The Way Things Go

Kinsey and I have started a system where we split a day in half and we each pick a museum to see. Last Saturday, it was the Hirshhorn Museum of Contemporary Art for me and the National Holocaust Museum for Kinsey.

Even the pigeons are friendly in DC. They seem to be enjoying Kinsey's cast off hot dog bun.

We started off with the Hirshhorn Museum. The museum itself was pretty small, but they had a pretty decent collection, including one of Andy Warhol's screenprints, Flowers. The museum was designed by architect Gordon Bunshaft, who won the Pritzker in 1988. The modern building was laid out in the shape of a ring which made walking through the exhibits hassle-free.

This untitled installation by Dan Steinhilber was Kinsey's favorite part of the museum. Floor to ceiling clothes hangers.

The Hirshhorn had a full room of Alexander Calder's mobiles which I really enjoyed and made for some nice photo shadow studies.

There was also a full room of Willem de Kooning, including three of his controversial Woman series. I know this kind of abstract expressionism isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I really enjoy de Kooning's work.

Being shaped like a ring created a nice courtyard for the museum, which contained this big ol' fountain.







One of the most engrossing parts of the museum was this video by the Swiss duo Peter Fischli and David Weiss, titled The Way Things Go. It's 30 minutes of Rube Goldberg-like chain reactions using everyday household objects. Overall a pretty good trick . . . or illusion!

After we went to the Hirshhorn, we stopped by the Holocaust museum. It was a very intense experience. I've read books and seen documentaries on the Holocaust, but I've never seen anything as graphic as what was at this museum. And it was chock-full of information; unfortunately it was also chock-full of people. For some reason, they let way too many people into the beginning of the exhibitions, which really created a bottleneck. Overall, it was a good experience.

A 45 Minute Wait to See a Couple Pieces of Paper?! Hell Yeah!

Like all good tourists in DC must do, McKinsey and I took a trip to the National Archives awhile back. It was a very hot and humid day and we were greeted by a big ol' line of sweaty people stretching halfway around the block. Oh well, we enjoy our history and we figured it was worth it.

Look at that line. Yikes.

This sign was a little foreboding.

Interesting architecture fact: The 72 Corinthian columns on the National Archives building are some of the largest in the city.

McKinsey and I finally make it to the front doors.

The Magna Carta just doesn't get much love. It was off to the side, before you even get into the rotunda. And no one was looking at it. Sad. I guess no one cares about 13th century documents that establish habeas corpus and influence the historical process that lead to modern constitution law. (Thanks, Wikipedia.)

The rotunda where the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights are was packed with people. A guard was loudly proclaiming the rules of the place, namely no flash photography and no gum chewing.

The Declaration of Independence was in pretty rough shape, but still neat to see. If I remember my historical trivia correctly, the Declaration spent the first 30 years of its existence hanging in the direct sunlight in a hallway in some building in Philadelphia. That probably explains the fading.

The four documents of the Constitution.

Kinsey looking at the most important thing for Americans... breakfast. Oh no, wait, our Bill of Rights. I was thinking of the things you eat.

You know that scene in National Treasure where Nicolas Cage and that other guy just kind of stroll around looking at the Declaration of Independence all by themselves? Yeah, that's not the way it works.

Overall, a visit well worth the wait. Kinsey particularly found it interesting reading in person such lines as "life, liberty, and the pursit of happiness" since she had been learning about social justice at her bioethics conference earlier that day.

Our Neighborhood

We've been in DC for a week now and are loving it! I wanted to write a bit about where we're living. We're in the Foxhall Village/Palisades neighborhood in the Georgetown University area. It is very beautiful, full of trees and adorable brick houses that look like they came from an English countryside. Surprisingly Wade thinks they are attractive as well. He wonders how he can befriend someone who lives in one in order to analyze the inside. Most people have huge rose bushes in their front yards which are in full bloom and smell wonderful. Actually all of DC (well from what we've seen so far) is gorgeous. From the plane, we could barely see the city until we got very close to landing due the tree coverage. There seems to be far more trees here than in Minneapolis. There also many parks and trails, both nearby us and throughout the city.

I've been surprised by how nice the people are here! We seem to be striking up conversations on the street or bus with random strangers everyday. If we stop just to converse about which is the best direction to go, almost always someone stops and gives us directions. We got caught in a thunderstorm on Wednesday while waiting for the bus, and some young guy stopped and offered us a ride. We didn't accept since we didn't want to get the seats in his expensive car wet (its seems that everyone drives very nice cars in our neighborhood and downtown), but all the same it was very kind of him.

The apartment we sublet is nice and wonderfully situated. There is a bus stop right outside the front door and it actually only a 15 minute walk to the Georgetown Medical Center. We're feeling pretty established already: we have a library card, a Safeway discount card (a grocery store just a few blocks away), and a membership at the local video rental store. I'd say we have a good grasp of the bus and metro systems, and have already purchased SmartTrip cards so we don't have to carry change around. Our apartment currently doesn't have Internet, but that should be set up by the end of this week, and both the library and the University have free wireless.

One bad thing is the weather. It is so hot and humid!! I feel like I'm swimming every time I step outside. On my first day I walked up to the hospital; I was wearing a light, long sleeve, button up blouse. When I got there I was surprised to discover that I had sweat through my shirt where my elbows bend. I've never had "elbow pit" wetness before. Gross! Hopefully my body will adjust soon.This is our apartment building. Below are some of the houses in our neighborhood.

This last picture is a portion of Wisconsin Avenue, which is the cute street full of neat shops, restaurants, and bars.

First Time Tourists

On our first weekend in DC, we decided to spend half a day checking out the sites in our nation's capital. So we hopped on the unreliable D6 bus and headed downtown.

Our first stop was 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., the White House. Which is surprisingly much smaller in person. Even though it was early Sunday morning, there were a couple of one-man protests on the street, including one guy with a cardboard box over his head raising money to usurp President Bush.

Focus, focus, hold the camera steady...

Our second stop, the always amazing Office of Thrift Supervision! For those of you that don't know, the Office of Thrift Supervision, an agency of the United States Department of the Treasury, is the primary regulator of federal savings associations, sometimes referred to as federal thrifts. Interesting, eh?

McKinsey in front of the Red Cross headquarters, the organization she helped established. Well, I guess "technically" she didn't establish it, but she was very active with Campus Red Cross at Nebraska and organized several blood drives. So still pretty good.

We were all excited to eat at the Clara Barton Cafe at the Red Cross building, but we were bummed to find out it was closed on weekends.

Everybody's favorite obelisk, the Washington Monument. Interesting fact: Construction was begun on the Washington Monument before the Civil War and was halted when the war began. When construction started back up, the color in the limestone quarry had changed, accounting for the coloration difference between the top and the bottom parts of the monument.

The World War II memorial with either a bird or a UFO in the picture. This is the newest memorial in the DC area, dedicated in 2004, and is really quite beautiful. There were a couple of WWII veterans there in wheelchairs who looked like they were seeing it for the first time. Made for a pretty solemn environment.

The lovely fountains in the middle of the memorial.

There was this curved wall at the memorial completely covered with these gold stars. I don't know what they stood for (maybe the number killed?) but it made for some very striking pictures.

McKinsey and I in front of the memorial.

The reflecting pool doing its job, reflecting.

Like many of the buildings in DC, the Lincoln Memorial was model after Grecian and Roman temples.

The famous Lincoln statue that I'm sure everyone is familiar with. It was jampacked with people in there. There were little signs everywhere saying "Please Show Respect. Be Quiet." but, judging from the constant din, I don't think people were paying much attention to them. This would be a really nice place to see when there weren't any people around, if that were ever possible.

McKinsey deeply focused on our 16th president in all his marble grandeur.

My favorite stop of the day, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The story of its creation is every designer's dream. It's designer, Maya Lin, won a public design competition for the project while still and undergraduate at Yale.

The memorial provides these pieces of paper to make rubbings of names of friends or relatives.

The stone is highly polished and reflective and its amazing the effect it creates as all these people are walking by it.

This picture is for Warren. In amongst all the BMWs, Mercedes, and Jaguars in downtown DC, three Harley Davidson motorcycles.

On our way back home, we came across the White House from the back, which is a lot more attractive view. Hopefully sometime soon we'll hit the other side of the downtown area, which has the Smithsonian, U.S. Capitol, and National Mall.

One more quick post before we get to the juicy DC stuff.

This was my second major plane trip and, like the first one, it was an early morning flight. Since I'm not a morning person, I don't know why I do this to myself; I must be a glutton for punishment

Bleary-eyed at the Humphrey Terminal at 5:30 am. Kinsey's got a little more pep than I do.

Good ol' gate H8 in all its alphanumeric glory.

And here we are finally in DC. As you can see, I'm still pretty tired. Now all we had to do was battle the hordes of people at the baggage carousel. Overall, a good trip. It got a little bumpy on the connecting flight to Milwaukee, but nothing we couldn't handle. And that plane to DC sure was plush. Comfy leather seats, neck support, baked apple granola bars, the works. McKinsey's supervisor Beth kindly picked us up from the airport and drove us to our apartment in cozy little Foxhall Village.

Farewell, O Safe and Comfortable Midwest!

So, we are now in DC but I'd thought I'd go ahead and post a few pictures of the little Memorial Day/Going Away party we had before we left. And just to let you know, posts might be a little scattered over the next week until we get internet at our apartment. Right now, we're posting at the library about 10 blocks from our apartment. Now, on to the party pics!

A good time was had by all at the going away BBQ. Even the chilly Minneapolis weather couldn't dampen our spirits (Matt's infamous donkey punch sangria did its part to keep us warm). Much thanks to Matt and Dan for bringing the grill and to everyone who brought the mountains of food we consumed. I think McKinsey figured out that we went through 48 brats and three pounds of hamburger. And there were only a dozen people. The "who can unneccessarily gorge themselves" contest was won by yours truly, with a score of 5 brats and 1 burger, beating out Dan's 4 brats, 1 burger, and 2 slices of cheese.

We had an epic Koob match, a Swedish game that is a combination of chess, horseshoes, and rhythmic gymnastics. For a simple game of throwing wood sticks, it was quite enthralling. Even people passing by would stop and watch. Here we see Matt S. executing perfect Koob tossing technique.

And no party would be complete without someone polishing off the last of the sangria straight from the water cooler jug. McKinsey takes a shot at it...

And Matt S. finishes the job. Did I say job? I meant Gob.