DC and Loving It

I have been on a whirlwind trip! My week has been spent visiting friends, eating great ethnic food and seeing the sites in our Nation's Capitol. The weather was beautiful, the skies were blue and the clouds were fluffy and white. All of the other thousands of tourists thought the same things! Here is a list of the few places I was able to see-






Capitol Hill, Jefferson Memorial, FDR Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Korean War Veterans Memorial, National Cathradral, Georgetown, Embassy Row, National Archives, U.S. Botanic Gardens, National Museum of the American Indian, World War II Memorial. But there are many other places I saw as I strolled down the Mall!




I was at the National Cathradral when they were having Tim Russert's wake. The people were lined up down the street and around the corner waiting to pay their respects at the quaint church next to the Cathradral. I found the VIP entrance, and watched several celebraties come and go. A beautiful story: Wednesday night Melanie and I saw a double rainbow after a thunderstorm had passed over. At the end of Tim's funeral the song, "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" was sung. As the congregation opened the doors to leave the Kennedy Center, they found the double rainbow waiting for them. Needless to say, it was a very moving moment for many people.


All in all it was a great trip. I stayed with three sets of friends in three different areas around D.C. Sir was with me part of the time - he had to go back and forth to work and then spent a day on the Hill meeting with Congressmen. We are on our way to Chicago, still on the move.

Answer to Where Am I?

Congrats to Lisa C. - She is the winner! Here is her answer: You're in Gettysburg in front of the North Carolina State Monument - Well done, Lisa. Your gift will be on its way when I return home!

Shelly

Where Am I?

Okay - here is the deal! I have been out sightseeing today! Be the first person to name the location in this picture and I will send you a gift! I had a great day - but now we are in the middle of sever thunderstorms! Life is always interesting.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all you fathers out there! A special greeting to my Dad and my Father-in-Law! I hope you both have a wonderful Father's Day.

I am on the move again. Nestled in the Maryland countryside, in the town of New Windsor, I am visiting friends. Sir is with me for a few days. We have just finished an amazing BBQ dinner with Larry and Ruthie, their daughter, Melanie and her husband, and his parents. What a great way to spend the day.

Grand Tour #22

Well, what can I say? Sir pulled a fast one on me today. With the help of several friends and my kids, Sir showed up at our friend’s house today – saying Happy Anniversary! Yes, today is my 20th Anniversary. He had to be in Paris yesterday for work and hopped on the Eurostar from Paris to surprise me! So with Daughter 1, Tim and Carole, we went to dinner at a wonderful restaurant to celebrate. Thank you to Tim and Carole for arranging so many of the details to make this night so special! The morning started as a normal day - breakfast at the kitchen table and then out the door to another museum – The Wallace Collection. The Wallace Collection is great – only two floors of a fantastic collection. The reason we went to the Wallace Collection? The Swing by Fragonard – Daughter 1 studied it in school this year. They also have a great collection of Marie Antoinette’s furniture, miniatures and other items from Versailles. Daughter 1 wrote a research paper on Marie Antoinette a couple years ago, so she had a lot of interest in seeing her goods. Next we went to our old neighborhood in St. John’s Wood to roam around, have lunch and take pictures of our old house. The high street and area around had changed so much. We had a great visit at Daughter 1’s old school, the American School in London. We visited with the admissions director – the woman that admitted us to the school! Then we saw her kindergarten teachers. Mr. P was so happy to see her and so surprised! His assistant, Mrs. A was equally surprised. We headed out the door to head home to pack before dinner. When we arrived one hour later, I had my surprise from Sir! What a delightful ending to a great trip! I wouldn’t trade the trip for anything. I missed Daughter 2 like crazy, but have loved the time I have spent with Daughter 1. These are memories the two of us will always remember. Check back next week when I am in another state – I still won’t be home!

Grand Tour #20 and #21

It is Tuesday night, my feet are hurting and Daughter 1 has taken me to so many art galleries! Our daily itineraries have been very different in London. Tim and Carole are conveniently located near a tube stop; Carole kindly walked us to the station so we would be sure to find our way home that evening. Off we went into London to start our day of sightseeing. We spent 4 hours at the National Gallery which included a fire alarm, lunch and shopping! Yes, we looked at every picture in two of the four galleries. Thanks to Daughter 1’s art history teacher, she was a walking book of knowledge. My favorite piece? The Execution of Lady Jane Grey by Delaroche. Daughter 1’s favorite piece? The Constable and Turner paintings – she can’t pick just one. Then we went to the Tate Modern. Most of the works were a bit much for me – but they did have some nice pieces. The museum is in an old power station on the South Bank - they did a great job renovating the building. After several hours of touring I was glad to see the clock turn to 5:30 so we could meet Carole for a girl’s night out. Our evening started at The Real Greek – a Greek restaurant on the Thames. After dinner we strolled down the street to the Globe Theater to see A Midsummer’s Night Dream. What a great night and a great play – we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We rolled into the house in time to head to bed, just to get up the next morning and do it all again! Well, this morning we headed into town to hit 3 museums. We started at the Courtauld Institute of Art Gallery in Somerset House. It was small, compact and full of great work. I loved a Picasso that I had never seen before and Daughter 1 loved the paintings by Manet. Lunch was at Wagamama’s – one of the family’s favorite restaurants in London! After a delicious meal we headed to the National Portrait Gallery. We first searched for the only original portrait of Jane Austen, but along the way we saw many others. My personal art historian told me it wasn’t so much about who painted the picture – but rather who the portrait was of. Don’t laugh, but then we took a break and went to a movie! We couldn’t find a play we wanted to go to, so we decided to see The Other Bohlen Girl. Since we have been to several of the filming locations – we had to go and see it on the big screen! It was fun to nudge each other each time there was a place we recognized. After the movie we hopped on the tube and headed to the British Library to see a letter Jane Austen wrote to her sister, Jane’s writing desk and some early stories she wrote. The exhibition room of British treasures was filled with other wonderful pieces too. Beatles memorabilia, an original Magna Carta, a Gutenberg Bible, Handel’s Messiah and Shakespeare’s First Folio. We went to Covent Garden to have dinner at my favorite restaurant - Belgos. Well fed, happy and very tired feet we made it home.

Grand Tour #19

After a good nights sleep in a wonderful bed - with 4 pillow, I might add - I woke up to another beautiful morning. We had a nice leisurely breakfast with baths, showers, laundry and ironing thrown in. Daughter 1 had picked two houses with gardens she wanted to tour - Syon House and then Osterley Park. Syon House is a beautiful. opulent house on the outside of London with acres of park, gardens and the most wonderful conservatory I have ever toured. Daughter 1 picked this house because part of Emma was filmed here, as well as several other movie such as Gosford Park, Cranford and Sense and sensibility 2008. Also, in Art History this year daughter 1 studied Robert Adams, the architect of the 1760's remodel of Syon House. He was one of the main architects that brought neo-classical architecture to England. The original house dates back to earlier than King Henry VIII, but has very little, if any, Tudor influence present. The Duke of Northumberland and family still lives there today. They occupy the inner rooms and leave the State rooms for visitors to see. After a light lunch, we headed down the street to Osterley Park, another Robert Adams creation. Again this house dates back centuries, but Adams had gotten his hands on it and the interior design looks very similar to Syon House, but a little less opulent. The house was given to the national Trust years ago, so no family is currently tied to the house. Even though the park was lovely and the English Gardens were beautiful, we were disappointed with the house overall. We were able to tour much of the house (state rooms, some family living quarters and the kitchens, wine cellars and walk-in safe) but there were no leaflets or signs explaining what we were seeing. This is the first time we have had a National Trust property that was so poorly displayed! We caught a ride on the golf cart out of the park and headed for the ice cream truck! Hot, tired and happy we headed home! Once again, I was thrilled to be getting into the back seat! Dinner is on the patio tonight, and we plan to have some great food, good wine and soulful music. Hope everyone has had a great week-end! Only 3 more days and then we head back to the USA!