I spent most of Friday in Washington, DC hanging out with my friend Joe Sandillo who I know from my time at the University of Florida. But it seemed to take a long time to travel just 30 or so miles to get to DC from Baltimore. I took Baltimore’s Light Rail to Penn Station after waiting 20 minutes for the train to arrive. It seemed to take another 20 or more minutes to get to Penn Station. So much time, in fact, that although I left the hotel at 9:30 I barely made it to Penn Station in time to get my ticket for the 10:50 MARC commuter train to Washington. It was a relief to finally get to Joe’s. He recently bought a condo in the Logan Circle neighborhood at N St. and 14th St. and I was excited to see him and his new home. We had lunch al fresco at a nearby restaurant and then took a long walk through his neighborhood up to Meridian Hill Park overlooking the city and then back down to the DuPont Circle area. It was nice to be away from tourists and since I have been to DC many times and seen most of the tourist attractions, I didn‘t really care what we did. I think the highlight of the day for me was sitting outside at a bar on 17th Street, having a few beers, catching up, and talking about old time. Good times; good times.
Drew came back from his class that evening and the three of us, along with Joe’s friend Andrew, went to a restaurant called Marvin in the U Street neighborhood. U Street was historically the cultural center of African American Washington, sort of the Harlem of DC, but today it has become a neighborhood of various groups and seems to be going through a renaissance. Many of the establishments are named for Jazz greats like Duke Ellington and others. Marvin is a restaurant named for Marvin Gay and the food is a mixture of Southern and Belgian food as Marvin Gay once spent several years in Belgium. They had a large menu of Belgian beers and mussels. For dinner, I had fried chicken on top of a waffle. It seemed at first like a strange combination, but I enjoyed the flavor of chicken, waffle, and maple syrup and would have it again. After dinner, we walked down the street to a bar called Nellie’s and hung out on the roof deck for a little while. Drew and I felt like two old men when we pooped out at 11:00 and went back to our hotel. Going out on the town is just not what it used to be when we were young.
Saturday, Drew and I still had half a day before our flight home but had no plans as to what we wanted to do before then. After breakfast we decided to go to the National Cathedral which is a straight shot up Massachusetts Ave. from our hotel in Dupont Circle. As we waited for a taxi in front of our hotel we noticed a long line forming at the Portuguese embassy across the street (Mass. Ave. is often called Embassy Row). We wondered what it was about as they didn’t look like asylum seekers or anything, but didn’t pay to much attention to it. Once in the taxi heading to the cathedral we learned that it was European Union Embassies’ open house day. We passed several more on our way up the street and were especially impressed with the goings-on at the British embassy. We made a quick loop through the cathedral and then walked back down the street to the British embassy. Out in front a children’s choir was singing Let It Be and the gates where decorated with union jack bunting. Once inside, we were able to walk through the gardens of the ambassador’s residence, take pictures, listen to bag pipes, try some scotch, and browse the booths. We probably stayed for about 45 minutes. The anglophile in me was in heaven and I kept wondering what Hyacinth Bucket (from the BritCom Keeping Up Appearances) would think about my getting to go to a garden party at the ambassador’s. We didn’t have time to go to any of the other embassies and by then the lines were getting long anyway. We met my friend Donald Hitchcock for lunch who filled us in on all the political goings-on behind the scenes in DC--he and his partner Paul are very well connected politically--and then drove us to the airport for our flight home.
It was nice to travel with my friend Drew again as it had been sometime since we had gone on a trip together and I found it interesting that my trip that began with a visit to Fort McHenry ended with a visit to the British Embassy. Thanks Drew for a great trip.
Here is a link to some pictures I posted on Facebook (you do not need to be a member of Facebook to view them):
Just click here to view pictures.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Baltimore
Greetings from Baltimore! I am here with my friend Drew who is here for a doctors' continuing education class and invited me along. This is my first real time in Baltimore (I came when I was five to a Baltimore Orioles game with my Dad and uncle and cousin who lived in DC but that's all we did, so I don't think that really counts).
We arrived Wednesday by various transportation modes: we flew into Washington, DC, took the Metro to Union Station, a commuter train to Baltimore, and a taxi to our hotel. We are staying in downtown Baltimore across the street from Camden Yards baseball stadium. Once we finally got settled in, we walked down to Baltimore's Inner Harbor. Baltimore has a natural harbor formed by the Patapsco river which snakes it way into the inner city. The final end of it is almost surrounded on four sides by land. We had drinks at a bar with a great view of the National Aquarium and the USS Constellation, a ship from the War of 1812. We later met up with some friends of Drew's and their newborn for dinner and then walked back to their row house in the Federal Hill neighborhood. Baltimore seems covered with row houses. I had no idea it was such a "real" city like Boston or Washington, DC--very dense with houses right on the street, walkable neighborhoods, and lots of parallel parking. The Federal Hill neighborhood was particularly charming. On a large hill overlooking the harbor, was a large American flag on the spot where there was once a huge union garrison stationed during the civil war to "keep an eye on the rebellious elements in Baltimore." At least that's what the historic marker said.
Today, I took a water taxi to Fort McHenry at the opposite end of the harbor. The fort was heavily bombarded by the British during the War of 1812. During the bombardment the flag flying over the fort was not damaged and Francis Scott Key wrote a poem about it, called "The Star-Spangled Banner, " which was eventually set to music and became our national anthem. The flag that inspired our anthem is now in Washington, DC at the Smithsonian but there is a replica of it flying over the fort. It has fifteen stars and fifteen stripes for the 15 states that were part of the union at the time. Before heading to the fort I stopped at the visitor center for a short film. When the film was over, the curtain to the right of us parted revealing a large picture window with a perfect view of the fort and the flag. We were asked to stand and the national anthem was played over the speakers. I thought it was a little hokie and wondered what would happen if I started to sing, "There'll Always be an England?" But I didn't and actually, the rest of the day I couldn't get the national anthem out of my head. There were several elementary school groups there on field trips but somehow I managed to avoid them by seeing various parts of the fort at just the right time. After seeing all I wanted, I took the water taxi to the historic Fell's Point neighborhood where I had lunch at a pub. I took a long walk after lunch, partly by accident, back to the harbor. After walking around the Mount Vernon neighborhood a bit, I returned to the hotel for a nice nap.
When Drew got out of his class we took a free shuttle bus to an Irish pub by the harbor for a beer before going on to Obrycki's restaurant back in Fell's Point for a traditional Baltimore Blue Crab dinner. We got three jumbo Blue Crabs as well as two crab cakes. I had never had a traditional crab meal before and while it was delicious, I think it was the messiest meal I have ever had. We went through a whole big stack of paper napkins and had crab and goo all over our hands. I have since washed my hands three time and they still smell like crab. But it was a lot of fun and we got some good pictures and had some good laughs. Tomorrow Drew goes back to class (something with cadavers and tracheotomies) and I am heading back to Washington, DC to spend the day with my friend Joe. Stay tuned for more.
We arrived Wednesday by various transportation modes: we flew into Washington, DC, took the Metro to Union Station, a commuter train to Baltimore, and a taxi to our hotel. We are staying in downtown Baltimore across the street from Camden Yards baseball stadium. Once we finally got settled in, we walked down to Baltimore's Inner Harbor. Baltimore has a natural harbor formed by the Patapsco river which snakes it way into the inner city. The final end of it is almost surrounded on four sides by land. We had drinks at a bar with a great view of the National Aquarium and the USS Constellation, a ship from the War of 1812. We later met up with some friends of Drew's and their newborn for dinner and then walked back to their row house in the Federal Hill neighborhood. Baltimore seems covered with row houses. I had no idea it was such a "real" city like Boston or Washington, DC--very dense with houses right on the street, walkable neighborhoods, and lots of parallel parking. The Federal Hill neighborhood was particularly charming. On a large hill overlooking the harbor, was a large American flag on the spot where there was once a huge union garrison stationed during the civil war to "keep an eye on the rebellious elements in Baltimore." At least that's what the historic marker said.
Today, I took a water taxi to Fort McHenry at the opposite end of the harbor. The fort was heavily bombarded by the British during the War of 1812. During the bombardment the flag flying over the fort was not damaged and Francis Scott Key wrote a poem about it, called "The Star-Spangled Banner, " which was eventually set to music and became our national anthem. The flag that inspired our anthem is now in Washington, DC at the Smithsonian but there is a replica of it flying over the fort. It has fifteen stars and fifteen stripes for the 15 states that were part of the union at the time. Before heading to the fort I stopped at the visitor center for a short film. When the film was over, the curtain to the right of us parted revealing a large picture window with a perfect view of the fort and the flag. We were asked to stand and the national anthem was played over the speakers. I thought it was a little hokie and wondered what would happen if I started to sing, "There'll Always be an England?" But I didn't and actually, the rest of the day I couldn't get the national anthem out of my head. There were several elementary school groups there on field trips but somehow I managed to avoid them by seeing various parts of the fort at just the right time. After seeing all I wanted, I took the water taxi to the historic Fell's Point neighborhood where I had lunch at a pub. I took a long walk after lunch, partly by accident, back to the harbor. After walking around the Mount Vernon neighborhood a bit, I returned to the hotel for a nice nap.
When Drew got out of his class we took a free shuttle bus to an Irish pub by the harbor for a beer before going on to Obrycki's restaurant back in Fell's Point for a traditional Baltimore Blue Crab dinner. We got three jumbo Blue Crabs as well as two crab cakes. I had never had a traditional crab meal before and while it was delicious, I think it was the messiest meal I have ever had. We went through a whole big stack of paper napkins and had crab and goo all over our hands. I have since washed my hands three time and they still smell like crab. But it was a lot of fun and we got some good pictures and had some good laughs. Tomorrow Drew goes back to class (something with cadavers and tracheotomies) and I am heading back to Washington, DC to spend the day with my friend Joe. Stay tuned for more.
Friday, January 1, 2010
Christmas 2009
I went to Orlando for Christmas this year as I always do, but this year I drove and stayed longer. While I was there I also visited Fort Lauderdale to see some friends. Besides just hanging out a lot, I did a couple of things that I would like to blog about.
On my way back from Fort Lauderdale to Orlando, I decided to forgo the turnpike and take back roads through the Everglades and past Lake Okeechobee. I stopped about 20 miles west of Fort Lauderdale at the Sawgrass Recreation Park on US Hwy 27. The park is situated in the northeast corner of the vast Everglades and has both a boat launch and a small zoo. I took an air boat ride first. I have always wanted to go on one but until then had never even been to the Everglades despite having grown up in Florida. The boat took us out for about a half an hour over the sawgrass swamp where we saw a couple of alligators and some birds. The Everglades used to be a giant 60 foot wide slow moving waterway that went from Lake Okeechobee down to Florida Bay at the end of the state. But because of all the levies, canals, and roads that have been built over them, most of the glades are now a non-moving marsh. Such was the condition of the swamp we were seeing. We also stopped at an island where some Malaluca trees had been planted and an Osprey was resting on one. These foreign trees were at one time planted all over the everglades in the hope that they would drink up the water and help convert the land to farmland. The trees reproduced like crazy and now the state is trying all kinds of methods to try and kill them. After the boat ride, I walked around the small zoo and saw more alligators and a Florida Panther, the state animal. I also read a display about efforts to "restore" the Everglades, which basically involve more dams, canals, and pumping stations to try to recreate the natural flow. I'll believe it when I see it. You can read more about Sawgrass Recreation Park at their website: http://www.evergladestours.com.
After my air boat adventure, I headed north on Hwy 27 toward Lake Okeechobee. On my way there I passed more swamp which eventually gave way to sugarcane fields as far as I could see in both directions. Eventually I did pass other farms including several palm tree farms where several varieties were being grown to be used later for landscaping. At the southeast corner of the lake, I passed through the town of Belle Glade. Although it is in Palm Beach county, it must be one of the poorest cities in the state. It was certainly the poorest place in Florida that I remember visiting. I took a wrong turn at one point and ended up going through downtown and then through a neighborhood that reminded me of some of the poverty I have seen in Honduras. You know things are bad when the main store downtown is the Goodwill. Apparently most of the economy comes from people working on the sugarcane fields. God bless them. In Pahokee, I drove up on the levy surrounding the lake and walked around the marina. Lake Okeechobee is the second largest lake in the US that is entirely within the US. It is so large that I could not see across it. As I continued on and drove around it, I did not see much more of the lake as it is surrounded by a high levy to prevent flooding during hurricanes. While it serves its purpose it has damaged the Everglades ecosystem south of it, which depended on it flooding. So I drove north with the levy on my left and passed numerous Sabal Palms (the state tree) and Live Oaks and fishing camps and felt like I was in the "real" Florida.
On the Monday after Christmas, my parents and I went to Lake Wales to see Bok Tower and its surrounding gardens, about an hour southwest of Orlando. It is situated on a hill known locally as iron mountain which rises 342 feet above sea level, making it the highest point in peninsular Florida and the second highest point in the state. The tower was built in the 1920s for Edward Bok and the gardens surrounding it were designed by Frank Law Olmstead, Jr. After Bok's death, it was given to the State of Florida. Although one cannot go up in the tower we did get to hear the 60 bell carillon give a concert and we enjoyed walking around the grounds taking in the views of the surrounding orange groves and enjoying the scenery of the ponds and native Florida trees. We also visited the Pinewood Estate property next door and enjoyed seeing the house professionally decorated for the holidays. The house was at onetime the winter home of C. Austin Buck, the one-time president of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation. Although the Christmas decorations were very pretty, we would have rather been there on an ordinary day when they give the regular tour which would have been more informative. You can read more about Bok Tower and the Pinewood Estate at their website: http://www.boktowergardens.org.
I have posted an album on Facebook with some of my pictures from my trip. You do not need to be a member of Facebook to view these photos. Just click on the following link:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=47835&id=1410030498&l=999cc50b56
After our visit to Bok Tower, we went to the nearby Spook Hill. I had always heard of Spook Hill, a hill where it appears that one can roll backwards up a hill. It is really just an optical illusion but it sure seemed real when we were there. Here is a video of my parents' car rolling backwards "up" the hill:
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