Day 80/11 Tue Aug 20
NEW JERSEY (Newark, Trenton, Atlantic City)
Most of the sites in New Jersey were out of the way (Cape May, Atlantic City), so I only saw one site on my way to eastern Pennsylvania.
Cranbury Inn, Cranbury. The White Horse Inn was here in 1742, and the Cranbury Inn dates from 1756. It has a vast wine store, a large dining room, and a bar.
PENNSYLVANIA EAST (Philadelphia, Harrisburg, Scranton)
Beth Sholom Congregation, Elkins Park, is a Conservative Jewish synagogue whose main synagogue building, completed in 1959, was the only Jewish house of worship designed by Frank Lloyd Wright; it consists of a hexagonal base topped by a tetrahedron-shaped pyramidal roof. The doughnut-shaped annex is a school and auditorium.
Due to various delays and construction difficulties, the synagogue was not dedicated until September 20, 1959, after Wright died.
The main building is a National Historic Landmark and has a facade made of glass, steel, and reinforced concrete. The 100-foot-tall (30 m) roof is made of corrugated plastic and wire glass, suspended between three steel-and-concrete beams—the hexagonal interior measures 175 feet (53 m) wide, with furnishings designed by Wright. The main sanctuary on the second floor has 1,000 seats and slopes down toward the center.
PHILADELPHIA
Eastern State Penitentiary. Operational from 1829 until 1971. The penitentiary refined the revolutionary system of separate incarceration, first pioneered at the Walnut Street Jail, which emphasized principles of reform rather than punishment.
Notorious criminals such as Al Capone and bank robber Willie Sutton were held inside its innovative wagon wheel design. For their role in the Kelayres massacre of 1934, James Bruno (Big Joe) and several male relatives were incarcerated here between 1936 and 1948, before they were paroled. At its completion, the building was the most extensive and most expensive public structure ever erected in the United States,[9] and quickly became a model for more than 300 prisons worldwide.
The prison is currently a U.S. National Historic Landmark,[5] which is open to the public as a museum for tours daily.
19th century
Eastern State is considered to be the world’s first true penitentiary, with seven corridors of heated and sky-lighted cells capable of holding 500 convicts in isolation. The “Pennsylvania system” or separate system, encouraged separate confinement as a form of rehabilitation. The warden was legally required to visit every inmate every day, and the overseers were mandated to see each inmate three times a day.
The Pennsylvania system was opposed contemporaneously by the Auburn system (also known as the New York system), which held that prisoners should be forced to work together in silence and could be subjected to physical punishment (Sing Sing prison was an example of the Auburn system). Although the Auburn system was favoured in the United States, Eastern State’s radial floor plan and system of solitary confinement was the model for over 300 prisons worldwide.
The halls were designed to have the feel of a church. The cells were made of concrete with a single glass skylight, representing the “Eye of God”, suggesting to the prisoners that God was always watching them.
Outside the cell was an individual area for exercise, enclosed by high walls so prisoners could not communicate. Exercise time for each prisoner was synchronized so no two prisoners next to each other would be out at the same time. Prisoners were allowed to garden and even keep pets in their exercise yards. When a prisoner left his cell, an accompanying guard would wrap a hood over his head to prevent him from being recognized by other prisoners.
Cell accommodations were advanced for their time, including a faucet with running water over a flush toilet, as well as curved pipes along part of one wall, which served as central heating during the winter months, where hot water would be run through the pipes to keep the cells reasonably heated. Toilets were remotely flushed twice a week by the guards of the cellblock.
The original design of the building was for seven one-story cell blocks, but by the time cell block three was completed, the prison was already over capacity. All subsequent cell blocks had two floors. Toward the end, cell blocks 14 and 15 were hastily built due to overcrowding. They were built and designed by prisoners. Cell block 15 was for the worst-behaved prisoners, and the guards were gated off from there entirely.
Inmates were punished with the “individual-treatment system.” At the time, this form of punishment was thought to be most effective. They would be separated from others.
20th century.
In 1924, Pennsylvania Governor Gifford Pinchot allegedly sentenced Pep “The Cat-Murdering Dog” (an actual dog) to a life sentence at Eastern State. Pep allegedly murdered the governor’s wife’s cherished cat.
On April 3, 1945, a major escape was carried out by twelve inmates (including the infamous Willie Sutton), who, over a year, managed to dig an undiscovered 97-foot (30 m) tunnel under the prison wall. During renovations in the 1930s, an additional 30 incomplete inmate-dug tunnels were discovered.
The prison was closed in 1971. During the abandoned era (from closing until the late 80s), a “forest” grew in the cell blocks and outside within the walls. The prison also became home to many stray cats.
The solitary confinement system eventually collapsed due to overcrowding problems.
Prisoners themselves were not allowed to have visits with family or friends during their stay.
The Penitentiary was intended not simply to punish, but to move the criminal toward spiritual reflection and change. Proponents of the system believed strongly that the criminals, exposed, in silence, to thoughts of their behaviour and the ugliness of their crimes, would become genuinely penitent.
In reality, the guards and councilors of the facility designed a variety of physical and psychological torture regimens for various infractions, including dousing prisoners in freezing water outside during winter months, chaining their tongues to their wrists in a fashion such that struggling against the chains could cause the tongue to tear, strapping prisoners into chairs with tight leather restraints for days on end, and putting the worst behaved prisoners into a pit called “The Hole”, an underground cellblock dug under cellblock 14 where they would have no light, no human contact, and little food for as long as two weeks.
Before its closing in late 1969, it had established a far-reaching program of group therapy that involved all inmates.
When erected in 1829, it was the most extensive and most expensive public structure in the country. The neo-Gothic look was to instill fear into those who thought of committing a crime.
To keep prisoners under constant surveillance, the hub-and-spoke plan which consisted of an octagonal center connected by corridors to seven radiating single-story cell blocks, each containing two ranges of large single cells—8 × 12 feet × 10 feet high—with hot water heating, a water tap, toilet, and individual exercise yards the same width as the cell.
When construction was completed in 1836, it could house 450 prisoners.
Haviland completed the architecture of the Eastern State Penitentiary in 1836. Each cell was lit only by a single lighting source from either skylights or windows, which was considered the “Window of God” or “Eye of God”. The time spent in prison would help inmates reflect on their crimes committed, giving them the mission for redemption.
Today. Visitors are allowed to walk into several specially marked solitary confinement cells, but most of them remain off limits and filled with original rubble and debris from years of neglect.
Religious murals in the prison chaplain’s office, painted in 1955 by inmate Lester Smith, remain visible to guests despite damage from exposure to sunlight.
One exhibit is titled “Prisons Today: Questions in the Age of Mass Incarceration.
The synagogue was restored.
One exhibit I didn’t appreciate was the sensationalized Haunted house attraction.
“Halloween Nights”, formerly known as “Terror Behind the Walls”,
Art exhibits include Ghost Cats – When the prison closed in 1971, a colony of cats lived inside. When restoration began, the cats were captured and neutered, which led to their eventual death.
Museum of Art Steps (Rocky Steps). Made famous by Rocky Balboa (a statue of him is at the top of the stairs.
Cira Centre is a 29-story, 437-foot (133 m) office high-rise directly connected to Amtrak’s 30th Street Station. It was built in 2004-05 on a platform over rail tracks.
The building has a silver glass curtain wall.
Cira Green. A square piece of grass with few trees, but it has a burger restaurant. Urban Legends
ON McDonald’s lot.
Day 80/12 Tue Aug 19
Park Towne Place is a historic apartment complex that consists of four eighteen-story buildings, a one-story office area, an underground parking garage, and a pool and spa complex. It uses reinforced concrete with limestone-tan brick, white marble, and bright aluminum trim and glass. It was constructed in 1958. The apartment buildings are in the shape of rectangular cuboids. Architectural Delight
Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul. A brown stone church with a green dome.
Comcast Center is a 58-story, 297-meter (974 ft) tower with its lead tenant Comcast occupying 87% of the building. The Comcast Experience is a 2,000-square-foot (190 m2) high-definition LED screen that has become a tourist attraction. It is LEED certified.
Betsy Ross House is purported to be the site where the upholsterer and flag-maker Betsy Ross (1752–1836) lived when she is said to have sewn the first American flag. The origins of the Betsy Ross myth trace back to her relatives, particularly her grandsons, William and George Canby, and the celebrations of the Centennial of 1876. The first American flag, sometimes called the Betsy Ross flag, is the subject of controversy among historians.n The front part of the building was built around 1740, in the Pennsylvania colonial style. Had she lived here, Ross would have resided in the house from 1776, the death of her first husband, John Ross, until about 1779.
Museum for Art in Wood. This is mostly about wood turning, and I found it rather disappointing. There could have been more furniture. Free
Fireman’s Hall Museum. A great museum with many ancient engines, steam-driven, hose carriers, great models, old helmets, cannon wagons, leather buckets and something I had not seen before, parade hats (decorated top hats). Free
Irish Memorial. A superb bronze constructed in 2005 shows 35 life-size statues depicting the 1845-50 Irish potato famine. Next to it is the Scottish Memorial.
Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens. Consists mainly of a lot of mosaics constructed of mirrors, glass and tiles, and walls built of cement embedded with a wide range of junk (plates, bicycle wheels. $15, $12 reduced. Bizzarium
Walt Whitman Bridge is a single-level suspension bridge spanning the Delaware River from Philadelphia in the west to Gloucester City in Camden County, New Jersey, in the east. It is 11,981 feet (3,652 m) in length, making it one of the largest bridges on the East Coast of the United States.
1200 Intrepid is an office building located in The Navy Yard in Philadelphia. Architectural firm BIG designed it. Construction was completed in 2016.
The building was built on spec, without a specific designated tenant. It was designed with the curving shape of battleships in mind. Pharmacy chain Rite Aid leased space in the building in late 2021.
Inga Saffron, the architecture critic for The Philadelphia Inquirer, referred to the building’s curved wall as “mesmerizing”.[4] Ingels has compared the white concrete panels that make up the building’s facade to “…bracelets of a watch [tilting to create] a graceful, organic space and inviting cavelike canopy”.
University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (Penn Museum). I wanted to go here, but parking was not possible around the medical facility.
Valley Forge National Historical Park. After the American army had had several defeats for most of two years. Soldiers, women and children fatigued from battles marched into Valley Forge on December 19, 1877, to encampments to give time to regroup over the winter. They had improper clothing, little food and diseases. This transformed them into a unified force for another five years. The Siege of Yorktown in September 1782 was the beginning of the end for the British. It was the fourth-largest city in the US in 1778.
The park has 35 miles of trails with exhibits and log cabins. Free
American Treasure Tour, Oaks. A spectacular eclectic collection of Americana – cars, signs, carnival props, antiques, one of the world’s largest private collections of automatic music machines (nickelodeons, band organs, calliopes, photoplayers, and music boxes), and pop culture. In a massive building, it is the collection of one (anonymous) man in a former B.F. Goodrich tire factory building. $12.50, $10 reduced
Centralia is a town known for the underground coal fire that has been burning since 1962. This fire, ignited by a trash fire in a landfill, spread to the nearby coal seams and has been burning beneath the town ever since. The fire has caused the ground to become unstable, with sinkholes opening up and toxic gases like carbon monoxide seeping to the surface, making the town dangerous and largely uninhabitable.
Intercourse. A NM small town in New Mexico, this was an average small US town, but with an unusual name. The population is about 1,450. A remarkable thing was all the Amish driving around in their horse and buggies. They can significantly hold up traffic. One was a school bus with two horses and about 10 kids.
It was an incredibly long drive here on back roads that wound through the countryside. Traffic was terrible in several segments.
Shoe House, York. In the countryside amid corn fields, this is an excellent simulated shoe, white with a grey “sole”. It was built in 1948 by the New York entrepreneur, Mahlon Haines. “The Shoe Wizard” to promote his chain of stores. It is 25′ high and 48′ long, and described as mid-20th-century programmatic architecture (its functions to bridge shape-like objects or animals for advertising purposes). It was built along the Lincoln Highway, the historic coast-to-coast road.
ON Burger King before the Potato Chip factory. The entire staff came out to have a look at the camper. Then someone came out to advise me that the manager said I could sleep here overnight.
Day 81/13 Wed Aug 21
Thankfully, this was a fabulous, cloudy day. Washington is notorious for its humidity. There was a massive hurricane 300 miles off the east coast that produced large waves, rip currents, surf, rain and wind that significantly modified the weather.
Martin’s Potato Chips Inc. is a manufacturer of potato chips, popcorn, and other salted snack foods that distributes to retailers in Pennsylvania and Maryland. It was founded by Harry and Fairy Martin in 1941.
Martin’s potato chips were served on Air Force One. During the terms of Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. The company sponsors the York Revolution professional baseball team of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. Martin recycles its waste byproducts, using potato peels and refuse from the potato cleaning process for cattle feed and fertilizer. I took the factory tour. Free
GETTYSBURG
Was a military invasion of Pennsylvania by the main Confederate army under General Robert E. Lee in the summer of 1863. It was the first time during the war the Confederate Army attempted a full-scale invasion of a free state. The Union won a decisive victory at Gettysburg, July 1–3, with heavy casualties on both sides. Lee managed to escape back to Virginia with most of his army. It was a turning point in the American Civil War, with Lee increasingly pushed back toward Richmond until his surrender in April 1865. The Union Army of the Potomac was commanded by Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker and then (from June 28) by Maj. Gen. George Meade.
After his victory in the Battle of Chancellorsville, Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia moved north for a massive raid designed to obtain desperately needed supplies, to undermine civilian morale in the North, and to encourage anti-war elements. Lee’s army slipped away from Federal contact at Fredericksburg, Virginia, on June 3, 1863. The largest predominantly cavalry battle of the war was fought at Brandy Station on June 9. The Confederates crossed the Blue Ridge Mountains and moved north through the Shenandoah Valley, capturing the Union garrison at Winchester, in the Second Battle of Winchester, June 13–15. Crossing the Potomac River, Lee’s Second Corps advanced through Maryland and Pennsylvania, reaching the Susquehanna River and threatening the state capital of Harrisburg. However, the Army of the Potomac was in pursuit and had reached Frederick, Maryland, before Lee realized his opponent had crossed the Potomac. Lee moved swiftly to concentrate his army around the crossroads town of Gettysburg.
The Battle of Gettysburg was the deadliest of the war. Starting as a chance meeting engagement on July 1, the Confederates were initially successful in driving Union cavalry and two infantry corps from their defensive positions, through the town, and onto Cemetery Hill. On July 2, with most of both armies now present, Lee launched fierce assaults on both flanks of the Union defensive line, which were repulsed with heavy losses on both sides. On July 3, Lee focused his attention on the Union center. The defeat of his massive infantry assault, Pickett’s Charge, caused Lee to order a retreat that began the evening of July 4.
The Confederate retreat to Virginia was plagued by bad weather, difficult roads, and numerous skirmishes with Union cavalry. However, Meade’s army did not maneuver aggressively enough to prevent Lee from crossing the Potomac to safety on the night of July 13–14.
Ron Palma’s Gettysburg Museum. A small museum jam-packed with mostly photos and a few artifacts. Very redundant and of little interest. When I told him it was not worth the money, he got pissed and accused me of not wanting to know the history of the Civil War. $9 no reduction.
Gettysburg History Museum. Much larger and more jam-packed, this has a vast range of Civil War artifacts (uniforms, hats, guns, bayonets, bullets, especially the spherical ball, which caused 85% of all casualties). There were also a lot of artifacts of presidents, especially JFK. Free and 10X more interesting than Ron’s museum.
Museum of Dimes. I looked all over for this museum and finally asked a local. It was sold about 2 years ago. The museum sold a lot of his oddities for a dime.
Gettysburg Historical Military Park. Run by the NPS, it has a museum, a cyclorama of a battle scene (Pickett’s charge), and a film costing $20.75. The museum alone costs $ 14.75, and a variety of tours are offered—no age reduction. A tree in the museum had several musket balls embedded in it – over 7 million rounds of iron and lead were fired during the war.
The tour route (taken on a tour provided by the park or self-guided) covered 35 miles and was littered with monuments. The largest was Virginia’s, with an equestrian statue of Robert E Lee. Also see two cemeteries (the National Cemetery had 3,550 graves), a hospital, and two ridges crucial to holding in battles.
Sachs Covered Bridge is a 100-foot covered bridge built in 1854 over Marsh Creek. During the American Civil War, both the Union and Confederate Armies used the bridge in the Battle of Gettysburg. It was made pedestrian only in 1963.
The National Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton (1771-1821). I’d like you to please see the good museum about her life. She married young and had two children. Her husband and children all died of tuberculosis. She started a home and was eventually canonized in 1975. The church is terrific, with a large mosaic band above the altar and another behind the altar. The Ways of the Cross were stone bas-reliefs.
National Museum of Civil War Medicine, Frederick. Frederick had 27 field hospitals. This excellent museum discussed anesthesia (ether was first used in 1846, and chloroform in 1847 and 95% of all major civil war surgery was performed under anesthesia. In 1850, the US had 42 medical schools (France had only three)
But they still believed in bleeding, cupping and blistering. Two-thirds of all deaths were due to disease, primarily infectious, as they didn’t understand the microbial nature of infection. The 65th Colored Troop had the worst stats – 465 killed and 12 survived. One hundred seventy thousand blacks served in the Union army, and 10,000 in the Union navy. Three-quarters of all surgeries were amputations, which resulted in hate of doctors but also increased survival. There were some good dioramas and good explanations: $ 9.50, $8.50 reduced.
Earth Globe Water Storage, Earthoid. On the campus of Montgomery College, this giant globe (1980) sits at the end of an oversized parking lot. The painting is nice with clouds, but no topography. A microwave tower is on top.
WASHINGTON DC
Rock Creek Park Nature Centre and Planetarium. A large urban park with a mature forest of chestnut oak (serrated leaves), maple, spruce and pine. Google Maps took me to the west side, which has a small visitor centre and nature trail with many storyboards. When I drove to Meridian Park, I passed the east side, which is much more developed and has the planetarium. Free
Meridian Park. A long, narrow urban park surrounded by a stone wall, mature trees and a large grassy area (many dogs and a group playing football. A statue of Jeanne D’Arc (1412-1431) on a horse is at one end (it was placed there by Les Femmes de France). There is excellent parking that is always free on the west side.
Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. A grand church of cream stone, a very tall bell tower, many statues and sayings on the façade, a lovely mosaic on the dome (yellow, red and blue geometrics) and an imposing domed entrance façade with a rose window. There is a lot of parking on the street and in a lot here. Hours are 7-7 during the summer (I arrived at 7:30 and it wasn’t open).
Union Market. This is a sprawling food hall with many vendors.
On the street next to Meridian Park.
Day 81/12 Fri Aug 22
A big drive and walk about day to see all the sites in the city. I drove to many of the first sites starting at 6 am to avoid traffic, then waited at the zoo until it opened at 8 am. I ended up parking on a street (that required a local permit all day, but never got a ticket.. I was in Washington after 2,000 National Guardsmen had arrived in the city.
National Geographic Museum of Exploration. Temporarily closed.
The Mayflower Hotel, Autograph Collection is the largest luxury hotel in Washington, D.C., and the most extended continuously operating hotel in the Washington metropolitan area. Ranked a four-star hotel, the Mayflower has been called the “Grande Dame of Washington” and the “Hotel of Presidents.” President Harry S. Truman, a frequent guest of the hotel, called the Mayflower Hotel the city’s “Second Best Address” after the White House.
For $11 million, it opened in 1925. The hotel had 440 guest rooms, each with its own shower bath. Guest suites had a sitting room, dining room, bath, and up to seven bedrooms. The hotel’s 500 residential guest apartments each had their own kitchenette, dining room, and drawing room with a fireplace. Some had as many as 11 rooms and up to five baths.
Georgetown Waterfront Park. A grassy park with a promenade, biking trails and viewpoints. A freeway is directly behind and above the park, but it is still lovely.
IFC Headquarters. (International Finance Corporation) It is an international financial institution established in 1956. Considered a classic in office building design with a 600-foot-long façade along Pennsylvania Avenue as a series of pavilions with varied window types pulled forward from the body of the building to break down the scale. The design thus increased opportunities to plan corner offices.
Dumbarton Place. Early 19th century furniture. Temporarily closed.
Islamic Center of Washington, DC. A lovely modern cream-coloured stone building with a single spire. Unfortunately, it was closed. Unusually, there are flags from all Muslim countries outside.
The Fairfax at Embassy Row was a historic luxury hotel that opened in 1927 until closing permanently in 2021. It reopened in 2025 as a 174 bed retirement home. Future Vice President Al Gore’s family lived in the three-bedroom suite on the hotel’s top floor for twenty years during his youth. Gore’s father Albert Gore, Sr. was a senator from Tennessee and the cousin of the owner. Permanently closed.
The Churchill Hotel Near Embassy Row. The Beaux-Arts style building was erected in 1902 as The Highlands apartment house, and was later renovated into a hotel. It has 10 stories and is brick painted white. The small lobby is lovely.
I parked on the street down from the zoo. It was a permit area but didn’t get a ticket.
Smithsonian National Zoological Park. A famous zoo with more than 2,220 animals.
I only saw the Asian animals section with pandas. I have seen most of the animals live and was more interested in the appearance. The enclosures, of course were superb. Free Note that it is necessary to register and book a ticket.
Omni Shoreham Hotel. 1930s hotel with 11 acres of lawns and gardens. The lobby must be one of the nicest with many comfortable sitting areas.
The metro ticket machine was impossible. I took it to Metro Centre and started a big walk about day. The distances on the map don’t look long but most were at least .4 km.
Martin Luther King Memorial Library. Four stories of black glass with no special architectural features.
National Law Enforcement Museum. $22, $20 reduced. I didn’t go in.
National Law Enforcement Officers’ Memorial. A series of joined columns in a circle with a bronze plaque in the middle. At each corner is a dog/pup statue and a large book under glass listing every officer killed with department and date.
Holodomor Memorial. A long wall with the date 1932-33 and multiple sheaves of wheat, indicating famine as the cause of death. I was well aware of the circumstances of the Russian induced famine.
Smithsonian National Postal Museum. A great history of stamps and the US postal service – mail boxes, vehicles and a time line of the service. Free
US Navy Memorial Plaza. A lovely memorial with a pool and fountain at each corner and very nice bronze bas reliefs indicated some of the roles the navy has been involved with – the Opening of Japan, Astronaut and recovery missions, Airships and Navy families.
Dwight D Eisenhower Memorial. Large columns frame a mesh tapestry depicting the site of the Normandy landings, and sculptures and bas-reliefs arrayed in the park. Architect Frank Gehry designed the memorial.
Hirshhorn Museum. The Smithsonian Modern Art gallery in a large round building where the wide gallery surrounds a big central space. The art was not so interesting (the Kandinsky’s and Calder mobiles were nice, but the Jackson Pollocks some of his less interesting pieces). The labelling drove me crazy with a card listing several pieces making it necessary to go back and forth to see the artist name and name of the piece. There are four rows of exhibits and it was easier to see a small area completely. Two artists I dislike are Picasso and Joan Miro. One section was a whole room of black and white graffiti. The best part were the sculpture garden outside with many Henry Moores. Free
Museum of the Bible. I went here only to see how they presented it. The interpretation is the world started 6000 years ago. The Hebrew bible is very well represented. One floor was how the Bible afftects you. Seeing hundreds of different Bibles was not so interesting. A waste of money. $$29.99, $24.99 reduced.
451 7th Street (US Department of Housing & Urban Development). The Robert C. Weaver Federal Building is a 10-storyoffice building completed in 1968, and a prime example of Brutalist architecture. It is the only office building south of the railroad tracks. The curvilinear shape allowed the maximum amount of natural light to reach the maximum number of offices and resembles that of a giant capital letter “X”
It has deep-set windows in a precast concrete facade – this was the first federal building to be built of precast concrete.
The base of the building was designed to look much different from the upper nine floors. The building’s first floor is recessed, with load-bearing concrete pilotis (piers). The plaza was roundly criticized by HUD employees because of the lack of seating but was redisigned with donut-shaped canopies of off white plastic
Called a masterpiece of Modern architecture, the building is not admired by many and is among the most reviled in all of Washington—and with good reason.
International Spy Museum. A super-hyped style with extravagant prices $$37.05, $$33.87 reduced with several add-ons. I didn’t go in.
Thomas Jefferson Memorial. A monstrous dome surrounded by layers of big columns and a grand bronze statue in the middle. Four walls have extracts of the constitution, none of which are being followed by Donald Trump, the idiot.
FDR Memorial. A beautiful and very large groupings of large rocks and waterfalls with many of his quotes. In his will, all he wanted was a desk-sized piece of white rock with his name and date in the corner of the National Archives, He has that but then this was added.
Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. Further along the mall, fourteen of his famous quotes are on a curving dark granite wall with a great statue – a bas relief on a massive pieces of white stone. I wonder when Donald is going to remove all this stuff that he probably views as critical race theory.
Smithsonian National Museum of American History. Three floors of propaganda. Free
It is just past the African American Museum which I should have gone into. However, one thing I am very familiar with is American black history.
Intercontinental The Willard, Washington, DC by IGG. A very posh hotel with the highlight, the Peacock Alley a long corridor with tables and chairs. A small room is devoted to the history of the hotel (there were many reiterations of buildings). A quote from Charles Dickens is hilarious.
Old Ebbitt Grill. Victorian-style tavern with American meals, including many oyster specials. Originally dating to 1856, the original was demolished and recreated. It is very nice with a lot of wood, separate wood booths, and lovely big paintings. The original bar was saved. It was packed despite the high prices.
Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Exhibits on handicrafts, textiles and decorative arts by contemporary artists. Free
This is a long walk bypassing all the White House security. The entire exhibit were winning examples from State fairs – many quilts, pottery and baskets. Lovely saddles. The butter cow is kept in a refrigerated glass box. Free
Ford’s Theatre.
National Museum of Women in the Arts. I should not have gone in when I was told that most of the exhibits were contemporary art. As usual the four artists with exhibits, was all bad art (from my view point). One of the few museums that charge. $15, $12 reduced. Not very busy.
I took the Metro back to near the zoo. I was completely exhausted and hungry and decided to eat there even though it was early.
Eastern Market. A wonderful farmer’s market with a great selection of produce and meat.
Titanic Memorial. Google Maps kept taking me through a military base. Access from the street north, park (there is none) and walk about 200 m down to the water and the sculpture. It is a lovely figure of a naked man draped in a cloak. The inscription reads. To the men who perished on April 15, 1912 to save the lives of many women and children. Erected by the Women of America.
I had hoped to stay here for the night, but it is not a great neighborhood and the only parking was private in an apartment lot. I continued on south. This was the furthest south and east I would go and was the beginning of the drive home.
Rubell Museum DC. Temporarily closed.
National Museum of the American Navy. Closed by the time I got there.
ON McDonalds near the Awakening.
Day 82/13 Sat Aug 23
GO TO West Virginia, Pennsylvania West, Ohio and Indiana.
