The Howard Theatre is one of the many venues in Washington DC that put up Black Lives Matter signs this summer.
The Howard Theatre is one of the many venues in Washington DC that put up Black Lives Matter signs this summer.
One of Washington D.C.’s newest monuments is “Black Lives Matter Plaza,” a portion of 16th Street Northwest closest to the White House.
I got out of the office around 10 p.m. after an all-day meeting to find a tempest outside. I was completely soaked by the time that I got home — so much so that our front desk attendant refused to give me a package until I went upstairs and put on some dry clothes.
The rain continued throughout the weekend, but that did not stop us from going outside. We took an extended walk along the National Mall, wherein we and the dogs got drenched.
Afterward there was a meandering journey to find a lunch, where we got drenched again.
While walking the dogs through Chinatown and Judiciary Square this morning, I notice that someone trashed the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial. A large binder containing officer names is ripped apart and the pages blanket the southern part of the memorial.
I reflexively take out my phone to Instagram the petty vandalism, but I immediately realize that I should take some responsibility over my new neighborhood and just clean up the damn mess. The wind hasn’t picked up most of the pages yet, so it’s better for me to handle this rather than waiting for the Park Service to show up.
I tie up the dogs and get to work.
I was in an Uber ride through an unfamiliar part of Washington D.C. one evening when I saw a massive dome in the distance. It definitely wasn’t the U.S. Capitol building or the National Cathedral, and I couldn’t think of any other landmark that was so immense.
A week later, I decided to explore and made my way to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. This mouthful of a monument is apparently the largest Catholic Church in the U.S. and the second-largest in North America after the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City.
The garden is in a building next to the U.S. Capitol and doesn’t charge admission, so I took a quick tour of the place earlier this week.
Although the U.S. Botanic Garden isn’t as beautiful or impressive as the Dallas World Aquarium, it was still a pleasant visit. The entire time I kept thinking, “My grandmother would love this place.”
I recently made a second trip to the U.S. Capitol Building. The Capitol museum exhibits were fascinating because I didn’t know how dramatically the Capitol Hill campus changed over the years.
Apparently the iconic D.C. row houses we see today were not as common as the wooden flophouses that used to dominate the city. The clearance efforts remind me a lot of the Minneapolis skid row documentary from a few years ago — gentrification before it had a name?
After meandering through the exhibits, I followed the tunnel to the Library of Congress, which was quite the surprise.
Michael’s shirt didn’t survive the bowling alley food on Sunday, so we made our way to Union Station after our league finished. We found a suitable (and cheap) replacement shirt at Uniqlo, and then decided to stop at McDonald’s because apparently our diet resolutions don’t apply on weekends.
The Union Station McDonald’s was an unexpectedly strange experience because Kellyanne Conway and her son were sitting at the table next to us.
It’s the afternoon of New Year’s Eve and I am among a group of tourists standing near the front entrance of the Washington National Cathedral.
We ignore the Neo-Gothic architecture, altars and stained glass because everyone is transfixed on the bookish tour guide. The middle aged woman who greeted everyone nicely a few minutes ago is now glaring up at the second floor balcony above the cathedral entrance.
“Excuse me,” the guide says, barely below a shout. “Get down from there now. NO — that floor is closed. You need to get down here NOW.”
She repeats herself several times. A tourist in a suit tries to help the guide with awkward hand motions to the second-floor trespassers. I can’t see who is on the balcony but it is obvious that they are lingering to take pictures and the tour guide was having none of it.
“Elevator access is shut down to that floor,” the tour guide says to the nearby suited man. “I don’t understand how they got up there or why it’s not clear to them that the second floor is closed!”
“People are just stupid I guess,” he says in a thick Italian accent.
I quickly turn to the statue of George Washington to avoid laughing.
A statue of George Washington at the Washington National Cathedral.
The front entrance of the Washington National Cathedral, near Georgetown.
Lamps and the vaulted ceiling at the Washington National Cathedral.
Minor tourist drama aside, the trip to the cathedral was a pleasant way to end the year. It was also the last trek out that I would make that day.
It became increasingly clear that I was staying in for New Year’s Eve when I still didn’t have any plans by 9 p.m.
I recently went to the Jefferson Memorial — it was my first time visiting a memorial up close since moving to Washington D.C.
It was a very brief trip. I only saw the memorial at a distance because I came across it on a dog walk and there are plenty of signs indicating that dogs are not allowed inside.