6/16/12
Confused by the title? Heck, do you even actually read the title? If not, be sure to! Sometimes they are catchy and at others, they are hints at what is to come (ie, this post!).
Alright, so weekend 3 in DC, 2nd weekend with KIPs. This weekend our group was a little smaller than last weekend, however, it was quite a malleable group. Our targeted location: Eastern Market.
Luckily for me, they had completed the weekend work on the Orange line (however, it has transitioned to the Blue and Red line). Not so lucky for me, the Yankees had invaded. Last weekend we had to fight through the crazy mobs of girl scouts, this weekend it was a mob of Yankees fan in town for the Nationals game.
I'll be completely honest, I would have preferred girl scouts and track work. To start off my day I caught the Metro at my local station (a nice change, right?) and was headed towards Eastern Market--or I would have been. Even though the track was up and running, I sat at the Vienna station for something like 14 minutes. During those 14 minutes the train went from being empty enough for me to find a seat to full of Yankees fans. And I mean, FULL--the fullest I have ever seen the Metro. And I have been surrounded by girl scouts and gay pride activists.
Again, I digress (surprising, right?). So, after sitting for nearly a quarter of an hour, the train was off. Luckily, I wasn't the only one that was held-up, so even though I was 5+ minutes late, I was only the 3rd person to arrive.
After the majority of our group arrived (missing a few people that over slept, etc) we headed a couple streets over to the market. It is a really neat place. Eastern Market is a mixed of old and new. There is a large brick building, which still houses fresh meat and such, and outside the building is surrounded by tents of various items--jewelry, fresh fruits and veggies, paintings, other forms of art, and assorted trinkets, etc.
We started our day out by grabbing lunch at small little place (that I don't remember the name of. However, it was 210 7th street) that was featured on the food channel or something (some show that is apparently really popular). It was really good. I had a chicken empanada with rice and delicious fries.
The group did not initially go into the brick building, but we found our way inside after navigating the market. At the south end (I think) there was a bakery counter. I was great and resisted the urge to buy anything--the first time. We then met up with some new members of our group (Our dear Southern Bell overslept) and wandered around the market a little while longer. A segment of our group split off to find some place to grab some drinks (the first place we tried was ruled out because of its prices) and we agreed to meet up a little later. Our late comers wanted to see the market.
So, we found ourselves back in the market...and part of the group wanted to get cookies. I was going to resist buying anything, like I had before, but then I saw the eclairs. I eventually caved and bought an eclair (which was awesome!) and a sweet tea (I was thirsty).
We had worn out the market (you can only walk past stalls so many times without buying anything) and it was time to go meet up with the rest of the group. We wandered around the area (which I found to be a gorgeous, but Garrett was skeptical. Apparently Georgetown is a prettier part of town. Regardless, it was quaint) and finally found the rest of the group. Happy hour started at 4pm, so we killed time until our older members could enjoy drinks.
Killing time meant we found a really neat store with chairs outside on display. They were a mix of hammocks and those big circle chairs with the cushions. They were some of the most comfortable chairs I have ever relaxed in!
The group found a unique little piano bar. Some of the group enjoyed happy hour while the rest of us chatted and got to know one another a little better. This continued for awhile until, surprise, I got hungry. I pitched it to the remaining members of our group (we lost a few along the way) and we headed out (loosing a couple other members who decided that Popeye's chicken sounded like a good dinner option).
Unfortunately for us, we are not quite the masters of the DC area that we like to tell ourselves we are. We headed off walking down the street, turned onto a different one, and then ended up by the Navy Yards (or something along those lines). Finally, we did the intelligent thing-pulled out our smart phones, stopped listening to Garrett--only kidding...partially--and figured out where the nearest metro station was. After a bit more of a walk--and a slight detour where the majority of our group decided to talk to the Marines guarding some parking structure--we made it to the subway that would take us too...the part of town that we would find food in! (I really should learn the names of the area, but hey, when you have a Metro app, it's irrelevant!).
We entered the Metro station, only to experience a slight delay--not in trains (surprisingly) but with a member of our group. It was a nice day out, but the Metro stations can be a little warm right when you enter them. Not to mention, being underground, in a "modern cave" can quickly lead to a strong sense of claustrophobia. Some mild side affects of claustrophobia can be dizziness, nausea , and death. Luckily, the last side affect didn't apply to a certain member of our group. Not-so-luckily, the first two did. The details are a little fuzzy to me (I had already jumped, errr, gone through, the turnstile [which doesn't actually turn] so I missed the actual event. Thankfully.), but a certain member--who for legal reasons shall remain nameless--got sick.
Vomit aside (or in the can maybe...) we all boarded the train and headed to--well, I wasn't entirely sure until we go there. I just was following along, sort of. We finally got out and made it to Chinatown (which was NOT where I thought we were going).
If you recall, I mentioned that we had been to Chinatown before. Well, I was partially right. We were on the outskirts of Chinatown. This time, we actually saw the big Chinese gate that spans the road. We "crossed the threshold" and entered the "true" Chinatown district. By this point, we were all starving, and stopped in at the first Chinese restaurant we saw.
As we looked over the menu, a certain female member of our remaining group (we lost two more on the subway who headed to a concert) mentioned how wonderful duck was to eat. She made sure we knew that duck was far superior to chicken in every way. And that duck was the only thing she ordered when she ate Chinese food. Oh, and she wanted us to know that one time she ate a whole duck because it was delicious. And did I mention that duck apparently is really good? Next time you go out for Chinese, you may want to try duck. Duck is much better than chicken. Be sure to try duck, you will LOVE duck. Duck is just delicious. While I didn't get duck, I did enjoy my orange chicken (which, in case you may have forgotten, is not duck).
Along with the duck--and the many jokes that accompanied the duck talk--the restaurant was one that served tea with the meal. We had a neat little pot (which reminded Alyssa and I both of Mulan, and then led to a discussion of our favorite Disney Movies [hers is Lion King, mine...meh, I find it hard to decide]) and the small ceramic cups to drink from. The tea didn't have much flavor--which, notes Alyssa, is why she probably liked it so much. She really likes the taste of water. It was a very good meal. DUCK DUCK DUCK DUCK DUCK DUCK DUCK DUCK DUCK CHICKEN.
(That last line can be omitted from reading for everyone that was not present for the meal).
After we all finished our meal of Duck and not duck, we decided to go visit some of the monuments. This was both a good and bad idea. Good because they are beautiful at night. Bad because we walked, and didn't really have a game plan, and just kind of meandered. Good because we got to know one another, bad because I was sleepy.
We originally headed toward what we THOUGHT was the Jefferson Memorial--it wasn't. While we missed our target the first time, we didn't mind. At least, not until we all realized how full our bladders were. Garrett and I had both used the restroom when we arrived at the Chinese place. And then proceeded to describe the torture chamber that was straight out of a Saw movie that was the restroom. (Ok, so it wasn't that bad, but it was a little sketch. You had to go down a flight of stairs, follow an oddly lit hallway, and then enter into a grungy restroom. When I went down there, there was another door right next to the restroom that looked like it led to a storage area--a concrete, cold, creepy storage area.).
I'll be honest (and maybe a little too honest for some of my readers) but I don't have a very big bladder, so I needed to find a restroom. I asked a kindly-old-police officer (who really wasn't all that old, but was kind) where we could find the nearest restroom. He pointed us towards the Smithsonian. While it was closed, he mentioned they would probably let us in. And let us in they did!
We probably looked a little suspicious. Garrett and I had not finished our meals and were walking around with little brown bags. Upon entering a National Museum, I'm sure we looked just a tad sketch. Thankfully, the security guard let us in, chuckled about our "baggage" and then had a great conversation with us while we waited on the girls.
Upon leaving the museum, we found direction for the rest of the night: the monuments. We were bound and determined to see the Jefferson Memorial. We headed off in the general direction, making pit stops at the Washington Monument (which, Karen and Sarah decided looked like a certain time of head gear from a specific type of organization) and the WWII memorial. The WWII is a gorgeous memorial to see at night. It is breathtaking. I highly recommend a visit after sundown!
The group took a short breather at the WWII memorial (we were a bit tired from walking) and then headed off towards the Jefferson Memorial. For the record, the Jefferson Memorial is on an island. This island is within walking distance, but not "close" walking distance. I'd give it a "walker-friendly" score of like 6.5. It was a bit of a trek. A trek most of us had small regrets about once we finally reached the memorial.
Regrets aside, the Jefferson is another great memorial to see at night. The power and prestige is but a fleeting capture of what Jefferson stood for. There is something amazing about the standing Jefferson in his rotunda that contrasts with the sitting Lincoln in his temple. It's amazing.
After a longer-than-intended rest break, we reached the conclusion we would catch a taxi back to the metro stop if we could find a taxi for 5 people. We didn't. So, the walk back began. We were all pretty sluggish by this point--worn out from a long day of exploring. As we got closer to the metro stop, I rejoiced at being the first person to recognize where we were at--close to the smithsonian metro right next to the USDA buildings. Something about my first day exploring the city will always help me to remember that spot!
So, after one final random fact (I had been spouting off random facts about the monuments all day. I'm not sure if anyone was listening or not. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be "that dad" or "that guy" when I get older." I guess that's the downside to always reading all the tid-bits of information they put in museums and on monument apps), we rode the escalator down for one final time that night. Of course, the train wasn't there. Of course we had to wait, but hey, that's government transportation!
We all loaded to go the same direction, but 3 departed after only a couple stops, and then I was left alone after another couple stops. On the upside, the train was relatively empty. I had a short conversation with some Yankees fans and an elderly Nationals fans--I interjected into their conversation with my limited knowledge of baseball by saying "Go Cards!" Luckily, thanks to their wonderful World Series records-and a couple jokes about the Cubs and White Socks, I was able to appear half way baseball-literate.
Eventually even my baseball buddies left and I was left to listen to the conversations of the small number of remaining people (I would have listened to music, but my phone had basically died. Luckily, when I made it back to Vienna, there was enough battery left for me to use my flashlight app so I didn't have to walk on the trail that runs through the woods in complete darkness).
Well, that's the gist of the story. I thought about calling it a night a couple of times while typing this, but I promised Garrett I'd get it up before tomorrow morning and I did! So, it's now past my bed-time (I'm an old man on Sundays, remember?) so I'm going to bring this to a close.
I'll do my best to post about my Sunday and Monday (we are going to DuPont Circle tomorrow) as soon as I get the chance. But sleep will be a priority. Maybe not everyone is this way, but this Intern certain likes his sleep! Goodnight!
No comments:
Post a Comment