[If you want to just view the entire Flickr photoset for this trip, here’s the link!]

doesn’t really inspire the respect it used to.

at the corcoran

zero-mile marker. i like the dude posing, the security truck, and the garden party at the white house.

the j edgar hoover fbi building

the capitol lawn says ‘penis’.

capitol steps

library of congress reading room

You’re not supposed to take pictures in the reading room. You can only get to it if you’re on an official tour, and then you’re supposed to be very quiet and respectful and take NO PHOTOS. Well, we attached ourselves to a tour group and ducked into the viewing room. It was a group of fifteen-or-so Russians who couldn’t have cared less about the rules. The very loud tour guide described the scenery, and the gist of her talk was ‘Americans are all so wealthy, they can afford to have buildings like this everywhere’.

supreme court building

The security guard in front of the Supreme Court got extremely nervous when I laid down on the steps to take photos.

the northern end of the tidal basin

The cherry blossom festival was at its peak that weekend. We couldn’t have been there at a better time. It was warm, sunny, and crowded. So unbelievable. If you ever have the opportunity to be in D.C. at that time of year, you must go. You won’t regret it.

My photos can’t really do it justice.

One of the places we saw that day was the National Gallery of Art, which I’d always skipped before. The regular collection wasn’t terribly thrilling, except for the impressionists. Also, they had an exhibition of Cézanne’s work in Provence that was very cool to see.

I should also mention the food that day, since it was beyond awesome: one of my favorite DC restaurants is Andalé, totally incredible Mexican food. Before dinner, we wandered and shopped in Georgetown (mmm, Diesel), and then had dinner at Papa Razzi, to which I had been before. The food was great and the drinks were better. I rode back to the hotel on the metro with my head on my knees, giggling.

edgar allen poe house

Did you know the Baltimore Ravens are named for the poem? It had never occurred to us. So, Edgar Allen Poe’s house is in kind of a dodgy neighborhood. The rest of the townhomes are boarded up, but I guess they’re doing a lot of ‘renewal’ in the area. Which is code for ‘fixing things up and selling them to white people for a lot of money’.

I stopped to use the bathroom at a gas station in this neighborhood. The supernice guy at the counter passed me the key, which was attached to a spatula, through the bulletproof-glass double-plate window and pointed towards the back room. I had to roll a mop-bucket away from the door first. There was blood on the wall.

I hope I didn’t get herpes in there.

The harborfront area in Baltimore has been very much renovated in recent years and looks identical to the tourist-zones in any other city: Honolulu, Santa Monica, Houston, Chicago. It’s bright and depressing.

We drove back to the district and the parents dropped us off at the National Museum of Health and Medicine at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. We had to go through security, which included undercar-mirroring and ID checks. It was awesome. My dad, a former federal agent, got really squirmy about it.

The museum is located a couple blocks inside the complex. It’s a very unassuming-looking building. We went inside and the dudes at the counter took my picture and made me a sticker-badge. I fell in love with them immediately, because they were super-laid-back Latino guys with gothic-script tattoos up their forearms. I bet they and the army guards didn’t have much to say to each other. They were giggly, and we stood around talking with them for a while before entering the museum, which we had decided to visit for the sheer creepiness factor. It’s very highly rated in Roadside America.

lincoln’s bullet

these masks represent the expression on the faces of people who have been through chemo

Because they’re really creepy, I’ve put most of the photos from the museum over here. I’ll warn you that they’re pretty icky and include a lot of dead, malformed fetuses. If you have a low threshhold for gross, I’d skip it. FYI, the ones at the top are now officially known as the SKELETON BABIES FROM HELL.

Oh, despite what the tour books may tell you, the museum is only about 6-8 blocks off the metro. They warn you to take a bus or cab. You should only do this if you’re lame, because it’s an easy walk.

In the evening, we had dinner at Rosa Mexicano, an even better Mexican restaurant, known for their pomegranate margaritas. Hey, I discovered that I liked good tequila. And that, rightfully, is the end of THAT particular story.

fdr memorial

I had never seen the FDR memorial, either. It’s very extensive, and very serene. Also, it’s surrounded by cherry blossom trees, on the south side of the tidal basin.

in the breeze, the petals were falling like snowflakes

the parents!

not a great photo, but i don’t think many people realize you can see the capitol all the way from the tidal basin.

african-american civil war memorial

We ended the day with the other building of the National Gallery of Art, and saw an amazing Dada exhibit. It gave me fond memories of my Russian-constructivist days.

In the afternoon, we headed to Reagan airport to catch our flight that was delayed by over 6 hours because of a huge storm. It left at the last possible minute before cutoff, and we got home around 12:15am.

I skipped over a ton here, but I think at this point I’ve seen pretty much everything in Washington DC. It’s an odd city. However, the cherry blossom festival is absolutely worthwhile. Therefore: SEE IT.