The conference kept me pretty busy for the first five days, but during one lunch break, I wandered over to Chinatown. I like to see Chinatown in every city I go to. The one in DC was only a couple of streets, and was largely restaurants. They did have the ubiquitous Friendship Gate:
There were also two separate Blessings of the Animals while I was there, but sadly, I was unable to make either one. I thought the banner was pretty cute.
As is true for most old cities, Washington has a lot of quaint architecture. I passed this curvy house daily.
On another day, I went down to DuPont Circle. A friend of mine suggested it, but I never made it during my last two visits. The actual circle has a fountain surrounded by a little circular park with benches where people could sit and enjoy the sunshine.
The surrounding streets were filled with more beautiful old buildings. The streets reminded me very much of Amsterdam.
I ate lunch at this restaurant, mostly because of the name.
The spaghetti Bolognese was absolutely delicious. I stopped in two boutiques down there, and I will show you what I got later - I like to get practical souvenirs that I will use on a regular basis.
Next to DuPont Circle is a neighborhood called Kalorama. Many diplomats and former presidents bought homes there. Jeff Bezos and Ivanka Trump live there now. There are also a lot of embassies in the neighborhood. This fountain marks the entrance to Kalorama Triangle.
This is the Adams Morgan House. The name is derived from two formerly segregated elementary schools. The two schools were very progressive in desegregation, opening their doors to minorities in 1958.
I am a huge proponent of vaccines, and that was the theme of this year's ID Week. There was a giant white board on which we could all write the reasons that we vaccinate. Sadly, some people still do not see the wisdom, or believe that it has poisonous side effects, or that it is unsafe. This is why we are currently having a measles outbreak.
The conference ended on Sunday morning, and so immediately after it ended, I found myself on the Metro. I headed south to Alexandria, Virginia.
Alexandria is a tourist destination. The main drag is King Street. It is loaded with restaurants and shops.
Alexandria is only a 23 minute train ride from DC, so I got there about 11:30, and most things did not open until noon on Sunday. So I walked down King Street to the Potomac Riverfront and took a stroll until everything opened for business.
Some of the restaurants and waterboat tours were running, but I had done a tour on the Potomac before, so I wasn't in the market for that.
This is the Alexandria Visitor Center, located inside a very pretty house. Sorta Amityville-esque.
Nearby is the Carlyle House. Carlyle was the second son of an English businessman, so since the first son inherits the business, he came over to the colonies and married a wealthy man's daughter. As you can see, the house was built in 1752.
It has it's own decorative cannon.
Alexandria's Market Square was established in 1749. It is adjacent to City Hall. For 260 years, there has been a farmer's market every Saturday. The square was originally a venue for the sale of African slaves.
I had lunch at a restaurant called The Pines of Florence. I had gnocchi. It was superb. I had been whining to Doc about the food at the conference - it was five days of box lunches, and I was so tired of cold food.
One evening, I walked up to the National Mall and the Capitol Building. It was only about a 10 minute walk from the hotel.
The last time I was here was in December 2015, and the Capitol was covered in scaffolding. It was being refurbished.
It looks good now.
This is a view looking down the National Mall towards the Washington Monument.
Since it was Saturday evening, there were a lot of food trucks parked on the Mall. I found it funny that one was playing La Cucaracha as its music. It was mostly ice cream, hot dogs and kebabs on offer. There were a lot of people buying food.
This is the statue on the side of the Ulysses S Grant Memorial.
And here is Grant on horseback. He led the Union Army to Victory over the Confederacy, as General serving under Abraham Lincoln.
This is the James Abram Garfield Memorial. It says 1851-1881, but I think he lived longer than 30 years. I looked it up, and as the 20th president, he served from 1881 until his assassination six and one half months later.
This is the Smithsonian Arts and Industries Building.
It is surrounded by the Kathrine Dulin Folger Rose Garden.
It is very peaceful as you stroll through the gardens, but the Mall is just across the street.
I met this little guy as I was walking through the rose garden.
The National Gallery of the Arts has an outdoor sculpture garden. Most of the works were very modern, and so not really my favorite. I did like this pumpkin, however.
I also walked through the Enid A Haupt Garden, created in 1987. This is the Moongate garden, which was inspired by the Temple of Heaven, a 15th century religious complex in China.
Then I got back on the gravel path and headed towards the Washington Monument.
This building houses the United States Department of Agriculture.
Then I approached the White House. This side is called the ellipse. It is the front of the house. The last time I was here, the ellipse side was close off. This time, the Pennsylvania Avenue side was closed. That is the back of the house, and you can get much closer to the building from that side.
Very near to the White House is the beautiful Willard Hotel. I was in this gorgeous lobby the last time I was here. It dates from 1850.
It is an Inter Continental Hotels property. It is named after Henry Willard, one of it's long time managers in the 1800s. In 2015, both Mitt Romney and Benjamin Netanyahu were there while I had a cocktail in the Crow's Nest bar.
This glass greenhouse is the United States Botanic Garden. It was opened in 1820. It's holiday show, called Season's Greetings, has a train, a huge poinsettia display, and models of the DC monuments made from plant materials.
This is the Library of Congress. It serves as the research library for the US Congress. It was established in 1800 and is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country.
In front of the Library of Congress is the Neptune Fountain. This is King Neptune.
His Nereids, or Sea Nymphs, ride horses beside their king. The sculptor, Roland Hinton Perry, was only 27 years old when he completed the fountain.
This is the Bartholdi Fountain of Light and Water. It is cast iron and weighs more than 15 tons. Bartholdi created the Statue of Liberty. This fountain was made for the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The US Congress purchased the fountain and moved it to DC in 1877.
This is the United States Supreme Court Building. It was completed in 1935.
On this day, there was a large group of protesters outside. They were going to wait until dusk and then protest the employment rights of the LGBTQ population. I got out of there quickly, in case there was violence.
And I will leave you with this beautiful view of our nation's capitol at dusk.
One more important thing - we have been adopted by a ground squirrel. She comes along our block wall and eats tangerines and guavas from our trees. Doc named her Myrna. So this week's running gag was to photograph every squirrel I came across in DC. Lots of oak trees = lots of squirrels.
Cousin Mabel.
Brother Michael.
Uncle Methuselah.
Aunt Minnie.
Marvin.
Stay tuned for more adventures !!!
