Long escalator to Bethesda Metro — easy on the legs
An underarching question marked our firstday touring DC: Are our legs sore from walking (and running) around New York a few days ago, or are we stiff from sitting in the car through New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland?
We certainly weren’t sore from the cushy reception we received in Bethesda from old friends Kathleen and Daniel and their family. We will be staying with them for two nights on their trip, and they are quite fun hosts — but, they’re not on Spring Break this week, so we will be hitting DC on our own for a few days.
Alone, that is, except for the beneveolent help of our Congressional delegation from New Hampshire, who have hooked us up with a tour of the US Capitol Building (thanks, Senator Shaheen!) and tickets to the galleries of the House and Sentate (thanks Representative Pappas and the staff intern who brought the passes down to us from his office only a few minutes after a cold-call request phoned in from the Capitol Building Welcome Center).
Underneath the Capitol Rotunda
The tour of the Capitol was a first for all three of us. Everything is quite shiny in there, and very solid looking. The tours are run with incredible efficiency. We entered in a group of about 250 people (the bulk of which were from two large groups of middle schoolers — there are lots of large groups of middle schoolers here), saw a quick movie and then split ourselves into walking groups of about 30 people. We all got headphones so that we could hear our individual guide speaking to us, and then snaked our way through some corridors of power. We were divided, wired in, and touring just minutes after the movie ended.
New Hampshire’s own John Stark
Our walk covered the crypts, where George and Martha Washington were meant to be buried but somehow got out of it; the immense and ornate Rotunda; and statuary hall. We even got to see both of the statues New Hampshire has contributed to the Congressional collections — John Stark and Daniel Webster. Every state gets two statues. We didn’t know that that before the tour.
In the canopy of the National Botanical Gardens’ rainforest
At the very end, our tour guide told us about the “call your Congressman” trick to getting gallery passes, and we decided to give it a try. That all transpired in the time it took Lanie to peruse the gift shop (there’s lots of gift shops here). Unfortunately, neither house was in session that day; but not unfoturnately, the passes are good for the whole Congressional session. We’re plan to come back on another day so we can see legislators in action.
From the Capitol we kind of wanted coffee an so we wandered over to the Botanical Gardens, where we found — a coffee bush! We also walked around in a very steamy enclosure that supported a mini rainforest with an emphasis on orchids.
Other gardens we saw had cacti and hydroponic themes. We found an ourdoor space with roses in bloom. Lots of things were blooming all around.
The blooms were quite distracting, and it wasn’t until we visited the restaurant at the nearby National Museum of the American Indian that we finally got around to getting coffee. We had been advised that the food was good at this museum, so we decided to try some corn bread and a sampling of their salads as a late mornng-snack. Our legs by now were really needing some rest.
Outside the NMAI
In the museum we found some particularly moving and sobering reminders of how American Indians have been portrayed in mainstream American society. This was counterbalanced by very serene architecture, landcapaing, and Native American art.
Exampls of mainstream portrayal of American Indian culture
After snacking and touring the museum — already our third stop of the day — we were still on the move. The next point of interest up the street was the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum.
Beneficiaries of a brief nap under the stars
Both extremely popular and limited in floor space because of a major construction project, the Air and Space Museum was the only place on the National Mall besides the Capitol that required us to reserve an entry time. While we waited for our 2 pm reservation, we wandered off the Mall for a few blocks to find a quiet place to order and eat a noodle bowl lunch. We bypassed the many food trucks parked outside of the museums because: 1. they all seem to have exactly the same food; 2. they don’t display their prices. Our legs weren’t too tired to walk a few blocks for noodles.
That’s not to say we weren’t tired. Two of us closed our eyes and rested a bit during the planetarium show in the Air and Space Museum, and after an hour or so of touring the halls of this, our fourth major tourist attraction of the day, we were about ready for some ice cream and quiet time under a shady tree on the Mall.
Then, it was time ride the metro back to Bethesda and rest up for another day of DC touring.