I Went to [DC] But My City Was Gone

[fivecats]

Bleary-Eyed Crowded Subway
November 2006 (Underneath) Washington, DC
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Tuesday I took a short day-trip up to DC and back for a class on the database application we use at work. It was an intro class and mostly covered things I'd already discovered by poking around the app while trying to build a sample inventory database. I'll be going back twice in January for the Intermediate and Advanced classes, so don't be surprised by mildly repeated entries in two months.

myrhiann had mentioned looking forward to seeing lots of pictures from DC. Sadly, this isn't to be. Yes, I had my camera with me and, yes, it's still in good working order from it's most recent repair. The problem is that I wasn't in many real 'photographical' areas and had even less time to take pictures.

I woke up around 4:30am and got out of the house just after 5:00am to head to the airport. Funny thing about reading glasses and sun glasses. They set off the metal detectors quite well, especially when one forgets their in one's pocket. That quick memory lapse got me frisked by a very polite gentleman in uniform sometime before 6:00am.

Somewhere on the flight I started listening to the particulars of the landing. That's when I learned that I was flying into Dulles instead of National. If you're flying into DC you want to fly into National because there's a subway stop right outside the terminal doors. Dulles, on the other hand, is way out in Virginia, miles and miles from the nearest Metro stop.

So, by 8-ish I was sitting on a metro bus crawling through Virginia morning rush hour traffic on my way to the nearest subway station.

By 9-ish I was underground, jammed into a car like a sardine with all of the other bleary-eyed sardines, above.

For more,



Nearly Empty Metro Car
November 2006 (Don't Go Back to) Rockville, MD

By 9:30am the crowds had thinned out, all headed to their DC-city jobs. I continued riding the Red Line into Rockville, just a few stops before the end of the line.

By 9:45am I had finally found the location for the class and took my seat.

That's almost five hours after I left the house> And, yeah, I probably could have driven there faster myself if I'd just skipped the airport.

The best point to the day, though was that I got to meet up with my brother for lunch. Looking back at it, it was the first time we'd had any time alone with each other in close to 15 years. We get along really well and like each other's company a lot, but we're so out of practice with each other that he kept referring "my mother" when describing things our mother had done. "It's so weird to be saying 'our mother,'" he said at one point.

Around 4:00pm I was crossing Rockville Pike to get to the Barnes and Noble where Bonn and I had spent part of the afternoon just a month or so before. I looked around for a suitable present to bring back with me and, once purchased, headed off to the subway station.




Roslyn Bus Stop
November 2006 Roslyn, VA
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By 4:30pm I was in Roslyn, Virginia, waiting for the bus that would take me back to Dulles airport.

The most amazing thing about waiting for this bus was something I'd noticed on the bus ride into Roslyn. People are actually queued up at the bus stop, not just bunched together in a crowd. When the bus arrives, they get on the bus in an orderly manner, staying in line and waiting their turn.

It's downright civilized.

The most uninspiring thing about waiting for the bus was the amount of construction going on in the area and the non-stop parade of people going by. I'm sure it's only because left DC 15 years ago, but there seem to be far more people there than I recall and, most telling, I've lost a lot of what little patience for throngs of people that I once had. (Bonn may say that patience was long gone by the time I met her, but...)

I'm really glad that (my former student) dramakweeen has taken to DC so thoroughly. Having passed on Cow Hill to her earlier this year it seems reasonable to pass along the rest of my love for my former city now, too.

I still like DC/MD but I don't have any strong desire to live there anymore.




Roslyn Building
November 2006 Roslyn, VA
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And, really, that's okay.

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Comments

[keirf.livejournal.com]

The one time I was in DC I enjoyed it, but mainly because I got to walk around all those places I've seen in the movies, and because I found a really excellent oyster bar.

The Red Roof Inn with cockroaches, and drug dealers and prostitues in the rooms around me was interesting too, but I wasn't that impressed with Denny's for breakfast.

[fivecats.livejournal.com]

You needed to head out to the Tastee Diner (http://www.tasteediner.com/) for breakfast.

In fact, you could have headed out to the Tastee Diner for breakfast 24 hours a day -- something I did regularly in the early hours of many a Saturday morning when I was living there.

DC is still a great town to visit. There's lots to see, plenty of nice areas to walk around and see lots of postcard and television sites in person. Living there, however, is a bit too on the pricey and crowded side for me these days.

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[kristenlou.livejournal.com]

I thought of you when I was there recently. As I was walking around downtown early in the morning, it was very odd, almost like a ghost town. So many people's perception of DC is that it's not a "real" city. They treat it like Disneyland. I caught myself wondering what it was like to live there amid the tourists and the politicians and the thought didn't sit well. The beautiful buildings, good restaurants and incredible collections of art (FREE ART!) are certainly make the city worth visiting again.

[fivecats.livejournal.com]

Well, the trick to any city like DC is that there's the Public face and the Private face. There's plenty of overlap, but there's lots of areas where the average tourist won't see because they're just far enough off of the beaten track that they're easily overlooked.

The places where people actually live are rarely seen by tourists (unless you're staying with or visiting someone who lives there, of course). There are some really great neighborhoods throughout DC, some I wanted to live in, some friends of mine did live in and one or two that I was lucky enough to have lived in myself.

When you live in DC the whole political aspect of the city tends to be a separate entity (unless, like dramakweeen you're working in the government). When I worked in Georgetown I came across some politicians (Hymie Estoban, a co-worker who was big into the politics of the day, would point them out to me whenever they came the store) and walked past the doorman-guarded homes with their limo-encrusted curbside areas on the way to the store, but otherwise I didn't cross paths with too many of the Monied types in the city.

Still, there are enough spectacular areas worthy of regular trips to DC: the Gardens at Dumbarton Oaks, walking along the closed section of Beach Drive on the Rock Creek Parkway on the weekends, seeing films at the Uptown Theater...

Okay, so there's still plenty I love about my old hometown. :-)

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[fivecats.livejournal.com]

I come at this from a very different perspective. I was born in DC to a father who was third-generation DC-ite. The closest I grew up to the government was hearing about it on the nightly news and having friends of parents working for "the government" in about as non-political ways as possible: the census bureau, the weather bureau... Occasionally we knew someone who was stationed out at Andrews Air Force base.

I tend to be hyper-critical about films that use DC as a backdrop and then "alter" DC Reality to fit the plot. However, the film "No Way Out" (1987; Kevin Cosner, Sean Young) is the single, notable exception. As Cosner and Young are running away from some bad guys they dash along the C&O Canal and duck into the subway stop at the enterance to Georgetown Park. While this is obviously playing loose with DC Reality, it's exactly where a subway stop should have been. Therefore, I not only allowed for it, but applauded the corretion.

Dinner in Chinatown at the "Wok & Roll." Sure, the name is incredibly cheesy, but they do a spinach and garlic dish that's incredible. Besides, is located in the Mary Surratt house, an historic landmark and the weird diachotomy appeals to me.

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[the2belo.livejournal.com]

Metro! Arrgh nostalgia attack aieephg#{$%`+&[@;

In times past, some 17 years ago by now, my weekend consisted of driving down to the Shady Grove metro station, parking the car, and taking the Red Line down to Metro Center for a day of wandering around the shops at National Place for no particular reason...

[fivecats.livejournal.com]

During my heyday in town I drove almost everywhere. Metro was convenient, but only for the "standard" places around town. If the day involved any of the neighborhoods or off-beat places, driving was a necessity.

Now, not only is the metro system far more complete, but I'm visiting as a tourist with limited patience for finding parking spaces, so metro it is!

I posted some metro pictures a while back. I think they're still in one of the flickr accounts. (The inside of the Chinatown station is great)

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[the2belo.livejournal.com]

I always marveled at the Woodley Park-Zoo station escalator. "THIS THING MUST BE 5 MILES TALL!!!!!!11111!!!!"

[fivecats.livejournal.com]

Actually, I think the Dupont Circle one is the really, really long one. (Didn't I post an image from there once?)

It's the only escallator I've ever felt dizzy with before getting onto it. The first ride on it does require a small leap of faith.

Oh -- and I love the little metalic button-like things they have sticking out of the smooth sections of the escallator between the steps sections. They're clearly there to keep anyone from thinking they can try to slide down without getting immediately hurt. It really doesn't take a genius to realize that should they manage to survive the downward slide that there is nothing but certain death or serious maiming awaiting them at the bottom.

(Let's see, I have weight and velocity on my side of the equation. The bottom of the station has solid brick and cement. Hmmmmm...I wonder who will win?)

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[fivecats.livejournal.com]

I stand (or, more precisely, sit -- with Maggie in my lap) corrected.

You were also right to break up with the jerk. (Not that you didn't know that already, nor did you really need my comment)

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[zeppo-marx.livejournal.com]

I had some fun in the DC area when I had to visit a client down there, but it definitely ranked as one of those "nice to visit but not to stay in for too long" places in my books.

[fivecats.livejournal.com]

As a tourist there are plenty of places to sight-see and visit, but I really think (and this is true of any area) if you're going to be there for any period of time you really need to have the aid of a local who can show you the things that make it a great place to actually live and not just visit.

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[fivecats.livejournal.com]

Dulles is, indeed, a major pain. (And having never preferred Reagan to much of anything, I still refer to National as National) :-)

I will give Rosslyn this: everyone I spoke with was very nice, helpful and personable. There was none of the New York stand-off-ishness that I was afraid might accompany the large numbers of people, the jams of traffic and the endless construction.

Where are you going to school? I don't know what's in Rosslyn for schools anymore.

Part of all of the New Construction boom is, I think, either a lack of overall cohesiveness in building styles -- which leads, imho, to a lack of neighborhood character -- or a forced style, trying to create a sense of sameness, thinking that it will translate into character. An area's character has to grow organically with the area and expresses itself in the buildings, the diversity of shops...

I'll stop rambling now.

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[velvetink.livejournal.com]

Interesting seeing some bits of DC. Been watching the TV series Bones and get glimpses of it, commented to Miss L the other day how neat and orderly DC seemed. The Rosslyn building shot is my favourite. :)

btw re; ""It's so weird to be saying 'our mother,'" he said at one point."

Don't you both just refer to her as "Mom", rather "our mother". Glad you got to catch up with your brother though.

[fivecats.livejournal.com]

The "my mother"/"our mother" bit comes, I think, from my brother telling all sorts of stories to friends and co-workers over the years about our mother. When he does, he uses the phrase, "My mother..." We're out of practice talking with each other, so he slipped into his usual story-telling mode and was referring to her as "my mother."

Parts of DC are still great. I still take trips driving through the Rock Creek Parkway in my mind sometimes (I drove it on a daily basis for years and always enjoyed it) and Cow Hill is still there to return to whenever I'm there and have time. (I lacked the time this past week)

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[loodje.livejournal.com]

>> The problem is that I wasn't in many real 'photographical' areas ...

I understand there is an interesting display of chimpanzees at the zoo at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue...

[fivecats.livejournal.com]

True.

I've heard they've just recently been placed on the endangered list, too.

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[basefinder.livejournal.com]

Was your flight diverted from National to Dulles while you were in the air?

[fivecats.livejournal.com]

No, I just spent the better part of two months working under the misguided notion that of course I was flying into National.

I mean, if you're flying into DC to take classes in Maryland where else would you fly into?

(Unless the person who bought your tickets doesn't know the DC area at all and goes after the cheapest tickets to DC and sees two airports claiming to service DC -- National and Dulles -- and doesn't know any better)

Early in the flight the crew mentioned something about National and my mind continued riding on Autopilot until nearer to the landing.

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[basefinder.livejournal.com]

Crazy stuff. I have to continually remind our company's travel agent that I fly from Dallas-Fort Worth, not Dallas Love Field.

I used Dulles for the first time last December. Since I was renting a car and driving off into the countryside, I chose to avoid the congestion of National and the traffic around it. But yeah, whenever I visited Crystal City or the Pentagon, National was the way to go.

Show your ticket buyer a map and 'splain things to 'em.

:-)