Monday 1 May 2017

Washington part 2

My earlier post on Washington DC finished with the cherry blossom in West Potomac Park.

I walked through to the Martin Luther King memorial

and on through to the National Mall.   I could see the Jefferson Memorial across the other side of the Tidal Basin.



I walked from the Washington Monument to 20th and G Street to visit a textile exhibition.  The museum turned out to be on 21st Street.

The exhibition on show was called Inspiring Beauty: Fifty Years of Ebony Fashion Fair.  This cocktail dress was designed by Tillman Grawe for fall/winter 2003-04. It was made from silk chinĂ© taffeta, horn, plastic and glass beads, horsehair tubing and plastic boning.

In the evening I found a fantastic Italian restaurant just around the corner from where I was staying.

On Sunday morning I got up early-ish and took a taxi to the Arlington National Cemetery.  I was hoping that by being there early (9.30am) I would beat the crowds.


Beat the crowds!  Not a bit of it!  There were people everywhere.

I could see the Air Force Memorial from the other side.

The cemetery was beautifully laid out and well looked after.


I watched the changing of the guard ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

I walked up to Arlington House and looked down onto Washington.


I took the Metro to Union Station where I had brunch.

Then I visited the Post Office Museum.  Roger would have enjoyed this.

I walked to the Capitol Building.





It was getting really hot by now and there were thousands of people.  It was Sunday afternoon, the Cherry Blossom Festival, Spring Break and there were queues everywhere.



The Trump Hotel

I left the National Mall area and took the Metro to Dupont Circle.  My guidebook had a walk around the Embassy District where of course there were more beautiful buildings and amazingly diffeent style of architecture.




The Irish Embassy


The walk ended at the Phillips Collection which was a gallery of modern art.  I took yet another Uber taxi back to the apartment for a rest.

In the early evening I found a Mexican restaurant where I got the last seat in the house before walking back to the Capitol Building and National Mall to see the various buildings lit up by the setting sun and then the floodlights.












On Monday morning I packed ready to leave for home and leaving the luggage at the apartment took the Metro to Capitol Hill.


I was due to have a Congressional Tour of the Capitol Building which had been organised for me by a friend in Florida.  However there were thousands of people all trying to take various tours and in the end I had to give up as I had already queued for over an hour and we were due to still be queuing for another hour.



I walked down to the Botanic Garden which turned out to be housed in a giant glass house.  Not the best place to visit on an exceedingly hot day!


I collected my luggage - got yet another taxi and went to the airport.  My journey home was uneventful and I managed to catch up on three films - Doctor Strange, You've Got Mail and Rogue One.   I'm not sure how many times I've seen You've Got Mail!

I hope you have enjoyed travelling with me.  I have loved sharing just a few of my photos.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice



1 comment:

  1. Wow! Blown away by the beautiful blossom and views you have shared here. What a lovely time of year to go, and I really enjoyed seeing the buildings at different times of day and light. It looks an amazing trip Bernice, with so many stories and memories. What a shame you queued so long for the Congressional Tour, without finally seeing it. But it looks like you saw plenty of other things and the buildings are amazing. Thank you for sharing, I did enjoy this armchair trip with you.

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