Just Another Day in D.C.

Sweet potato pancakes!

My last day in Washington D.C. began at a Langston Hughes inspired restaurant called Busboy and Poets. A delicious local restaurant with a broad range of choices including my breakfast of choice – sweet potato pancakes. If you haven’t had sweet potato pancakes, try them immediately..

Next stop was the White House. Barack Obama didn’t know what hit him when I rolled through. He was probably still sleeping or something. Seriously, though. Everything was fenced off and I didn’t get a great look at the building. It was very disappointing to be honest. I guess if you’ve seen the My Date with the President’s Daughter, you didn’t miss anything. Nevertheless, I can say that I saw the building in person now.

Next I walked to the highly under-appreciated Octagon building, the place where the proceedings of American Government took place while the Capitol building was being built. Yes it actually is the shape of an octagon.

Through the park, I saw the ugly looking Washington Monument. The 533-foot structure stands as the tallest building in Washington D.C. as current law prohibits anything taller to exist. It looked ugly because scaffolding lines every inch of the outside while damage from the 2011 earthquake is repaired. I remember when Robert Langdon had to walk up all the stairs at the end of The Lost Symbol with his friend Peter Solomon. I realized that I wouldn’t have that chance this time around.

Our Nation’s Capital

Did you know that Greyhound bus services intentionally over books bus routes to protect against buses not filled?

Neither did I.

Flash back: It’s Thursday night, and I’m ready to take the 10 p.m. bus to New York City and after that, to the nation’s historic capital. Only, two bus drivers don’t show up for work so we were forced to take the 1 a.m. bus instead.

We must have had the worst luck in the world because our bus broke down at 2:15 a.m. on the Mass Pike. Coupled with the reality of sitting next to four obnoxious African Americans for 6 hours, it was safe to safe to say we were already off to a rough start.

Inside the National Postal Museum.

These people were shouting profanities at the driver and passengers, shouting inappropriate lyrics, and trying their hardest to rap like Lil Wayne. One of them had his hands down his pants while sleeping and the rest of them were drunk and smoking cigarettes in the bathroom. The funniest line of the night, though, was when the 4’11” midget of the group asked the bus driver not to treat him like a child because he was a grown man. Except he wasn’t so grown after all.

We finally made it to the Washington D.C. at 1:30 p.m. and immediately dived into its exciting history. Our first stop was the National Postal Museum. Here I saw the special Fire and Ice exhibit headlined by commemorating the Hindenburg fire disaster and the Titanic ice tragedy. In this museum, I saw the postal service from its inception including the sparkly postal mascot, Owney.

Detective McDevitt, our tour guide.

After check in at Capital View, followed by drinks and dinner in downtown D.C., I made my way towards the History on Foot walking tour that chronicled the events of April 14 1865, the day President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, led by Detective. McDevitt. The tour guide was an overzealous local actor who took his job very seriously. He lectured to us about the night’s events with such riveting detail I was reminded of my 7th grade history class. In total, the tour lasted about two hours and covered just less than two miles. I’d recommend this to anyone interested in learning about John Wilkes Booth and the conspiracy to destroy the Union by eliminating the Union’s leaders.

The Capitol building is humongous. There are hundreds of rooms, offices, and old meeting spaces used by the Supreme Court and House of Representatives. This building was clearly built to last. The rotunda is adorned with eight oil-on-canvas paintings depicting the American Revolution, all done by John Trumbull. It also has a meticulously painted wrap around fresco of the events of America’s history.

While standing below the Apotheosis of Washington, I got the chance to marvel at Constantino Brumidi’s work – I’d been hoping for this moment since I read The Lost Symbol. Ever since my time in Italy, I’ve taken a serious liking to Italian renaissance art. This piece was very similar in style, anyway.