The weather here in D.C. has been mostly unpleasant since we arrived. We had one really nice day, which we used to take a hop-on, hop-off trolley tour of the city. Mostly we stayed in hop-on mode in order to get an overall view of things to see and do, and to cross off the list things we could say "been there, done that". This tour company has 3 different lines and we did the 2 longest, each about an hour and a half. The main one takes you around the capitol and the monuments while the second one goes out to Foggy Bottom, Georgetown, Embassy Row and the National Cathedral. There is so much to see here that the choices become almost paralyzing. I had hoped to visit the Capitol, but not having pre-ordered tickets makes it very unlikely that walking up to the ticket booth and hoping one is available will happen. Poor planning on my part. You can't even think about the White House. It takes 6 months to get a ticket.
One place that we did visit toward the end of the day was the Old Post Office (Thought of you Loretta!). It was recommended to us by Sandy (thank you Sandy!) as the best place to get a good view of the city now that the Washington Monument is closed. I'm glad we went, as the building itself is interesting in addition to having a great view. We were told that Donald Trump has a lease on the building and is planning to turn it into a hotel. That should be spectacular. Here is a picture of the interior. Note the elevator on the right. It's a fast and vertiginous ride up.
A picture of the floor of the building from above.
The building was scheduled for demolition several times before Trump leased it. Walking into it in it's current state (and the entrance is not well marked) is a surprise. You are struck by the awesome atrium, yet the floor of the building looks like an unused former food court. There is a makeshift stage, a closed Ben & Jerry's store and scattered tables and chairs. There are two elevators. One takes you up to the 10th floor where you exit to take an interior elevator up into the tower. This elevator goes up to the 12th floor, skipping the 11th where the Bells of Congress are. From the 12th floor you get a panoramic view of D.C.
On the wall by the entrance are old pictures of the Post Office as it was then. It must have been a noisy place in which to work.
And a photograph of the exterior:
From the tower you get this view:
And this:
The vertical bar in the photo is a wire, one of many strung across the opening. Instead of the usual glass or plastic sheeting put in place to keep tourists from falling out they put these wires in. A great idea because you can nudge your camera lens in between them to get a clear shot instead of shooting through glass covered in tourist snot. But then Peg pointed out the sign that said "Please don't touch the wires", which took the fun out of it and is why the wire is in this picture.
Here is one more. This one is interesting because Peg and I both remarked on the same thing. Play "Where's Waldo" with this one, but it's "Where is the White House?"
It's here:
It's surprisingly dinky looking from here. Here it is enlarged.
And although it is far from dinky, it does seem to get lost in this sea of Federal buildings that surrounds it. I may be reading too much into it, but it does seem to say something about the power relationships in Washington. An Imperial Presidency seems less likely when viewed this way. But it also may mean that a President has a Sisyphean task trying to get anything done.
We walked back down to the 10th floor. On the 11th are the Bells of Congress, which are replicas of the Westminster Bells. I hate to call it junk, but it occurred to me that if you are a government, especially the U.S. other governments are always trying to curry favor by giving you gifts. What do you do with all of this stuff? If it's bells, I guess you find a tower to put them in and give them an important sounding name.
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| The Bells of Congress, aka the Ditchley Bells |
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