August 17, 2010: Washington - Arlington Cemetery

Arlington Cemetery was my first venture across the Potomac into Virginia. I had re-read Connie Willis' "Lincoln's Dreams" to immerse myself in some Civil War trivia. The cemetery didn't look much like I'd imagined it from the descriptions (although the scene set there in the book takes place in a snowstorm in winter). It was bigger, with less sense of history - everything looked so new and well-maintained.

The only part that did seem a bit old and crumbling was Arlington House, the home of Robert E. Lee, leader of the Confederate army. They are in the midst of renovations to bring everything up to modern museum standards, so at the moment it's a bit tumble down. However, the view can't be beat - it's on top of a steep hill, with some fantastic old trees about.

The Kennedy grave sites were on the hill below: John F Kennedy, with some of his most famous speeches carved in stone along the perimeter of the plaza in front, Robert F. Kennedy, with one of his speeches carved in stone above a nice reflecting pool, and Ted Kennedy, with just a modest white cross (I would imagine there'll be plans to install something more momentous for him as well).

There was a huge amphitheater with the tomb of the Unknown Soldier. This was a surprisingly elaborate affair - roped-off areas for observers were filled with visitors who watched a military official march back and forth in front of it (with that eerie gait in which nothing seems to move except the feet).

On my way out I stopped in at the Women in Military Service for America Memorial. This was just outside the gates of Arlington, and was the only place to buy cold water. From the outside it looks like a typical archway of stone with some carvings and a fountain, but it turned out to be a very striking modern building, set in behind the stone with a glass ceiling roofing the space - I walked up to the top and was able to look inside to the roped-off area where a fancy reception was taking place.

I'd been interested in possibly visiting Mount Vernon, and while at Arlington discovered that the tour buses leaving from there were considerably cheaper than those at Union Station in downtown Washington. This bumps up the probability of visiting to much higher on the list.

Photos: rows of graves at Arlington; the massive pillars (and surprisingly stripey stone) of Robert E. Lee's house; tree behind Arlington House; grave marker of 2111 unidentified Civil War soldiers; JFK quote carved in stone; JFK and Jacqueline graves; Robert Kennedy's quote and pool; Ted Kennedy's grave; amphitheater; soldier at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier; grass refurbishment (in progress at left, completed at right); is it wrong that I've watched so much "True Blood" that a grave for Compton jumped out at me? the Challenger memorial (where oddly enough there's a need to have a sign to say "no coins" - there's no pool to toss them in!); exterior of Women in Military Service for America Memorial; interior of Women in Military Service Memorial

August 16, 2010: Washington - US Capitol

My visit to the US Capitol building was free, although it required reserving a couple of days in advance. I was hoping for something as fantastic as the Library of Congress, where the tour was engaging and the building and the exhibitions of its collections totally surpassed my expectations.

However, the US Capitol was a bit underwhelming. As usual it was hot and sunny outside. There was virtually no one in the plaza leading up to the Capitol, which was a bit surprising - in contrast, the steps of the Lincoln Memorial were swarming with people, and it wasn't much cooler the day I was there. Everyone was inside the visitor's center, which is actually underground (and air conditioned!).

The tour started with a long patriotic video about America, starting with the magnificence of being a democracy with freedom for all to hold different ideas yet still united as one country (E pluribus unum), followed by the price of freedom having been paid for by the blood of soldiers. Maybe it just strikes me as over the top since here in Canada we're an independent democracy too but didn't need to fight a war with England to end up that way - it may have taken a little longer but the price wasn't so steep.

For our tour we were all given earphones so that we could hear our tour guide - there were many other tours going on simultaneously, so it would have been easy to get lost in the shuffle. Our first stop was a hall which was formerly used for government purposes but now displays many statues (each state has donated two statues - they were originally all housed in the same hall but the combined weight was too great, so now they are dispersed throughout the building). During remodeling the floor of the hall was raised which changed the acoustics - you can now stand in one part of the hall, whisper, and be heard clearly in another part, as our tour guide demonstrated. Of course he had us take off our headphones so that we could actually hear the whisper projected by the hall's acoustics, rather than by electronics.

The acoustics demonstration was fun. Unfortunately, our guide forget to turn his transmitter back on, so from that point onward we didn't hear as much as we could have. We all gathered under the dome (remarkably high - the Statue of Liberty could stand under it with room to spare), admired the frieze (painted to resemble carved stone - pretty convincing) which depicted scenes from American history (the Wright brothers flying stood out the most for me), and that was it. The tour was over almost before it started.

There was an exhibition hall downstairs which I enjoyed, although we weren't allowed to take photographs (too bad - lots of fun models of the appearance of the Capitol and its surroundings throughout the years). The visitor's center did allow pictures, although it really only had a handful of sculptures - the most interesting being Helen Keller, a very golden king of Hawaii, and a large model of the Statue of Freedom that stands on top of the building.

Photos: the Capitol; interior of the dome; hall of statues with amazing acoustics; chandelier hanging from the dome over the hall of statues; model of the Statue of Freedom in the visitor's center; Kamehamehai, first king of Hawaii; braille and raised relief imagery on Helen Keller's statue base; the Statue of Freedom on top of the dome; view down the Mall; beautiful trees on the grounds of the Capitol

August 15, 2010: Washington - Portrait Gallery

On Sunday I headed down to the National Portrait Gallery. It's in the same building complex as the American Art Museum, so I'd passed through parts of it before, but hadn't spent much time in the exhibits.

There's something about portrait galleries that make me think they're going to be dull - as a whole, historic portrait paintings tend to start looking the same - similar size, pose, mood. And yet a whole gallery of them turned out to be great. They were used more as historic artifacts to tell the story of the development of the US as a country, with the story and significance of each person's portrait explained at some length.

In the collection of presidential portrait, the most interesting was Richard Nixon's. It was possibly the smallest of the paintings - a nice little study by Norman Rockwell, who made him appear to be more mild-mannered than you usually think of him as. But the oddest thing was the positioning; all the other paintings look quite majestic in their large frames, surrounded by pillars and cornices and other architectural finery. But Nixon's portrait hangs on the back of a small wall that divides the room - it has no architectural details, the paint at the bottom is scuffed by shoe marks, and it looks rather lost. Was this deliberate?

In addition to the historic paintings, there were contemporary portraits, which were more diverse and pretty fantastic. A country-wide portrait competition had some great drawings, photos and paintings. There was also a quirky little exhibit of Elvis Presley artwork.

Also on display were lists from various artists' archives - this is a show my sister would want to see. All sorts of lists: shopping lists, price lists, people to forgive lists - no lists to small or strange to be included.

Photos: award for fanciest frame goes to a painting of Ulysses S. Grant by Ole Peter Hansen Billing, 1865; this model of the Statue of Liberty looks all out of scale; "Melons and Morning Glories" 1813 by Raphaelle Peale - a great painting and even more fun now that the pigment of the melon is showing through the smaller squash, making it all ghost-like; Nixon's portrait by Norman Rockwell; artists' lists; third-place competition winner "Dressy Bessy Takes a Nap" by Adam Vinson (really impressive rendering of light, colour, and transparency); beautiful but creepy "Eunice Kennedy Shriver" 2009, by David Lenz (I'm not sure I'd be flattered by the portrayal if I was Eunice)

August 14, 2010: Washington - Kennilworth Aquatic Gardens, Botanical Gardens Conservatory

Mark loves water and all the creatures that live in it, so I decided that we should go to the Kennilworth Aquatic Gardens. It's along a relatively pristine stretch of the Potomac River, with a series of ponds featuring different varieties of water lilies, as well as boardwalks through wetlands with turtles and cranes. Many of the lilies were in bloom, making for a beautiful sight. Unfortunately we couldn't get close to most of them - the pathways between most of the ponds were flooded out with the recent heavy rains.

To get to the garden we took the subway to the east side of the city, and finally caught a glimpse of the notorious down-at-the-heels neighborhoods of Washington - a pretty stark contrast to the wealth and beauty of the tourist areas and the part of the city we're living in.

On our way back in to the city we stopped off at the Botanical Gardens so I could show Mark some of the highlights from the Botanical Gardens Conservatory (I was particularly excited to show him the 'sensitive' mimosa - its leaves fold inward when touched, or even when blown on strongly enough).

Photos: a bird standing in the flooded pathway of the waterlily ponds; a butterfly (one of many); a turtle resting on a giant lily leaf; a close-up of a waterlily flower (note the dried out seed head to the right - you've probably seen them before in those decorative dried plant mixes that are displayed in big bowls on your coffee table); Mark hides under a leaf; intricate flattened roots on the ground; the Potomac river; a crazy fungus in the woods

August 13, 2010: Washington - Trek, White House Garden, Washington Monument, Muybridge Sale, Ripple

Today was actually cool enough that I finally did what I've been wanting to do for weeks - walked downtown! From our apartment to the White House was only 35 minutes! I knew this city wasn't so large, but when you're forced to avoid the heat it's hard to prove it.

First along the route was the Dupont Circle neighbourhood, which has some beautiful residential apartment buildings.

Next I saw the Winged Victory statue (very shiny), then passed by the front of the White House, which I hadn't done before (because it involves a longish walk through a park fully exposed to the sun). As I passed in front I spotted the new kitchen garden on the front lawn which Michelle Obama had spearheaded. It was too far to see much, but it looked pretty lush.

After that I headed across the Mall to the Washington Monument. I've been seeing it from a distance virtually everywhere I've gone, so it was kind of surreal to finally get up close. When you're right next to it, it looks a bit underwhelming - it's like a big, block wall, the colour of stone changes part ways up, and you can't appreciate the tapering shape.

On my way back I stopped in at the Corcoran Gallery bookstore. Ever since going to the Muybridge exhibition I've been thinking about the catalogue - it's the one book I've really been wanting to purchase. And when I checked, it was on sale! Almost two thirds of the price it was originally when the exhibition was still on; waiting really paid off.

In the evening we went for dinner at Ripple again, this time with my friend Delores (who has just gotten into town to do a medical rotation) and her fiance Quoc. It was great to catch up after several years of not having seen each other, and also great to have great food again at Ripple. En route we passed the Kennedy Warren apartments in the Cleveland Park neighbourhood - one of many great Art Deco buildings.

Photos: a dragon ornaments a building in Dupont Circle; Winged Victory; the White House; the White House garden; Washington Monument big, bigger (note the two tones of stone) and biggest; the Kennedy-Warren apartments - look close and notice the elephant ornamentation

August 12, 2010: Washington - Mystery Bones, Gorilla Family, Summer Squash

Today was a quiet day, with a fair amount of reading before I headed out in the afternoon to the zoo. I took my sketchbook and found a quiet spot in the education portion of the Amazonia building at a table with several animal bones, where I did a couple of drawings (two different kinds of vertebrae, although I'm not sure which animals - one is likely a giraffe as it's so long).

On my way back I stopped in to see the gorillas. The whole family was hanging out together: the silverback, some adult males and females, and a baby. One of the adult males played with the baby, which was utterly entrancing.

At home I looked up a recipe for a summer squash casserole, as I had quite a few from the farmer's market the day before. I'd never really made something like this before; everything was to be grated - cheese, squash, even the onion. It seemed like it might be a bit monotonous with everything shredded to the same consistency, so I added some sliced mushrooms and tomatoes before putting it all in with the egg and flour mixture (okay, it was actually Bisquick, not flour, but I've got a limited amount to work with here in my temporary kitchen). But it turned out quite well, although a little more cheese would have been nice - maybe some feta dotted on top.

Photos: one of the adult female gorillas; one of the male adult gorillas plays with the baby; after playing the baby sits alone, contemplative; sketch of a vertebra (species unknown, but I suspect a giraffe!); sketch of another vertebra (species unknown)