Pineapple in the Capitol

There were pineapples everywhere we went in DC and I'm not even mad about it!!!

Against all of my former grumblings and self-promises, I did it again.  I drove on the Pennsylvania turnpike.  This time it was dark, my contacts were fuzzy, one headlight was out (probably) and I was sleepy.  A whopping $15 worth of toll booth fees later, we made it to DC, and standing at the door at 1am to greet us was our lovely sister-in-law, Elisa.   

Friday morning, our hosts had to work (like normal people), but Adam and I were free to roam the District.  He decided to take a morning run to the White House (about a 1.5-mile jaunt up 16th street from Adams Morgan) and back, while I readied myself for a day of fun in the sun.  It was the perfect weather for site-seeing on foot -- about 50 degrees with sunny, clear skies. 

Armed with my leather bomber jacket and aviators, we headed out.  Our first stop was the Masonic House of the Temple described in Dan Brown's novel, The Lost Symbol.  It was on our way, so it wasn't much of a stop actually -- more of a point to it, snap a photo and keep on movin' kinda stop.

There's just something about being able to walk to the White House that just makes the United States government feel real to me.  Do you know what I mean??  I mean, you see things on TV, you read the paper, you try to stay updated with political happenings, but it's tough to do remotely.  Actually being there in the hub where it all takes place -- seeing the security officers, feeling awestruck in sight of American architecture and knowing that you are physically surrounded by International embassies, U.S. treasures in museums and the people who write and sign bills into law -- is one of the more overwhelming and humbling notions I've experienced.

It's just a house right?  Well ... not quite.  This thing is gigantic (photos just don't do it justice).  There's security everywhere and you can't get too close.  This is me reaching my hand through the bars:

There we were standing in front of Obama's house.  "OK, now what?" I asked.  Time for lunch!  We made our way down Pennsylvania Ave. and took a left at 19th.  We saw Stella Artois umbrellas in the distance and decided that's exactly where we wanted to be at 2pm on at Friday.  Elephant & Castle was calling out to us!  At this point in the day, we were starving and my Chuck Taylors weren't quite as comfortable as I thought they were.  My pub onion soup and ceasar salad were good and Adam's fish sandwich was great.  The sweet potato fries were the best thing we tried here by far -- besides the beers of course ;) 

The Smithsonian National Museum of American History was next on the list (It's free to get in!  Who knew?!).  We met E there after work, and got to see Julia Child's kitchen, the ruby slippers, Kermit, Fonzie's jacket, C3PO, part of the First Lady's exhibit (which was under construction), and lots of other fun stuff.

That night we headed to some bars ... finally ending up at Cashion's Eat Place for some "after dark" menu items - bison burger, ribeye sandwich and some hand cut fries.  The atmosphere was fun, the bartender, Krishna, was a self-proclaimed genius (knowing everything there was to know about pinneapples ... yet completely incorrect) and very entertaining, but the food was just mediocre for me.  I'd give it a 8 out of 10 for creativity.  

After a few more nightcaps, we cuddled up on our air mattress for a cozy night's sleep.  We woke up and ate what?  You guessed it, pineapples(!) and eggs.  Mike is apparently "good with a pineapple".  I'm still not quite sure I know what that means, but we sure did say it a lot.  ha.

We headed to the Capitol building -- Mike works there for a Senator and it turns out that he used to give tours when he first moved to DC.  Sooo we got a private tour of some of the "non-public" parts of the Capitol.  Pretty amazing.  The Capitol Rotunda was my favorite point of interest, mostly because it's just so damn awesome.  Just thinking about the artist, Brumidi, who hand-painted every detail and devoted the last years of his career on such an historical piece (my fave is the Apotheosis of George Washington) was freakin awesome.  Here are some pics that, once again, don't do it justice.  You have to see it for yourself!:

Hallway in the Senate Chambers -- also painted by Brumidi:

We walked through the Old Supreme Court Chamber, which was also really cool to see:

Other than the Captiol Dome itself, my second favorite part of the tour was walking down the inaugural steps.  Yep ... the actual steps the President walks down to give the inaugural speech, overlooking a crowd of thousands who are gathered in the mall:

This is a shot I took looking back up at the Capitol.  It's unbelievable when you're standing in front of it.  The detail, the precise meaning of every carving, column and opening.  This is priceless American history people! So cool.

Our next stop was Capitol City Brewing Co. where we had some lovely appetizers (soft pretzels with Jalapeno dip were great!), and some local brews.  We decided to hurry straight to the newly refurbished W Hotel for some drinks on the rooftop at POV.  It was twilight at this point, so the skyline views were breathtakingly picturesque (sorry no pics! ... camera doesn't take great photos at night through glass). 

All in all, it was a fabulous weekend in DC.  Kiiiiinda makes me want to move there, right Waskes!?