Hello!
We were up about 7 this morning, and both feeling like we’d
been hit by one big truck. However, as
the tourist grind relentlessly marches on, we had to be at the National
Geographic Museum/offices by 10 am.
Fortunately, they’re not too far away from the hotel, and only one
Circulator Bus required.
Down to breakfast about 8, which was fine – the same things
– scrambled eggs, potatoes, and sausage for me, along with a nice bowl of fresh
watermelon. On the way back to the room,
we found the one (out of four) elevator going down to floor M-1, which is where
the self-service laundry machines are located.
Found them; very nice and clean.
The signage says the laundry is open 24 hours, which will come in handy
tomorrow – as we work around memorials and the Bureau of Printing & Engraving that R wants to visit.
Out about 9:30 am and over to the Circulator Bus stop; bus
arrived in just a few minutes. We only
had to go about 3 stops, along K street, and then it was about 2 blocks north
to the National Geo museum. We got there a few minutes before 10. As it turns out, there is only one exhibit at
a time there; very interesting place with lots of room for the exhibition.
This particular exhibit - The Greeks: From Agamemnon to
Alexander - has been in the U.S. for some months now. (There were many pieces from museums in
Greece that – when we visited there earlier this year - had cards indicating
that a particular piece was on loan to the U.S. for this exhibition; seemed
like half the collection from the National
Museum in Athens, and lots from both the Pella and Thessaloniki museums
were on tour. So glad we could finally
see them!) We had originally planned on
seeing it in Chicago when we went past there from clearing out Mom’s house in
February, but decided that we’d skip it and get home instead. So … I was very surprised and pleased when I
found out the exhibition was moving here to Washington and we could see it
after all! So … first off, absolutely NO photographs; bummer!
There were some truly wonderful pieces included – from some
lovely Cycladic statuary to crowns and diadems from Mycenae and Pella, plus
lots and lots of gold jewelry from Mycenae graves. Supporting the exhibition were some lovely
information panels, as well as wall-projected photos showing many of the places
we had visited earlier this year in Greece.
Good to see! Whoever put the
exhibition together did a great job on explanations, as well as many different
child-friendly things – touch this, feel that, lift up, etc. And, while I
wouldn’t say the exhibition as packed, there were places where it was a bit
difficult to move around. All in all, we
spent almost two hours and enjoyed the exhibition very much!
As it was almost noon, we decided to try a place called Noodles & Company for lunch - right
down the street from National Geo.
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| R's udon Japanese noodles |
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| My wonderful Spicy Korean Beef noodles |
More later,
m
xxx
Back from an excellent baseball game! Nationals won, 6-4 over the Atlanta
Braves. So … we both managed to nap
between the museum and the baseball game, which was a really good idea, as we
were both tired. Out of the hotel before
2:30 pm and out to the yellow Circulator Bus (which I can NEVER remember its name!!) to Union Station. Then walked around the Union Station crescent
to the other side, and the blue Circulator to Navy Yards/Ball Park, which
arrived in about 15 minutes. They are
supposed to run every 10 minutes, but because of traffic, it’s a bit
sporadic. We did know, though, that we
were in the right place, when several families, all decked out in Nationals
jerseys and t-shirts, arrived at the same stop.
The Circulator took us within a block of Nationals Stadium, but it was
very warm walking in, as it’s really warm and humid today – somewhere in the
high 80’s. Got to the stadium (actually
a ball park – built especially for
baseball, not a stadium), and it’s
really rather cute – a very nice size.
As we were heading to our seats, I was looking at the food – and it’s
fabulous!
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| View from our seats! |
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Real hot dogs, grilled (not boiled, as is the usual case at
ball parks)! And freshly popped popcorn! They
also had comfort food from Virginia (ham and biscuits and gravy, and Mac &
Cheese!), crab cakes from Maryland, beer from everywhere, as well as gelato and
ice cream stands! The only thing I
couldn’t find is frozen yogurt (yeah, Rockies in Colorado!) but that is only a
minor quibble. The one thing that
occurred to me while we were making our way to the ball park, was: are we going
to be in the sun???? And guess
what?! We weren’t! Somehow, pure dumb luck had put us on the
third base side (where I usually try to put us) and we were in the shade – and were
in the shade the entire game! Yeah!!
Excellent game, pitched by Max Scherzer. Unfortunately, Brice Harper didn’t play,
which is disappointing, but maybe next time?
Stayed until the end of the game (of course!) and made our way out and
back to the Circulator bus stop. Thought
it would be a mob scene getting on the bus, but actually, it was fine, and we
caught the first bus back. One other
comment about the game – I have never, ever seen that many babies at a game –
and I mean babies, I’d estimate 3-6 months, if that – we had two in the row in
front of us (unrelated) and two in the row in front of them. I honestly don’t think that babies should be inflicted
to the kind of noisy music they were blasting in the stadium. Interesting!
Back to Union Station and then a walk over to the yellow
Circulator, which went through Union Station and finally back to our
hotel. Stopped for drinks (nice
Sauvignon Blanc) in the bar, and got a really good chicken quesadilla to take
upstairs to our room. (Forgot to ask for
guacamole!) We are now in for the evening – some nice wine, and a good college
football game on TV. Who could ask for
more?
Much love,
m
xxx
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