the great mall of america
The Mayflower is right down the street--Connecticut Avenue, as it were--from the White House. We walked down and said, "Hey, there's the White House." We didn't see any sex or scandals and so continued on.
We walked down the Mall, which for those of you who have escaped the Great American Cultural Imperialist Expansion, is the center of Washington D.C. It's a giant park which contains or borders on most of the Great American Monuments: the White House, the Capitol, Washington Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, Vietnam War Memorial, the Korean War Memorial (being constructed--looked very cool), various buildings of the Smithsonian Institution, the Holocaust Museum, the Library of Congress, the National Gallery, and probably several thousand other monuments and Important Buildings that I probably either didn't see or was too tired to see by the time I stumbled by them.
(Definitely not at the Mall: Tara, Seinfeld's apartment, Graumann's Chinese Theater.)
We walked down to the Lincoln Memorial and read the Second Inaugural Address, which is one of the two speeches carved into the walls of the building (the other being, of course, the Gettysburg Address). Lincoln was always my favorite president when I was a small tot (though not quite to the same extent of Julia Roberts' having a crush on him.) Jefferson was my sister's. I wonder if picking your favorite president is not akin to a Rorschach test.
The Lincoln Memorial is at one end of the Mall; the Capitol is at the other. We did make the entire trek--of course, we were literally soaked in sweat by the time we made it to the far end. That was with a two-hour stop at the Smithsonian Institution's American Culture Museum (which had a very cool exhibit on the meaning of the Constitution as viewed in light of the Japanese Internment during World War II).
By the time we got to the Capitol I wasn't even sweating any more, which was a pretty good sign that I was in serious need of hydration. Of course, by the time you get to the Capitol, the ubiquitous kosher hot dog/ice cream/soda vendors had disappeared. Perhaps the Congresspeople find somewhere else to eat. I looked up at the steps of the Capitol and all desire to climb the steps or re-enact the "I'm just a Bill" song vanished.
On to the Library of Congress, where we discovered a gorgeous building that looks like no library I've ever been in. And it had a cool exhibit on George and Ira Gershwin.
We wound things up at the Folger Shakespeare Library, which I had wanted to see. And which was, of course, closing by the time we got there. Sigh. We watched the video on the history of the Library in the small antechamber and then took off. I said to Darin that I thought it was weird that the Folger Shakespeare Library was in the US, almost as weird as...
DARIN
What?
DIANE
Well, as the Holocaust Museum
being here.
DARIN
That isn't weird. That makes
a lot more sense. The people
who survived--they came here.
There's no point in putting a
Holocaust Museum in Austria--
there's no one left there.
(pause)
It's not like Shakespeare's
followers were persecuted
and had to flee here.
The image of some rabid Shakespearean actors fleeing to the New World to escape persecution for their insistence on performing King John in its due turn kept me giggling for way longer than it should have. I'm just weird that way.
After the Library, there was to be no more walking. We were officially in search of a taxi. We headed back to the Capitol.
Eventually we flagged one down. When we got in, the taxi driver asked how we liked the Supreme Court. I looked out the window and sure enough, we'd been waiting in front of the Supreme Court. Kinda cool.
We went back to the hotel. Darin went up to the room but I stopped in one of the clothing stores across the street to get a blouse, because I'd forgotten to bring one.
Nevin and Peter showed up and the four of us went to dinner at Sam and Harry's, a steak joint. It was good, but no Bone's, the beef restaurant in Atlanta by which Darin and I judge all other steak restaurants. I did like the softshell crab appetizer quite a bit though.
I looked at the giant steaks Darin, Peter, and Nevin had and said, "You know, you're only supposed to eat 4 ounces of beef at a meal. So don't have any beef for the rest of the week."
After dinner I called my parents while Darin, Nevin, and Peter played a game of Rage down in the lobby. Then I went down to the lobby and the 4 of us played another game of Rage. I think I lost. In fact, I'm almost sure of it.
Oh yes--today was also my birthday.
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Copyright 1998 Diane Patterson
Send comments and questions to diane@spies.com