Capital Capital

So far in his career and travels, Pedro had not yet had a chance to tour our nation’s capital city, Washington, D.C. So when he was sent over there the first week of August for a work conference, he extended his trip by a day and a half, to do some sightseeing.

We chose a place to stay right next to the Mall (YOTEL – I highly recommend!). Now, for the uninitiated, “the mall” in D.C. is the National Mall, our nation’s most visited national park. But as I told Pedro, I casually drop the phrase “the mall” wickedly, to tease people who don’t know. For example, someone asks me what I did in D.C., and I say, “Mostly I walked the Mall.” It’s so juvenile, I know. But every so often I get someone who says, “The mall? WHY would you waste your time at the mall, when you are in our nation’s capital city?!” heh heh. Yes, I am nine years old.

The National Mall is 2 miles long and on either side it is jammed with monuments, art displays, museums, fountains, and trees. If you’ve only got a day or two in D.C., and don’t have your heart set on something and just want to see a lot – this is exactly where you should go.

Our super cool hotel was about 2 blocks from the Capitol Building. The morning after the conference we walked over. From the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial (detouring around the Tidal Basin) we walked the entire length on one side. The south side, or left side, when looking at the image of the Mall above.

We popped out at the side of the Capitol that does not face the Mall, which turned out to be a good thing. There were almost no people at the East side, and when we walked around to the West side (facing the Mall), we saw that it was all covered in scaffolding. I found online that the scaffolding is Phase 3 of a four-phase project to protect and preserve stone and metal structures that are part of the capitol. Phase 1 was completed in 2017 & phase 2 in 2020, so despite the interesting timing, the repairs apparently have nothing to with damage sustained when insects, er, lemmings, I mean, MAGA boneheads swarmed it.

We walked along the south side of the Mall until we came to a captivating red building that we had to investigate. Once we arrived, we saw there are actually two red buildings beside each other, the Arts & Industries building and the Smithsonian Castle that is temporarily closed. I do not think I have been inside this one, and I hope to explore it someday when it is open. Despite all the construction orange and big fences, I tried to show how pretty they are.

It was a lot of walking and the heat and humidity were squelching some of the fun. Also, my knee was still plaguing me from the mystery not-injury from the Spring, so I was wearing a knee brace. But we kept going. One thing that helped were scads of young men entrepreneurs that began popping up here and there as the heat intensified. Each the master of a cooler filled with ice and bottles of water and Coke and Sprite and Gatorade.

The dominant character on the horizon was always the Washington Monument. It’s hard to avoid, compelling in its size and simplicity.

In my former visits, I had followed the pull to the Lincoln Memorial, and continued the direct path. This time, Pedro agreed to take a detour around the Tidal Basin so we could visit the Jefferson Memorial, which I had never seen up close before. We took a 90 degree turn to the left, and deviated from the path in the photo above.

I began to pay attention to the quotes incorporated into the monuments. It would serve me well in a few minutes when I saw the Roosevelt Memorial. I appreciated the often wise words chosen to be carved into marble:

“I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.”

“I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and constitutions, but laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as a civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors.”

We continued circling the Tidal Basin, heading for the Lincoln Memorial.

Since I had never walked this route, I had never seen the Roosevelt Memorial and now I plan to come back and spend some dedicated time there in a future when we have that luxury. It is a 7.5 acre memorial that requires walking around, through different outdoor “rooms” and past pools and waterfalls. It is designed to be approachable, touchable and relatable, with statues and quotes at eye level. One of the Roosevelt statues unflinchingly celebrates his use of a wheelchair (due to polio).

I was again silenced and awed by the wisdom of the quotes chosen for this monument. It was hard to pick the best.

“The test of our progress is not whether to add more to the abundance of those who have much, it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.”

“I have seen war on land and sea. I have seen blood running from the wounded… I have seen the dead in the mud. I have seen cities destroyed… I have seen children starving. I have seen the agony of mothers and wives. I hate war.”

“They (who) seek to establish system of government based on the regimentation of all human beings by a handful of individual rulers…call this a new order. …It is not new and it is not order.”

With this extraordinary wisdom at the highest of leadership levels in our country’s history….how, how, how can we go so desperately off track in subsequent years? How, as a country, can we honor these people and simultaneously walk in direct opposition to them? Oh how I wish human social development was linear, and that lessons learned were always learned, and wise counsel was always considered, and each new obstacle would be one we have never encountered before. Just imagine how far we could have come if we didn’t have to keep re-learning WHY the great men of our past were considered great. Why must we be forever under the regiment of our barbarous ancestors?

We walked on.

With the risk of mistaking one monument as singularly significant, I was truly impressed with the next one I saw. We had spotted it from a distance, from across the water while standing at the Jefferson Memorial.

It was indeed the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. I have recently read a biography of the man, called King: A Life, by Jonathan Eig. I appreciated the honest depiction of a human being, and a careful look at his motivations and demons and mistakes and successes. Anyway, the monument is outstanding.

“I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.”

King’s quote must thus buoy me in my despair. I need to recall that I am in a particularly sad time in the U.S. – in the world – at least in my small perspective. But things are not all sad, and evil times are never permanent. I yearn for a leader though. Don’t you? Who will it be who holds a light for us?

The WWII Memorial is divided by Atlantic and Pacific theatres. The columns on either side are grouped based on geographical location. I found the U.S. state of Oregon, a participant in the Pacific theatre.

From the fountain we could see the Reflecting Pool. We made a half-hearted attempt to climb the wall from the WWII pool to the Reflecting Pool, but with people everywhere, we decided not to be a pair of dorks making a spectacle of ourselves in a solemn place. So we walked around to the south side and walked the length of the long rectangular pool. We got closer and closer to the Lincoln Memorial, which had strange brown bands around the middle columns. It turned out that there was construction, and the brown bands were protective wooden padding to shield the columns while equipment and materials went in and out of the structure.

I looked up the story behind the ceiling. I couldn’t find it clearly spelled out, but let me do my best for you. It seems that statues are best lit from the top, to make use of shadows to emphasize features. The Lincoln Memorial was designed with thin marble ceiling slabs, intended to let daylight through and illuminate our 16th President. The marble slabs are saturated with paraffin to increase their translucency. But that’s not the whole story! Unfortunately, not enough light comes through that way to overcome the brightness coming in from the sides of the building and especially that super bright reflecting pool. It’s like Lincoln’s face is lit by a flashlight from the chin, and we all know that does not make a person look their best. Emergency funding was approved after the sculptor discovered this horrible accident, and lighting was installed inside as well, to do what the marble ceiling could not.

We agreed that our next step would be in the direction of the closest Uber. My feet were throbbing and we were both sweating through our clothes and starving. Soon we were in a car and resting while someone else worried about directions.

But we almost forgot!! As I mentioned in my last post, there was a certain high-profile visitor to the Courthouse for his indictment. It was a bit of a madhouse driving past, with 70 gajillion news crews out front giving breathless speeches about justice and scandal with halos of satellite dishes. Then there was the MAGA camp, with the biggest flags and loudest obnoxicity, proclaiming their undying love and support for that vile narcissist. We got a video of the craziness as we drove past, but I can’t find it. This is the only photo I can find.

We got through in minutes, and were soon showered and dressed in fresh clothing, and walking to an Irish Pub nearby, which is really the only good way to wash away the stink of moral decay.