10:45 a.m. Margot awakens me with a calm “Wakey, wakey.”
Breakfast: Oatmeal Breakfast Square. Immune Defense.
Remembering we arrived at the hotel last night at 1:11 a.m. We leave this morning from the hotel at 11:11 a.m.
Ready to do the DC thing as much as we can in one day. We park at the Van Dorn Street metro station. A sign reads Kiss and Ride.
The Natural History Museum—giant skeleton dinosaurs. Referring to the towering brachiosaurus standing overhead a kid asks, “Daddy is that bigger than a giraffe?”
On the second floor are the gemstones, all types, beautiful and mysteriously formed. The Hope Diamond seemed to attract a slew of people around its glass case—they’re franticly taking pictures with their iphones and droids—security guard keeping a close watch nearby. The story and hype behind it is more interesting than the diamond itself.
Sharing a Turkey Sandwich and Nuttella Peanut Butter Sandwich in the Museum’s Café. Eating a Pear and drinking Pomegranate Blueberry Tea.
Then the American History Museum. Margot really wants to see the red slippers from The Wizard of Oz.
Abraham Lincoln has his own very extensive gallery.
A realistic silvery tree monument in the Sculpture Garden.
The National Gallery of Art. Scanning through some of the permanent galleries from the 13th century and on. Leonardo da Vinci’s famous, Ginevra de' Benci painting is on display along with the reverse side’s Latin inscription “Beauty Adorns Virtue”. I’ve always felt a connection and admiration for Da Vinci, his intelligence and superhuman-like talent and ideas. When I think of him it inspires me to become the best human I can possibly be.
We move onto the American Modernism section containing Pollock, Rothko, and other unfamiliar artists. Margot has no interest in abstract or post-modernist or anything of the like. I try my best to help her appreciate some of it. Observing one room of a montage of square white paintings with various different shades and lines. The employee guarding the room asks me if I know what it means to which I answer honestly No. He explains his interpretation relating to the cross and resurrection of Jesus. An interesting talk. I didn’t expect the guards to have so much intuition about the paintings they’re protecting but it makes sense that they would.
Walking. Walking. Walking…and eating Salt N Vinegar Chips. Our feet are hurting. Some of the metro stops are closed today on the blue line causing us to take shuttles and putting an inconvenience in our travel to the zoo. We make it there around 5 p.m. A lot of the bigger animals are not outside like the Pandas, Lions, and Tigers. But the Bird House/Sanctuary is amusing.
We watch as a young kid pushes his younger brother in a stroller. The mother yells out to him to be cautious of the orange cones ahead. Despite, the older brother runs right into one—the kid falls out of the stroller and straight into the cone head first. There’s a moment of shock on the mother and kid’s faces but soon after everyone is laughing it off. If only I had a video camera on this action it would be a hit on Youtube for sure.
Looking for a nice restaurant to eat dinner. We find a place called Open City, a coffeehouse dinner bar. Drinking Frozen Chaipuccinos at the bar. Then Eating Pita and Hummus with Cucumbers. She gets the Chicken Caesar Salad.
She wants to stop at American Apparel, buying a pair of pants and tights. “Wow. You just spent $50 on two pieces of cloth!”
Getting on and off unnecessary shuttle busses and switching metro trains three or four times.
Margot: “This is the worst.”
Me: “Welcome to the life of commuters.”
After all of that, we finally make it back to the car and start the trek home.
Napping in the passenger seat while she drives the first hour. I wake up and drive the two or so hours left. She doesn’t like the Lo-Fi quality of The Beatles songs I’m playing on my ipod because she has a headache. I resume with headphones. Eating two Doughnuts and Milk.
Cleaning up and washing clothes at home. After putting in the second load I come back to check on it an hour later and find a flood of water covering the kitchen floor. Completely clueless as to how this happened. Apparently the washer didn’t stop filling up the basin with water and it overflowed. So I spend a good 30 minutes mopping up the floor.
Eating leftover Spaghetti and a beer.
Reading.
Sleep around 7 a.m.
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