Washington DC

The Capitol

Cherry blossom and panoramic vistas with striking monuments will be my abiding impression of Washington.  It’s not what I had expected.

On Easter Sunday we watched people rushing to church, young and old, all dressed in their Sunday best.  The neighbourhood we wandered through looked surprisingly English with Victorian type houses and neat front gardens.  

Downtown was different.  Here you felt the hustle and bustle of city life.  The roads were still wide and the buildings not overly tall so you weren’t hemmed in.  The pavements were busy though and I nearly went flying when I got between a lady and her lunch venue. She yelled "excuse me Ma'am," as she walked into me.

Food is important.  It came in different varieties and sizes to fit all budgets.  There were eateries everywhere, fast food vans, salads, sushi, Mexican, lobster and of course hamburgers. Each morning we went for breakfast at The Corner Café Bakery.  We thought this would be straightforward, but we were always bewildered by the choice. Making ourselves understood was difficult and we never understood their replies.  In the end, I ordered the same thing every morning - a fresh berry yoghurt parfait, which was delicious.   We would sit in the same seats at the window and watch people hurrying from Union Station to work with their take-out coffee.  The homeless would scurry in, furtively looking over their shoulder as they helped themselves to drinks, filling up whatever receptacles they had to last them through the day.   The managers of the establishment turned a blind eye, which seemed the charitable thing to do.  

The Washington Monument

It's a very walkable city and on our first day we walked about twenty miles.  We started from Capitol Hill and walked down The National Mall, taking in The Washington Monument, a towering 555ft pinnacle stark white against the blue sky.  The World War II Memorial had a huge water feature and was a popular place to sit.

The Lincoln Memorial in the distance

The Lincoln Memorial was crowded, but provided a good view of the Mall and the Reflecting Pool.  The Vietnam Memorial seemed understated yet extremely moving.  The volunteers answered questions with patience and sensitivity. We walked across the border to Virginia and wandered around Arlington Cemetery, which was so vast that we missed J F Kennedy's grave with its eternal flame.  We walked to Georgetown – a lovely neighbourhood with Victorian houses and a happening vibe.  Then it was on to the White House, where we joined the crowds gazing across the rear lawn while a security man with a gun patrolled the roof.  I was sure the President was going to appear, but our feet ached so we didn’t wait. 

Vietnam Veterans Memorial

The Reynolds Centre, which houses the American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery, was one of my favourite places - paintings by David Hockney, Picasso and an Andy Warhol, all set in an historic building with cosy nooks where one could sit and contemplate.  In its centre is a vast atrium where I tucked into a delicious mandarin cheesecake.

The Smithsonian group of museums are all free.  There are so many that it could keep you occupied for days.  We went to the American Indian Museum, The Air and Space museum, The National Gallery of Art – both East and West Buildings.  The East Building is undergoing renovations, but even so, the space was full of light and felt exactly right for the modern art on display.  There is a moving walkway with twinkling lights linking the old building to the new. 

Alexander Calder's incredible mobile in the East Building

I spent a happy hour sitting in the Sculpture Garden in the sun, under the watchful gaze of one of Louise Bourgeois’s giant spiders.   

The Kennedy Centre hosts free concerts each day from 6pm.  We walked there – not to be recommended as we ended up on a freeway!  We eventually arrived just in time to see The Howard Gospel Choir.  It was standing room only and we happened to be standing next to a lovely lady who couldn’t believe we had arrived on foot.  She told us how lucky we were to be seeing such a good choir.  She also told us about the free shuttle bus running between the Centre and Foggy Bottom metro station - my feet breathed a sigh of relief! Part way through the concert some seats became free and we ended up in the second row so we were indeed lucky.  It was an experience I’ll never forget and one of the highlights of our stay. We went back to The Kennedy Centre on our last evening to see The National Symphony Orchestra with a solo performance of Brahms Violin Concerto by Nikolaj Znaider - a stellar performance in a stunning environment.    

Howard Gospel Choir

The cherry trees along the Tidal Basin were beautiful, (it was the National Cherry Blossom Festival) and the banks were packed with visitors posing for their cherry blossom photo.  The Martin Luther King Jr Memorial is located here among the cherry trees with the water sparkling in the distance.  It is the newest memorial on the Mall and the first one to honour an African American.

We took a tour of The Capitol – the Rotunda was undergoing renovations, but this didn’t detract from our experience made all the more interesting by our enthusiastic guide.  Afterwards we wandered through the botanical gardens admiring the exotic orchid exhibition.

Opposite The Capitol is The Library of Congress.  It is a spectacular building and I chose a quiet time to visit, which meant I didn’t need to queue to see the reading room – setting for the film All The Presidents Men apparently.

The Reading Room at The Library of Congress

Sadly we weren’t able to do a tour of the White House as it is necessary to book tours weeks, if not months, in advance.

Lunch on our last day was at Rosa Mexicana where they prepared guacamole at our table - delicious! After lunch we wandered through the cherry trees on the Mall.   They were past their best and we felt lucky to have seen them a week earlier.

Start of the week

End of the week

    

Monument Valley

When I was growing up we watched a lot of cowboy films.  The scenery at Monument Valley is exactly as I’d imagined cowboy country.  It turns out a lot of films were made here in just five square miles.  The view is awe inspiring, the sandstone peaks and pinnacles (buttes) rising from the terracotta coloured valley floor up into the blue sky.  Occasionally the odd cloud would brush the tops of the buttes.  The terrain made me think how hard life must have been for the early settlers.  They only get six inches of rain a year here.

Monument Valley is just over the border from Arizona into Utah so there was a one hour time difference as Arizona has decided not to apply daylight saving time!  There is a 17 mile self-drive through the valley, but the track was rough and we were in the Mustang so didn’t dare embark on it.  The heat when we arrived was scorching so not a good time for walking.  Instead we sat on our balcony and drank in the view.  All the rooms at The View Hotel in the Navajo Tribal Park look out over Monument Valley.  It is one of the few options and the only one with a direct view of the valley.  It is owned and run by Native Americans so it provides employment meaning that people can stay close to their homeland and cling on to their culture.    

Every evening in the summer the hotel screens Wild West films that were made in the area, in an outside setting – John Wayne was showing when we were there – brought back many childhood memories! 

We sat and watched the sun going down – the buttresses and pinnacles taking turns to glow red and orange as the setting sun kissed them with its burning rays.  We slept with the curtain open so as not to miss sunrise, which seemed to begin at 4.30am.  The desert floor glowed as the sky turned from inky black to midnight blue.  The sun crept up peering above the first buttress before filling the valley with its glow. 

There is a four mile walking trail – the Wild Cat trail, but it was too hot to do it and we were in rattlesnake country.  If we had stayed for longer it would have been good to have gone out on horseback – the scenery really is suited to it.

Next stop was Flagstaff.  En route we stopped for lunch at Cameron Trading Post – the guacamole was delicious!  The ceiling of the restaurant was made of intricate moulded tin – we later learnt that as well as being decorative, tin ceilings are used to help stop fires spreading.