Traveling Stateside. 10/22/21 through 10/24/21 (Washington DC)

Greetings

Hope you are well and vaccinated!

So, I rarely write my travel blog when I’m traveling within the US, but given the dearth of travel over the past 18 months (maybe it’s 19 already?), due to COVID-19, just going to the east coast seems exotic and even daring! Thus, I am sending this little series of travel notes to my regular readers. As usual, don’t feel obliged to read it… I’m fine if you just toss it; we all get way too many emails.

I’m on a little “vacation” — about 4 days in DC and 4 days in NY, places I know well—having traveled to DC many, many times and having grown up in NY, and I have returned many times a year since relocating. Still, the whole idea of getting on a plane and being in different surroundings seemed both comforting and also scary. This, from a veteran traveler who’s been to more than 65 countries. This was only my second cross country trip since Covid. But the timing was good; I just finished two large, complex, multi-year projects (with minimum in-person contact) and I was ready for a break.

I’m traveling with my friend Carol from LA (whom I’ve known since graduate school — and I’m not revealing how long ago that was). Carol and I have developed a routine of traveling somewhere every year (Santa Fe, Marfa, Montreal, Aix en Provence, Amsterdam, etc.), but naturally we missed last year (we were supposed to go to Scandinavia). It’s generally Carol’s choice as to the location since I’ve been to many more places and am happy to revisit the good ones. Given the Covid situation we decided to stay stateside this year, although this December Mike and I will hopefully be traveling overseas.

Arrived in DC on Friday night (October 22) and met up at the airport. Miraculously our two flights arrived within 15 minutes of one another; both flights were on time and were at neighboring gates. How’s that for planning? And luck?

We chose The Line Hotel in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of DC, which has certainly become a very buzzing place since the last time I visited. My room has a distant view of the Washington Monument! We were hungry and it was already about 11:00 pm… Every place we checked out within a three block radius was closing. We were getting kind of desperate and then stumbled on a taco place.. So tacos it would be. As it turned out Taqueria Al Lado was great… margaritas, mojitos, tetillas, aguachiles, and ceviche… and great beers. So we satisfied our hunger in a really upbeat place with great people’s art on the walls – focused on Trump as a clown!  

Saturday, October 23

Started the day with breakfast at the Line… which was surprisingly good and quick, since we had a busy day ahead of us.. Took the Metro to the Hirshhorn Museum to see the Laurie Anderson show which was quite striking and political. While most of the pieces (mostly full room installations and experiential) were memorable – one stood out above the others: “Habeas Corpus.” It occupies an entire room and seated in a corner is an oversized three dimensional “white chair” on which Mohammed el Gharani, the youngest detainee at Guantanamo Bay “sits” most of the time and tells his story in his own voice. In reality he is on film that is projected onto the chair so realistically you believe he is sitting there. Gharani is Chadian raised in Saudi Arabia, and after the September 11th attacks, he was sent to Guantánamo and held and tortured for more than seven years. Authorities said he had belonged to a London-based Al Qaeda cell, but in reality he had never been to London and was only fourteen when he was arrested. In 2009, an American judge ruled that the allegations against Gharani were baseless, and he was released. We also spent some time at the Duchamp exhibit which was small but good.

While I thought the content and execution of Anderson’s show was great, my personal feeling is that it should be out on streets and not made precious by being inside a museum… but that’s a long story that ties to my basic dislike of museums as pedestals for art and for making art both precious and unreachable— and therefore negating whatever political message might have been part of the intent. Sure the Hirschhorn is free, so you could argue that the works are approachable; but a quick glance at who is inside the museum makes it clear that not everyone feels welcome in these kind of institutions. I didn’t see a single person of color at the museum. Then again, most are living the situations Anderson raises in her work, so no need to see it in a series of rooms. 

From the Hirschhorn, we walked around the city, through the mall (Carol had not really been to DC much so we hit up some major sites) and ultimately  decided to stop for a prosecco and a snack at the Willard Hotel… where we watched the town go by and watched a series of very upscale Washingtonians arrive for a very expensive and formal wedding reception. Like many of you (I assume), I always believed the story that the term “lobbyist” was coined at the Willard because  President Grant would come by the hotel lobby for a brandy and a cigar and he was always besieged by people who wanted some sort of legislation.. Thus he called them “lobbyists.” Well, according to the information at the hotel the term was used well before Grant… but the reality remains that Grant would spend time in the lobby and that people would ask for favors.

I also realized that while I’ve been to DC many, many times, I’m usually there for meetings, work, etc. and sometimes add an extra day, I’ve never been a “tourist” in DC… so I’ve been looking forward to this.

Following our delightful time at the Willard, we went back to the hotel to freshen up and off we went to Tail Up Goat – a neighborhood restaurant with a Mediterranean menu. Food was fantastic.. We opted for all small plates: scallop crudo with watermelon radish and apples; baby honeynut squash with some kind of dill yogurt and chili crunch; duck breast with charred cabbage which had mint and sumac glaze; pork agnolotti with rutabaga and rosemary. Given that we had walked about 6 miles, we determined we deserved dessert (a really good decision – some kind of toasted corn cake with paw paw custard and madeira wine). We strolled  back to the hotel…  A good first day.

Sunday, October 24

Following a quick breakfast at the Line, we taxied to the African American Museum where we had reserved tickets for early entry. The taxi ride began a series of conversations with predominantly Ethiopian drivers who are happy to chat if you start the conversations. We learned that they really don’t like Virginia drivers whom they feel don’t understand  cities and drive like the suburbanites they are. They also feel DC is very calm now with Biden – no big demonstrations and “no craziness” as they stated they experienced every day with Trump in DC. With Biden, they feel he is “sleeping” all the time, but they prefer it this way. The museum is quite wonderful with an enormous number of exhibits that range from cultural to political to historical to food, culture, music, theater, and more. 

My only disappointment was that there wasn’t more effort to make the museum more interactive and to force visitors to immerse themselves in the culture as well as the reality of daily life..

From the museum we walked to a little nonprofit restaurant called Immigrant food where we had wonderful shakshuka and salads. 

Then it was on to Black Lives Matter Plaza, passing the White House and other official buildings… and then on to Planet Word – a very sweet small museum that focuses on the history of language with very creative and participatory exhibits. The elevator is totally book lined. (In the photo below, we are inside the elevator.)

According to my exercise app, we are averaging between 6 and 10 miles per day walking.

We then strolled the streets and stopped at the Hamilton Hotel for a much needed glass of wine and watched both the preparations for a wedding at the hotel and also the skies turn grey as rain approached. We hopped into a taxi and headed for the hotel. Dinner was at the Albi – a Mediterranean treasure for foodies, located in the newly-renovated and gentrified area of the Navy Yard.  Foodies, hold on…..

We shared a smashed pumpkin labneh with pecans and shaved apples; yellowfin tuna with bulghur, lettuces, mint, and a bunch of spices; grilled honeynut squash with muhamarra and some other things that were yummy; crab dolmas with corn, peppers, and garlic yogurt; and manti (which I savored all through trips to Turkey). We were tempted by several other dishes but needed to save room for dessert!! And it was well worth it.

Coming next… the remainder of the Washington DC part of the trip.  We are well and having a great time.

Fern