Mrs Tek is in DC for training so I went Friday and came home Monday. Here are some experiences and impressions.
First: Friendly! Everyone I met was friendly. Many made an extra effort to do things like holding a door or making sure you knew exactly where to go and what to do to get somewhere. Lots of smiling faces. Lots of languages!
Hot. Well, yeah, but not. I get a kick out of everyone complaining about how hot is then I come home to Iowa and it is (2:46p June 23rd) 98 degrees with a heat index of 111 degrees. Luckily the humidity is only 49%. I'll trade you any time.
If Karla with a K is reading this; hey, I'll even trade you today!
Edit: It's cooled off a bit. Big, nasty storm coming in! At least it's cooler...
Stayed at the River Inn on K street NW. Nice place, but just misses being a really nice place. Location is fantastic! 2 1/2 blocks to the Metro, easy walking distance to a ton of restaurants, The Georgetown Harbor, and just about anything else you could want.
Friday
She got back from class at 4:30. We went to a restaurant on about 30th and M street NW if I have my bearings and naming convention correct. I have to admit I do not remember the name. There is no reason to as I will never return, and wouldn't if lived there. So-so food, expensive for the quality, horrendous service, smart-ass manager.
Saturday
We rode the Metro to Federal Triangle and went to the National Gallery of Art (both West and East) to do some serious gawking, and we did. The last time I was in DC was almost 20 years ago and I forgot how impressive the museums really are.
At the NGA West: Van Gogh is always a favorite, and the da Vinci is simply amazing. If you have a chance go to the NGA West, and check out the da Vinci. Don't forget to go behind the painting and look at the back. Grab a recorder on the second level ($5.00) and take the Director's Tour. You learn a lot about what you are seeing that you would normally not pick up on. Personal tip: Look at the backgrounds! They are not
always interesting, but sometimes you will see things that are very surprising, and learn about how people lived when the painting was made. Always fascinating.
NGA East: The Manuscripts. Um, wow!!!! Some are as old as the 1200's. Gold leaf abounds, and silver (turned black from age) is notable in the resurrection plates on the sleeping Roman guards. This is where you really have to look past the main figures in the artwork. Look at the decorations around and in the painting. Look at the backgrounds. Look at the faces! Some of the faces look almost like photographs, I kid you not! 600 years ago in an area of a dime or less someone painted faces so realistic you would swear they used a camera! And details! Tiny stuff: lines, patterns in the gold leaf, little trees, figures, buildings, etc in the backgrounds! My wife asked how they drew those really thin lines and the only thing I could think of was a coarse hair from some animal. I haven't had to to look it up yet. In sme of them everyone looks alike. In one even the sheep looked like the people! You can't take pictures there so I can't show you.
We hopped on the top of a double decker bus for an hour and a half to get back to our hotel. I got a nice sunburn and a ton of great pictures! I'll post some of them at the end of this. Be prepared; they are not your typical vacation pictures.
We ordered deep dish pizza in from Zia Pizzaria and crashed. We are too out of shape for all the walking. The pizza was excellent, and reasonably priced. Highly recommended.
Sunday
We slept in (ahhhhhhhh - Mrs Tek has been doing 5:30a - 6:00p every day and riding from Foggy Bottom to Carrollton). Once we got our lazy butts out of bed we walked to the Washington Harbor and took a boat to National Harbor at Alexandria. We didn't do too much in Old Town since we were still recovering from Saturday. We ate at La Madeleine Bakery Cafe & Bistro
on King Street for a snack. We split a fruit cup and each had a croissant. My croissant was rather stale, but the almond and chocolate filling made up for it as did the fruit cup. Very good. We walked awhile then grabbed the trolley for a ride back to the waterfront. While standing in line to buy return tickets (the boat was about to leave) a woman asked if we were taking it and we said we didn't think we could. She handed me two tickets and said they changed their minds about going back and we could have theirs. She refused any payment! When we got on the boat we found that there were return tickets from GT so we gave them to someone at that end.
We wandered around the harbor looking for food. Tony and Joes seemed to only have seafood. Not for me, thanks! Nicks Riverside only allowed dining outside if you each bought an entree. Neither one of us could find something we wanted from the
very limited menu. So that's a no. Agraria din't have a menu displayed so we passed. No menu displayed? What? We settled on Cabanas. Got a $25 pitcher of Margaritas that we found out was supposed to $35 because the waitress quoted Happy Hour prices outside Happy Hour. Really good Margaritas! She ordered two Mahi Mahi tacos and a Javelin taco. I ordered two Carnitas tacos And a Javelin taco. Mrs Tek liked the fish. We both liked the meats, but they were both very fatty and very strongly flavored. A bit much for me, but I finished them. When we went to the restroom the smell of those pellets they drop in the urinals started about 50 feet away from them. All the way through the bar. Ever hear of a vent fan? Gross. Good band playing. Eclectic. "Smoke on the Water", Ob La Da", "Volare", as an example. Desert was good, as was the coffee. In general, overpriced. Waitress was great. I doubt I would go back.
Monday
Back to the grind for her. She sent on a mission to take pictures of some paintings we want to buy prints of and frame. On the way I went into the Sculpture garden and took pictures/movies of all the sculptures since we didn't make it there Saturday. Spent a lot of time wandering through the West museum and took a lot more pictures than planned. Took the Metro back to the hotel, finished packing and merto'd to the airport.
All in all a great visit to a wonderful town.
Pictures: Next post
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