

As an aside, I saw a really cool cat outside of the Smithsonian. The owner had successfully trained the cat to wear a leash!