Memorials and Museums

Starbucks

Although the day was destined to be a busy one, it started at the same place as yesterday: Starbucks near the National Archives. It met my criteria for patronage: (1) It was open, not a given since many were still closed in DC. (2) It was within walking distance, which required me cross the National Mall from South West DC. (3) It had an outdoor seating area, which is always preferable to indoor stuffiness. For those who know me, it will come as no surprise that I spent at least an hour and a half there, sipping coffee, eating breakfast, and watching YouTube. But, I would be getting company today, so I knew when I had to get back to the hotel and then to L'Enfant Metro Station to meet my friend Kieran. He took the day off and came in from Annapolis. Neither of us had a must-do list, so we let the day unfold as it wanted. And the day wanted us to walk the mall, enjoy the memorials and museums, and sup on 7th at Jaleo, which should be on everybody's must-eat list if they visit DC. You may have heard of its innovative chef, José Andrés, a well known celebrity, author, and humanitarian. St. Christopher, the patron of travelers, must have been smiling on us because we completely escaped the downpour that drenched those who arrived later than we did.

Eisenhower Memorial

The Eisenhower Memorial 

It stretches an entire block just south of the National Air and Space Museum, so not far off the National Mall. It honors Eisenhower as both General and President, but both Kieran and I agreed it has to rank as one of the most poorly designed memorials in the District. I had walked by it several times already, and it took me a while to figure out whose life it was built to commemorate. "Dwight D. Eisenhower" does not appear very prominently anywhere. The tall vertical cylinders were also a mystery to us: What did they represent? Pillars of virtue or mal-proportioned Kansas silos? And the block-long, gray-tone mural was impossible to decipher, but a woman we met told us it laid out the invasion of Normandy. The statues themselves seem like they are out of the 19th century. So much for architect Frank Gehry's reputation in my book! He was the architect who designed it. But, I guess I should end on a couple of positive notes: (1) The statues of Ike as a small boy was intimate and appealing. (2) A diagonal swath through the memorial site preserved the full view of the Capitol. (3) It's probably magnificent at night! So, what constitutes the best memorial to Eisenhower as President? The Interstate Highway System we have today. That's his legacy.

African American History Museum

The Smithsonian Museums seem to be reopening on different schedules. More were closed than I thought. In fact, we were going to make a run through Natural History, but it was completely closed, so we decided on the American History Museum, but it was closed to us! We had not made a reservation on line and the doors were locked. Another visitor sitting outside said they only open the doors at appointment times. We had been to both of these museums anyway, so we set our sights on the newest: the African American History Museum. Once again, though, you had to make an appointment for an entry time: No exceptions said the guards outside. A few moments later, lady luck intervened. Two young men were approaching the entrance and I overheard them say to another group that they had four passes (on their cell phone) but were only using two. "How much do you want for them?" I asked, almost without thinking. For $5, we both got to follow our temporary brothers into the museum on their cell phone passes. Then we were all on our own. The exhibits were comprehensive, detailed, and engaging. But the most moving part of the visit was some impromptu performance art I got to observe. A mother was there with her tweenage daughter. The mother made sure her girl understood what she was seeing, and that she was seeing it as an African American, as a woman, and as the offspring of a mom who had lived through or vicariously remembered a lot of it. The mom really knew her stuff! When 4 o'clock came, though, we had to leave but we did manage to at least get a glimpse of all five floors.

Outside and Inside: A Cemetery and A Museum

Elbridge Gerry

Congressional Cemetery
It's two miles east of the Capitol and a tourist attraction in its own right. I took the Metro. It is my first visit to a cemetery in DC, so eventually I will be posting some pictures from the nation's capital on Geographically Yours Cemeteries. In my cemetery rambling, I usually depend on serendipity to find graves of interest, but this time I had one particular grave in mind: the final resting place of Elbridge Gerry. He was from Massachusetts (and served as governor) but died in Washington while serving as Vice-President. You may have never heard of him, but you will hear is name almost daily for the next year as states re-draw congressional districts on the basis of the 2020 Census. Many will be tempted to gerrymander those districts to favor one party or another. Guess where the name gerrymander comes from. Its a portmanteau of Gerry + salamander (which is what the original gerrymander looked like on the map of Massachusetts). Perhaps Elbridge Gerry should be considered one of the fathers of applied political geography. 

Of course, there are other public servants interred in the Congressional Cemetery. That would include Senators and Representatives and the longest-serving director of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover, one of the scoundrels of my generation, but popular among many as evidenced by his honorific and well-maintained grave site. I also found the grave of DC Mayor Marion Berry, someone else whose career hit a few ruts along the way. As for members of Congress: Today, if one of them died in DC, we would expect the body to be flown back home. But, in the early days, you were buried where you died. If you died in DC, you were probably buried in DC. That was the origin of Congressional Cemetery's pedigree. And, even after bodies could be transported long distances, the cemetery continued to erect a cenotaph (memorial without a body beneath) to commemorate members of Congress who died while on Capitol Hill (or nearby).

International Spy Museum

Ghillie suit

Washington is the perfect place for a spy museum. Evidence: the old one quickly outgrew its original home and relocated to a new, massive structure at L'Enfant Plaza, one of the Metro hubs in Washington and basically the "downtown" of Southwest DC. The museum covers just about everything from the Trojan Horse to kings who spied on their people by reading letters carried by their postal services; from Mata Hari, who was executed for espionage during World War I, to Allen Dulles, the longest-serving CIA director; from the blood-stained axe used to kill Leon Trotsky to a model of the Bin Laden compound in Pakistan and an interactive game that lets you decide whether there was enough intelligence for President Obama to give the go-ahead for Seal Team 6. My favorite artifact was billed as the original invisibility cloak: a ghillie suit (seen here) worn by Malcolm Nance in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. I must admit, I thought about the ghillie weed that Harry Potter took advantage of to survive. 

From Norfolk to Washington

NFK Station

Destination: The District of Columbia by Train
My backpack and I are off to Washington, D.C., on one of the two Amtrak trains that make the run daily. It will be the first American non-commuter train I have ridden since the 1970s when Debbie and I enjoyed the seemingly long ride from Rhode Island to Harrisburg, Pa. Only vague memories of that trip remain: watching the scenery whiz by, dealing with our luggage, and changing trains in Philadelphia. But, why has it been so long, and why don't more people avail themselves of this Northeast Corridor Route? Especially given the price: I bought a ticket for $35 OW. Even the bus costs more. Of course, in the 1970s Debbie and I were childless, but now we have two grown children one of whom is dropping me at the Norfolk Station before he goes to work. In the 1970s, we had no technology either, but now I am traveling with a cell phone/charger, wireless ear buds/charger, a laptop computer/charger, and a digital camera/charger. Yes, four chargers (and a outlet adaptor)!  Entrepreneurs, where are you? Speaking of technology: To check in onboard, I simply got out my cell phone so the conductor could scan the QR code. And, there were two plugs under the window so I could charge my devices.

The trip was supposed to take 4.5 hours but ended up taking 5 because.... as the conductor put it: The President is on the move and it is holding up traffic. By the time we arrived, the seven cars (which included one dining car) were pretty full. These were the stops we made to pick up and drop off:

All aboard!

• Norfolk (newest)
• Petersburg (quietest)
• Richmond (blandest)
• Ashland (showiest)
• Fredericksburg  (viewiest)
• Quantico (quaintest)
• Alexandria (busiest)
• Washington (intermodalest)

The Northeast Corridor Route ends in Boston. But, my trip ended at Union Station in Washington, just downslope from Capitol Hill. Wow! Does the food court (a ham and cheese sub for me) and everything else about Union Station look like it has been devastated by Covid? It's the end of May, usually prime time for school field trips and other visitors, but there were few people around. Perhaps they wanted to come but decided that too few museums were still closed, or they didn't know a lot had just opened. My intention was to walk to the hotel on C Street SW, but it was raining, so I took the Metro: no problem, since I had $6.45 left on my Metro card from the last trip, which was to a Washington Map Society lecture before Covid hit. 

The Holiday Inn is located in South West Washington, a part of the city I never knew very well. It's very institutional with nothing of historical value. But, first impressions could be wrong. Since it continued to rain, I decided to go to the movies. Why? (1) I wanted to prove to myself that Covid was over. No comments, please. (2) I wanted to get some value out of my Regal Cinema yearly subscription which I used for about 3 months before all the theaters closed. I wasn't even sure it had been extended into 2021, but it had. I saw a movie with a strange title: Those Who Wish Me Dead, a thriller with a few light touches and plenty of gore, not to mention life-threatening Montana forest fires. Good action, good acting; weak plot but well worth seeing. And, it should be seen on the big screen for full effect.

Empty storefronts on 7th

I made my regal adventure into a field trip. I took 7th Avenue from SW to NW Washington and found the cinema inside Gallery Place, which is the site of a Metro stop on a major north-south business corridor which includes the Capitol One Arena. The whole area looked like it had been hit hard by Covid: rows of stores looked abandoned, many restaurants still closed, night life non-existent. A few establishments had just reopened, including Regal only a few days ago. I was the only person in my theatre (one of at least 13); on my way out I thought I saw one other patron; and there were only two employees working. It was a really comfortable theatre, though! 

Beacon of democracy

Walking there and back, I crossed the National Mall. In one direction was the Capitol and in the other the Washington Monument, Inspiring! Even in these times.