A VERY full day!

Saturday, September 03, 2016

Starting this blog before dinner, in the hope that I can get some of it done before we head out.

Up this morning about 7:30 am – really late for us, that’s for sure. 

Presbyterian Church

Treasury

I had read in one of the reviews of this hotel that the breakfast room gets rather zoo-like, but we got down there about 8 am and it wasn’t bad at all! 

White House from the Back with garden

White House from the Front!

They have a custom-egg line, and an express line that included scrambled eggs, bacon and sausage, as well as breakfast potatoes.  Plenty of room to sit.  So … we had a great breakfast, but as we were leaving, we saw literally hoards of people heading our way … so glad we made it by 8 am!  Lesson for tomorrow!

Out about 8:45 am and walking south west along New York.  That took us, literally, to the back of the White House! Surprise!  My plan was to cover some of the sights on the Mall and the Tidal Basin that we had not really seen before – also several new sights, like the FDR Memorial, which has been added since our last visit. 

Washington Monument

 It was a very pleasant day – nice and warm enough for shorts and t-shirts, but lots of blustery clouds.  We did wonder if by chance Hurricane Hermine (sp?) might make it this far, but it looks like wind may be the only result – and boy, it really did blow!

Heading into WWII Memorial

Beautiful fountain

H

Each state is represented around the circle

Lincoln Monument in the background

Wall of Stars

So … to walk.  We passed the White House and Lafayette Park, and then walked through the Ellipse and around the now completely repaired Washington Monument.  (And really – what is the difference between a Monument and a Memorial??)  Finally reached the new WWII Memorial, and truly, it’s really stunning!  There is an Atlantic section and a Pacific section, with listings of various battles fought; lots and lots of moving water as well.  Then a beautiful area of gold stars, each one commemorating 100 soldiers and support staff who had given their lives.  Just beautiful, and very, very moving.  Nice addition to the Mall.

From there, we crossed Independence Avenue and started around the Tidal Basin.  Here it was REALLY windy; whew!  We first came unexpectedly upon the Martin Luther King Memorial.  To be honest, neither of us thought the sculpture of Dr. King appropriate; it certainly didn’t look like how I remembered him!  (R says it makes him look too short and squat, which I’d agree with.)  From there, following the basin around, we came to the new FDR Memorial. 

Washington Momument behind the WWII Memorial

That was wonderful – and it was HUGE!  There was a whole series of bronze sculptures – one showing a bread-line – others showing the TVA project, and the Civilian Conservation Corps.  These were interspersed with lots of flowing water falls, ending with an amazing sculpture of FDR in a huge billowing cape in his wheel chair, with his dog, Fala, sitting next to him. 

Jefferson Memorial across the Tidal Basin

There was also a sculpture of Eleanor, with some wonderful words about her – I had forgotten that Eleanor Roosevelt was the first U.S. delegate to the United Nations! 

From there, we completed the circuit of the Tidal Basin by visiting the Jefferson Memorial, which I had only seen from a distance before!  It was quite lovely – lots of columns with a huge statute of Thomas Jefferson in side.  Very impressive!  I’m looking forward to tomorrow night’s Monuments by Moonlight tour that we’ve signed up for. 

By this time we dragging a bit, but couldn’t find a bus or metro to take, so we walked back toward the Mall, going by the Bureau of Engraving & Printing.  We got to the Museum of American History about 11:30 am, and decided that we deserved a sit-down, so went downstairs to have lunch in their cafeteria. 

MLK Monument

They had a very nice salad bar, so we both composed salads, which (at least mine!) was excellent! 

FDR & Fala

Eleanor Roosevelt

Part of the FDR Memorial

Then upstairs to find Julia Child’s Kitchen, which I’ve really been wanting to see!  And there it was!  Wow!  She had more pots and pans than we do, which seems hard to believe, and her knife collection – incredible!  (As R pointed out, some of her knives or “cutting devices” I’d manage to cut off an arm or a leg with!)

In the same place – American Food section – we saw a bottle of the Chateau Montalena wine that won the wine competition between the French and American whites in Paris in 1976.  Great fun!  Also saw a great collection of crock pots, lunch boxes, cuisinarts, etc. – from “then” – early 1950’s until 2000.  Also saw an example of a frozen dinner – Swanson’s – that came complete on its own aluminum plate with section dividers.  I LOVED those plates and dinners, even though I didn’t often get to have one. Talk about bringing back the memories!

REALLY breezy!

Jefferson

Well, I still have the rest of the museum to cover, but will close now so that we can get to our Brasserie for dinner!  More later!

m

xxx

So…back from Brasserie Beck, and a truly wonderful meal!  The restaurant is literally right around the corner from the hotel; very easy to get to, that’s for sure.  This time, rather than sitting at the bar, we had a “real” table in the dining room.  As we were pretty early, there was only one other couple when we sat down, and we had lots of attention from the wait staff.  We started with Badoit sparkling water … and individual glasses of Sancerre.  (The glasses of wine were $14/each, and the bottle of Sancerre was $70!  Figure we saved some there!) 

Julia's Kitchen

More Kitchen!

Wine Tasting Winners!

For starters, I had the beet salad with goat cheese and glazed walnuts.  R had the appetizer special – four grilled shrimp with garbanzo beans and grilled zucchini in a chorizo vinaigrette.  For mains, R had their trout on a bed of cauliflower puree and roasted corn relish.  I had the beef carbonade – a truly heavenly and SO tender beef stew with a garlic aioli.  Wow, it was fantastic.  Then, for dessert, we ordered the peach empanada for two, with brown sugar ice cream.  Unfortunately, we were so captivated by the dessert that we didn’t remember to take a picture until it was pretty late! 

At Brasserie Beck

R's shrimp appetizer

My beet and goat cheese salad

R did the best he could under the circumstances.  Then, finally, we waddled back to the hotel and are now getting ready to watch the Alabama/USC football game and go to bed early!

R's trout

My Boeuf Carbonnade

What was left of R's dessert...

More tomorrow!

Lots of love,

m

xxx