Let Me Say This About That

Our month in Washington DC was wonderful; we could easily have spent another month or more there.  At first as we were trying to find our slip and dock the boat, I was disappointed in Gangplank Marina.  The fairways were narrow, the slips were narrow with weeds growing up the sides of the finger dock, and there were so many older boats and houseboats that looked, shall I say not well maintained, that I feared that we were going to be uncomfortable here.  That lasted about one hour.  The staff was friendly and helpful, the washrooms were totally out of character for my first impressions and the other boaters and live aboards were very friendly and likable.  The location was superb and we quickly acclimatized to the DC life including riding the DC Circulator (ie. a superb bus loop that only cost a dollar), eating in trendy restaurants in the Penn Quarter and Chinatown and visiting the numerous sites and attractions.

The fact that we were not alone also made the visit that much more special.  Jack and Lynn on Felix was there for most of the month.  They are fellow Loopers whom we first met in Port St. Joe in the Florida Panhandle.  Lynn cooked the American Thanksgiving turkey for our pleasure back then.  They are also card players so we had a number of fun evenings playing Cribbage, The Board Game.  For the sake of full disclosure I have to say that Jack and I dominated the girls in this endeavour.  They were also very kind to take us with their vehicle to re-provision a couple of times.

David and Brenda on The Old Grouch, fellow Loopers whom we travelled with on Lake Michigan and more of the inland rivers, drove up from Baltimore on two separate occasions.  Both times we had excellent visits, in fact we were able to join them to visit Arlington and Mount Vernon. 

We met many interesting locals from the Marina and were able to share drinks and stories.  We were welcomed to all of their events and enjoyed them thoroughly.  One couple, John and Cheryl on Happy Destiny, wanted some good competition in Euchre.  You see, Cheryl is from Michigan and since we were from Windsor, she correctly assumed that we knew how to play the game.  Well John and I succeeded in teaching the girls some lessons. 

Another couple Cory and Lou on Sio Sogno, a Silverton aft cabin on our dock, stopped us and asked where they had seen our boat before.  Of course they had not but insisted that we seemed familiar to them.  As it turns out they are fellow members of the SOC (Silverton Owners Club) and had read a couple of the entries about our trip in the monthly newsletter.  It was like we were old friends.  They even took us out for an afternoon in their boat to view some of the local sights.  Great fun.

I may have said this before, the buildings, monuments and museums in Washington just blow me away.  They are huge, the architecture impressive and everything is very well done.  It is difficult to pick favorites because there are so many that are so well done.  The interior of the Library of Congress was unbelievable; it was perhaps the best interior.  The monuments were all impressive but the Korean, Vietnam and World War II war memorials were my favorites.  As for the museums, all of the Smithsonian Museums were well done and priced right but my favorites from an interest point of view were the Newseum and the Crime and Punishment and the Spy Museums.I did not write up our visit to the Holocaust Museum because it disturbed me greatly.  The numbers of people which were needlessly killed bothered me for a long time and I just could not bring myself to write about the horrors. 

We found a number of good restaurants but our favorite was Pho DC, a Vietnamese noodle house which is located in Chinatown.  Linda is mad that we did not get there a third time. 

Unfortunately, we did not, could not, see it all.  It was a great visit and I will leave you with a few photos which we took while in DC.

Smithsonian Castle

Torpedo Factory, Alexandria

Museum of Natural History

J Edgar Hoover Building, FBI Headquarters

Newseum Post; I had no idea my brother was a celebrity.



US Botanical Garden

North and South American Indian Museum



The White House

The Newseum

The Newseun moved to its new home beside the Canadian Embassy on Pennsylvania Avenue in 2008.  It is a wonderful building with so many interesting displays that it took Linda and I two days to do it justice.  The displays about 9/11 and Katrina were heart wrenching.  There were few dry eyes during the film about 9/11. 

The whole theme of the museum follows the path of the media from it's inception.  It is done thoroughly but with a flair to keep it interesting.  It includes all media for example newspapers, radio, television, and the internet.

Portion of Berlin wall - west side



East side



There is a balcony on the fifth floor all along Pennsylvania Avenue so I took advantage of getting some photos of the buildings in the area.  The city of Washington has always impressed me with the size and acritecture of its buildings.  Even after a month of walking through town, I still am in awe.



Linda and I with the Old Grouches

The Spy Museum and Crime and Punishment Museum

The Spy Museum, a private museum in the Penn Quarter of DC, was a must stop for me, a retiree in the business.  Unfortunately I did not get any pictures.  The museum itself was laid out quite well.  The first section which explained and displayed all of the tools of the trade brought back old memories from my days with CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service).  In fact there were a couple of displays from the Service which I was quite familiar with.  The information about dead letter drops, cover stories, eavesdropping (wire tapping), bugging and transcription were very well done. 

The next section was about a number of famous spies and moles in the different agencies.  Again very well done featuring the complete story.

A newer private museum called Crime and Punishment was also very interesting although it required a lot of reading.  This museum displayed and described tools and devices, criminals and crimes from the medieval ages through to the CSI's of today.  I found the old west and the gangster eras most interesting and surprisingly the section on famous serial killers.  Go figure.  Both these museums are well worth the time to visit.

Here are a few photos from the Crime and Punishment Museum.  They are not so good because it was quite dark inside and most everything was behind glass.



I wish that I had one of these when the shopping urge strikes Linda.

 

Armored vehicle used in the Gangster era



George Washington's Mount Vernon

This is George Washington's home on the Potomac River.  He was so much more than a military officer, statesman and president.  He was also probably the most forward looking farmers of his time introducing concepts such as crop rotation.  He was also very wealthy with numerous land holdings all over the 13 states of the new Republic. 

These are a few photos of his property and from the museum which is on the site.

Arlington Cemetery

David and Brenda from The Old Grouch, rented a car and came up from Balitmore to do some of the sights.  This day we went to Arlington National Cemetery and to Mount Vernon, George Washington's home. 

The top photo has Kennedy's memorial in the background and here is his grave with the eternal flame in the background.  The rest of his family is interred here as well.



I was surprised at the older part of the cemetery where the tomb stones are not typical of what one thinks of  in Arlington.  It was interesting to read off the names of the high ranking military officers.

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

At the Tomb there is a huge outdoor amphitheatre where services are held.  The whole visit is very sobering and very well done.

The Lincoln Memorial

Linda and I were able to walk to the Lincoln Memorial from our marina.  The Mall and most of the memorials, museums and the Capitol were all fairly close by.

Linda was really looking forward to seeing the refecting pool for the Washington Monument.  There you have it, ground under repair. 

So long Abe.

Library of Congress

The Library of Congress was just a phenomenal building.  There is so much intricate artwork in the building itself that one needs to take the tour....no lines, no waiting, small groups, knowledgeable people.  It was well done.

Words and even these photos cannot do the building justice, but here goes anyway.

Ceiling in the Foyer

External Fountain