Restored by a decent night’s sleep, Evan got up early and went over to an outdoor workout area near the Mall he had seen on our bike ride. When he returned to the house, he discovered that Mom, who had walked over to the Eastern Market, had locked him out. Unfazed, he simply went back for a second installment of his workout!
The Eastern Market is an old, enclosed market that houses numerous specialized vendors of meats and produce. It is also known for the crab cakes served at the lunch counter. However, I just went to see it and didn’t buy anything. The walk through the Capitol Hill neighborhood was lovely – so many nice, old homes on shady streets.
After a relaxed breakfast at home, we set out for our final sight-seeing push in DC. Today, instead of taking Uber, we used our Metro cards and rode on DC’s underground rail line. Our first stop was a brief look at the building near the Federal Triangle station where Sara will start work in another month at USAID’s Middle East Bureau, Office of Strategic Planning and Operations. She’s been completing her onboarding paperwork for her new position. She’ll need a security clearance, which takes time to process.
We walked on toward the Mall, where we visited the Smithsonian Natural History Museum. We toured galleries with skeletons of all kinds of animals before reaching the dinosaur fossils. We also took a quick look at the Hope Diamond.
From the Natural History Museum, we walked past the Archives and on to the Newseum. The Newseum was Steve’s favorite museum from our visit four years before, and it didn’t disappoint this time. It illuminates the role of journalism in chronicling important events in world history and is endlessly fascinating. Upon entering, we were immediately drawn in to an exhibit of Pulitzer Prize winning photos from the past 40 years. Each photo was displayed along with a description, often by the photographer, of how the shot was achieved. Many were almost by happenstance – more the result of the photographer having been in the right place at the right time, rather than due to careful planning, although many of the photographers (particularly those covering armed conflicts) put themselves at great risk to document history. We also saw pieces of the Berlin Wall, interesting displays on the Civil Rights Movement and much more. The Newseum also occupies some prime real estate, right between the White House and the Capitol on Pennsylvania Avenue. We took advantage of the observation deck for a photo op of our own.
When it was time to leave, we were hungry. We headed to Dykaiya Ramen, a noodle restaurant we had heard was good. We all had large bowls of spicy miso soup with delicious noodles, pork, bean sprouts and other goodies. From there, we walked up 6th Street to Sara’s house. She was headed to her Arabic class at 6:30, so we just had a brief look at her place and then got an Uber ride to the Metro Center station. Sara went to class, Evan took Metro back to our house to do some work for his program, and Steve, Laura and I took Metro in the opposite direction, to the Phillips Gallery, which is open late on Thursday evenings.
The good news at the Phillips Gallery was that there was no admission charge, but the bad news was that only a small portion of the galleries were open to the public, due to a private event in the original residence part of the museum. We enjoyed seeing some well-known works, such as Renoir’s “Luncheon of the Boating Party,” as well as lesser-known works by 20th century American artists, who are well-represented in the collection.
After one more Metro ride, we all reconvened at the house to watch the Warriors take on the Thunder in a win-or-go-home contest to see if they could extend the series. Fortunately, they did – yay!
Eastern Market and Capitol Hill Neighborhood
Metro
Sara, in front of her future place of employment
Smithsonian Museum of Natural History
Newseum
Phillips Collection
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