29 June. Five pictures from my Washington DC trip.

My day started with an aborted attempt to visit my Aunt Merle via car (Jenna's.) The combination of "not my car," "not my city," "rush hour traffic" overwhelmed me and I returned home about 30 minutes after I set out. I'd gone maybe a quarter of a mile. After recovering from that event, I shifted to a "From the White House to Foggy Bottom" walk.

My first stop was the DAR Museum. They have these awesome period rooms which were incredibly fun and which I have no picture of because I'm on a picture budget, here. I had a great docent, and I loved the whole concept of each state decorating a room--it reminded me of the suites at Cottey.

I was starving after the tour, and I asked the volunteer in the gift shop if there was anywhere to eat, as sometimes in tourist areas the choices are really expensive pretzels, pizza and ice cream bars, or a hideously overpriced restaurant with bland food. The volunteer directed me across the street to the Red Cross headquarters where I ate in their employee cafeteria. The food was cheap and delicious and I was thrilled I asked.
I then went looking for the Zero Milestone. I was almost as excited to see it as I was to see the period rooms. But it seems that people think that the zero milestone is there to place things as they take pictures of the White House. This amused and annoyed me, simultaneously.
I wandered through the Renwick Gallery, and the other side of the White House, where I loved Larry's Fuente's Game Fish, mostly because the fins were made out of the exact same comb I've been using since childhood. There was a fabulous piece that was a carved cabinet, which they don't mention on their website, but I loved.

After the Renwick, I wandered past the other side of the White House and into the visitor's center, before walking down to the Smithsonian Museum of American History. I broke my rule of only going to places I hadn't been before, but I justified this visit because they have just done a huge renovation, and so it was new to me.

I saw some good exhibits, "Within These Walls" was very interesting, and I loved visiting Julia Child's kitchen. In a past boring job, with ample time on my hands, I read the entire Julie/Julia project blog and I love Julia Child's enthusiasm. My favorite part of this exhibit was the TV they had playing with snippets of Julia Child's cooking shows. People would just sit and watch her for the longest time. Young people, old people. It was a testament to her charisma.
On my way home, I ducked into this place for dinner. I had the best Greek salad I've ever eaten and the owner was nice to chat with too. Also, a blue Lamborghini parked on the street near where I was sitting and it caused a bit of commotion: Random guy walking down the street talking on his cell phone, "and so I...Hey! It's a Lamborghini! A blue one!" He took pictures, other passersby took pictures. It was an event. But the DC cafe? The best Greek Salad I've ever had. Remember that.

The trains were not running up to speed for most of my visit. They were still dealing with the aftermath from the big crash in June and so trains were late, or absent. Here is my photo montage of my choice to wait for the next train.