Upon entering Union Station in Washington DC last night after a 3 hour train ride from New York I wondered if authorities were doing an eye scan to see if I am an international terrorist, assassin, or generally all around bad guy. I learned later that the FBI quit giving tours of the J. Edgar Hoover Building because as tourists walked past their infamous "most wanted" posters many would say, "Gee, that looks like my neighbor." Agents would then haul those tourists into an interrogation room for questioning, until the complaints got so bad the FBI had to quit inviting the public into their bureau.
In my case, I passed the eye scan, was not detained for questioning by the FBI, and walked 2 miles to my motel lugging my duffle bag which, despite me sending stuff home by post, still seems to weigh a ton. I unpacked, took a long shower, and fiddled with my phone and tablet apps trying to locate the nearest laundromat, bus stop, restaurant, visitor's center, and White House.
With the next day's agenda loosely scheduled, I boned up on politics by watching reruns of the West Wing. Martin Sheen makes a wonderful president.
My phone alarm went off this morning at 6:30 AM. I dressed, packed my carry on bag for the day's adventures (tablet and charger, drawing pad, carrots, maps I ripped from the complementary visitor's guide), ate the grapefruit I brought from a sidewalk vendor in Harlem, and went to the motel lobby for complimentary coffee. I then followed the course I set last night to find the White House.
En route I spied a Burger King and bought oatmeal for breakfast. I then continued my leisurely walk to the bus terminal and after evaluating my travel options (they sadly did not offer a 3 day pass), I bought a one way ticket down town for $2.70. The trip took all of 3 minutes.
The underground subway disgorged me onto a semi deserted city street near the Shakespeare Theater. I wandered aimlessly, noting that where ever I go it's all new so I really can't make any mistakes.
I learned from my ten days in New York that a city tour bus is a nifty way to quickly get the lay of the land and meet someone who is paid to answer dumb questions ("Which way is the White House?"), so I bought a two day pass with hop on, hop off privileges.
At this, point I realized to my horror that I'd forgoten to pack my museum approved drawing impliment, a pencil. So I bought one in the touristy gift shop and whittled a point with my pocket knife. Regrettably, Andrew Jackson was the first to go.
From atop of this double decker tour bus I once again braved the wind and cold and now chilling rain to see Ford's Theater and next to it Lincoln's Pizza (I am not making this up), the Spy Museum, Willard Hotel, and the J Edgar Hoover building mentioned earlier which has been dubbed the ugliest building in America (it's poured cement in a style known to designers as "brutalism"), and the Capitol Building.
By now the poncho provided by the tour bus people wasn't enough to keep me and my carry on bag dry, so I hopped off at the first of many stops, the Hirschorn Museum. Here I saw works by Leger (whom I sketched), Jake Chapman, and my least favorite artist, Francis Bacon. Barbara Kruger's work is like sign painting, huge and red and white. Her slogans are catchy, "Belief + Doubt = Reality," but I did not become a fan.
I did however find some volvelles in the gift shop. My decade long fascination with adjustable round charts isn't going away and I am determinded to cook up an idea for a volvelle that deserves to be in every museum gift shop in America. A project to work on during my long train ride home.
My visit to the Hirschorn didn't last long; they wouldn't let me charge my dying phone. I walked outside where my tour bus company promised busses pass every 30 minutes. By now it was now pouring and with no covered bus stop I was soon drenched. I promised myself between bites of carrot that on my long train ride back to Washington I'll also invent a device to keep museum goers dry after viewing modern art. It will include features of both umbrellas and ponchos.
The bus finally arrived and now, decisions, decisions. Do I find a Starbucks to charge my phone, go home and dry out, or play it by ear? The ear option won out. I wanted to discover more about our country's capitol even though I was shivering.
To my delight the tour bus went past another museum on my "to see" list, so I hopped off and into the Freer/Sackler museum I went. I'm so glad I did. Inside this lesser known yet world class museum are artifacts from China, Iran, Egypt, Istanbul, and early pencil drawings by the famous American painter, James Whistler (his mother was no where to be found).
This museum also forbade me from charging my phone so after another swoonful perusal of the gift shop (I wanted to spend only $500 in this gift store as opposed to the thousands I've wanted to spend in others), I walked outside again to stand at the curb and wait for the next tour bus to swing by. Alas, it was still torrential rain weather with no covered waiting area, a serious design flaw by city planners, and when the bus finally arrived I'd said more than a few unpleasant remarks about busses, governments, and most world leaders.
My ambition now was to spend the rest of the evening sight seeing and then go home, dry out, and eat whatever me meal I could buy on the way.
My sight seeing tour deserves it's own blog post. It follows this one.
No comments:
Post a Comment