Monumental, Mad and Mellow

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See, the thing is (… an often heard sentence opening around here) – we got on a bus around 1pm up near the northern end of the Highline (watch this space over the next couple of years as it evolves into the rather upmarket sounding “Hudson Yards”) and five hours later rolled into Union Station in DC to rendezvous with some Australian friends who have recently relocated to there. After an initial catch up and a settle in it’s off up to 14^thStreet NW, an area riding a significant wave of gentrification as witnessed by a diversity of ethnic eateries and trendy shops (eg Batch 13 – a store specialising in small batch distillery products) but still with enough edginess around to keep it in balance.

The next morning, after a slowish start, we make our way into the Mall to meet a friend from Carolina who is in town for a conference. The monumentality of the Mall and of DC in general is immediately impressed upon us, and contrasting with NY’s East Village lower rise buildings and a lesser inclination to define itself on a strict grid pattern. A visit to the Hirshhorn sculpture garden and an exhibition at the National Archives related to prohibition in the US punctuate an afternoon filled with conversation and catch up – we’ve not seen this friend in 14 years. Throughout the day we constantly witness something that both our Australian hosts and Carolina friend pointed out to us- the interaction of rather haphazard drivers with pedestrians who exhibit a mix of vagueness and a belief in the “divine right of pedestrians” to walk where ever and whenever they choose. Certainly more than a little madness and many more near misses than is really healthy happening here. As the sun goes down the reflections along the Mall lengthen and we encounter three ladies on a mission; to re-integrate some orphan goslings with one or the other goose families using the ponds there. Travel supposedly broadens the mind, and certainly it did for Peter (or maybe it didn’t, and simply reinforced some of his personal prejudices) when he was introduced to the idea of “blended families” in the goose kingdom; interesting. The re-integration operation would have made a SWOT team proud, and we were told that the mission had a 50/50 chance of success – good to know, especially considering both Dianne’s and our Carolina friend’s background in biostatistics. This math-fest continued into the evening with the three of us being “interviewed and filmed” by a group of freshmen (oddly enough from UNC Chapel Hill – what are the chances of that???) asking us to interpret a mathematical function. While our two mathematicians turned their serious attention to the task at hand, Peter attempted to address the problem by channelling Mr Squiggle (if you don't know him, then do google him); the likelihood of any of the interview footage being used is low. It has been a bit of a mad day all round.

Saturday brought an opportunity to visit the newly re-incarnated Union Market – nice food items here plus kitchen accoutrements including kitchen knives curated by some very bearded and even more intense young men; “our knives are well sharp” advised their cautionary sign. The high point of this visit (apart from gathering some excellent produce for dinner that evening) was a conversation with the cheesemonger about how far the US cheese industry had come in the 30 years since we left its orange-cheddar-or-monterey-jack-only shores. Now there is quite a thriving cottage industry for cheeses in a number of northern states, including quite a number of goat cheeses; billy blue goat cheese certainly lured us into a purchase. Nicely provisioned up, it was then time to head off to Maryland’s state capital Annapolis for some sightseeing, starting of course with lunch at Davis Pub and our first encounter with Crab Cakes, which teamed very nicely with some craft brew India Pale Ale; IPAs seem to be quite the beer du jour in the US at present (in addition to Pabst Blue Ribbon that is). For a state capital Annapolis was relatively small and quiet, with neat little houses of weatherboard or brick, manicured lawns, rocking chairs on the porch, and flags flying out front. The only thing that seemed to be missing was Aaron Copeland’s Quiet City being piped over loud speakers (or should that be soft speakers). All very mellow.

The following day we take mellow up (down?) a notch by staying with a friend out in Maryland for a couple of days; now this is very chill indeed. Green rolling hills, trees leafing out beautifully now that spring has properly arrived (or has it? – the weather has been quite up and down since we arrived) and lots of birdsong and tranquility; very nice and calming indeed. During our stay we take a day trip to Harpers Ferry, which is a strange co-incidence of recommendations and opportunities indeed; a work friend of Peter’s had visited there last year while walking the Appalachian Trail (aka the AT) and had made a strong recommendation to go there, and it was located just a short drive from the friend’s place we were visiting. One of the special things about Harpers Ferry – other than it being the mid-point of the Appalachian Trail and the cradle of the Civil War (thanks for that background Peter L.) – is that in the course of about one mile it is possible to cross two bridges and transit through 3 states; Maryland, Virginia, and West (full set of teeth optional) Virginia. It also had a good café with a view of the river rail crossing, very tasty crab cakes and a very passable IPA craft brew from Virginia.

Then it’s back into DC for a few more days, visiting a few more monumental public buildings and galleries, getting on the track of Alexander Calder’s work (and finding that his monumental Mountain and Clouds was having its clouds mobile section overhauled and so we got to see it quite up close, as well as being amazed at the mountain “stabile” section rising over 5 floors in the atrium of the Hart senate building (thank you Lee L. for this not widely known even in DC recommendation). In walking and metro riding around DC it becomes Peter’s opinion that even in absolute terms there are more mad people in DC than there are in New York. While we were pleasantly surprised by the openness of people in New York, this latter observation comes as a greater surprise, fuelled by some encounters with drill sergeant-voiced security people, still more vaguely wandering pedestrians, and a couple having a monumental “argument” by gesture from their respective seats in opposite ends of a metro car.

Thus ends our time in the nation’s capital with things in full swing in preparation for the upcoming Memorial Day celebrations. So it’s bags packed, taxi ride to Dulles airport, a three hour delay on our flight (we see a pattern emerging here) and finally we are on our way to Pittsburgh …. but more about that in our next blog.

Until next time, stay mellow, and draw a little inspiration from the photo of a paste-up we saw in Dumbo.

Peter & Dianne O’C

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Photos

Monumental Reflections
Washington Monument at Sunset

Monumentally Overwhelmed
The scale of the Mall and the buildings can feel a little overwhelming at times

Quiet City
Everything in 1950's order

Time Tunnel
Dianne at the National Art Gallery - destination Harpers Ferry?

How's That Serenity
Looking out our back door in Maryland - very mellow

Harpers Bizzare
On the rail trestle bridge at Harpers Ferry

Halfway There
Harpers Ferry mid-point on the Appalachian Trail

Monumental Calder
Mountain & Clouds - sans clouds for the moment

Comments

[Pauline]

Enjoy those last few days away
My goodness the time has gone quickly. Love your post. Brought back memories for me of my time in DC and Annapolis

[Peter & Christa]

A Lovely Vicarious Journey
How delightfully evocative! We must ask, is the cottage cheese industry booming? We guess that it would have been all over the news about how well Australia did in the Eurovision Song Competition, must be a great to be carried on that wave of world acclaim. P&C