This Saturday, the
the girly and I took a small jaunt into the District (meaning, we left the land of lovers into the land of the taxed and unrepresented) (no not Puerto Rico).
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| A filthy, unwashed mass among the masses swarming the capitol. |
We took the
cattle car orange line to the Smithsonian stop, and then took a multi-hour long stroll along the length of the mall.
One of the things that I had not expected was the sheer volume of people there. DC is, by far, the largest tourist trap in the country. There were people everywhere.
There was also a protest or rally happening.
Let me paraphrase what the speakers were saying.
"GOD...BIBLE...AMERICA...REVENGE...BIBLE...AMERICA...BLESS...BIBLE...GOD...PSALMS...AMERICA...AMERICA...GOD...BIBLE...REVENGE..."
I now realized why protests don't cause change. There is probably a protest and rally in DC every weekend. I'd ignore it too. The Park Service has fenced off sections of the mall so the grass can regrow since the hoards have stampeded it to death.
And oh, hoards there were.
Hoards at the congress building, hoards at the monuments, hoards at the bathrooms, hoards and the reflection pool, hoards at the cross walks. Hoards hoards hoards hoards hoards. It was a windy day, too. I'm sure that kept the feeble inside with their soaps, but it was not enough to render the helm of our great nation desolate.
I honestly wonder how the president and the FLOTUS can find a quite place to make out with all the hoarding going on.
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| American public: 307,006,550 peeping Toms must be assuaged! |
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| I told you guys I was going to blog this. |
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| Whitehouse being loved to death. |
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| A small hoard tramples the mall. |
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| The Red Baron Hoards the capitol building |
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| Hoards rap down the dome. |
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| This must be one of those joke photos where the important thing is behind the photographer. (e.g. 'This is me at the Washington Monument'). Her photo will probably have nothing but her flavour of the week and some unremarkable cluttered background in it. She's probably just taking it to make him happy. I bet she's going to dump him soon. |
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| All I could hear was Lisa Simpson trying to get a word in edgewise. |
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An very intriguing aspect was the the light poles. The street light poles do not appear to have been changed or painted since sometime in the 60's, yet the lights themselves have had some amount of maintenance. The result of an intriguing juxtaposition of new metal and peeling relic.
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| Broken the lock, added new hasp. Broke it again. Yei string. |
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| Juxapose. |
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| Peels like burnt skin. |
Odd notions:
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| At least they own up to driving poorly. |
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| The Canadian embassy is one of the cleanest buildings in the city. |
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| Flags and eyeballs at the FBI. |
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| Water, water, everywhere. |
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| Autumn Vespas |
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| Not that kind of fountain. |
You know, a couple years back, after a ever so fascinating visit out on Louden County Parkway, I had occasion to park the car at Washington National (Reagan) and ride the train into D.C.
ReplyDeleteOn that occasion I had a limited amount of time and was obliged to take a hike around the mall from the Lincoln Memorial to the Washington Monument and a little beyond.
I think what your photos of the infrastructure show now and what I experienced then have a great deal in common. I particularly remember the elegance of the restrooms just past the Washington Monument - not to dissimilar from the impression you capture of he box closed with string. One can only wonder if that's a metaphor for something larger?
Because I was there mid-afternoon and mid-week I did not experience the crowds that you did nor any interesting demonstrations.
The WWII memorial was not quite finished but impressive. The Vietnam War Memorial has 50,000-odd names on it. I found Bill Urich's. He lived 5 houses up the street. He was a Marine. I think he was killed in 67. I think he was 19. He always wanted to be a Marine and experience combat. Maybe just not so close up.
Sometime when you are in Richmond, stop by the Virginia WW II Memorial. Its just North of the River off Belvidere St. There are a lot of names there too. And then, while you are at it, go to Paris and visit Napoleon's tomb. Not that its so great, but you need to walk around the corner to Marshal Foch's memorial. I found it striking.
Cherry blossoms around the reflecting pool are nice in the spring.