That's a wrap

For our last day in DC, R and I woke late, ate a leisurely breakfast of blueberry pancakes and mimosas, and then walked into DC for a visit to the National Gallery. We love walking those five miles!

We passed the Pentagon and the Lyndon B. Johnson Memorial Grove (an undiscovered gem of a place, if you ask me - shady pathways and views of Columbia Island Marina - and by pushing a button on a kiosk you can hear Lady Bird Johnson describing why the grove was created), and then crossed the Washington Memorial Bridge.

We passed the Jefferson Memorial and the Washington Monument, walked along the mall and took in the Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden, which includes a "wish tree" donated to the city by Yoko Ono. In front of the tree is a supply of pencils and paper tags (including strings for tying to the tree) for visitors to write their wishes. Along with many others, I suspect, I wished for peace in the world. Read more about the tree here.

The National Gallery never disappoints. Even if I've seen some of the collection before, I love being in the same room within breathing distance of world-renowned artists:

Mr. van Gogh, I presume.

Renoir - R told me his family tried to complete a jigsaw puzzle of this image
when he was a kid, but gave up. "Too many blues and greens." :)

Not your typical Toulouse Lautrec.

You've just got to love this lady and her crazy talent and moxie.

Albert Bierstadt, my favorite!

We took the metro back for an early dinner at our favorite Irish pub in Pentagon Row (I had Guiness and beef stew - how could I not?). 

And now, R and I are enjoying a nice glass of wine before tackling last-minute packing for the adventure to come.

The Federalist - quite apropos.

Pack out

Our little apartment in Arlington is now devoid of anything that belongs to us. Except for the clothes that will be packed into suitcases early Saturday morning, all of the meager possessions that we used to make the generic corporate housing feel like "home" are gone. Hurray! The movers arrived at 9:15 a.m. and were gone just over three hours later. Marvelously efficient.

If we come back to DC in the future, I don't think we'll stay here in Crystal City. It's (very) close to the metro, which is convenient, and there are restaurants on 23rd Street that we've enjoyed, but the apartment itself is in need of remodeling. Our intention is never to come back to DC long term, but additional training is always a possibility, depending on the post, so I can't rule it out entirely.

The great news is that the efficiency of the pack out allowed us time to take in a Washington Nationals game! We had terrific seats, the weather was overcast, the beer and hot dogs were great, and the Nats won!  Perfect.

We're certifiable dorks, it's true. 

Is it just me or do these two logos look eerily similar?

FSI, I knew thee well

I did my final out-processing at the Foreign Service Institute (at the National Foreign Affairs Training Center) today. Normally on such occasions, we tend to say the parting is "bittersweet." Not so in this case; although my time at FSI has been mostly informative and fun, I'm completely ready to move on to post and put my training to use.

Spanish took its toll, but I loved ConGen. Every day I would come home from school and think, "I chose the right profession." I love the thought of helping U.S. citizens abroad and even of being "on the line" and conducting visa interviews. We should probably check in about two years from now and see if I still feel the same. :) I learned a lot, but surely have much more to learn. For now, I'm excited about the work that lies ahead.

A few memories of the FSI campus:

The room where the Flag Day ceremony took place.

Flag Day with a few of my colleagues. Oh, my, how young they all are. :)

Me and Ben, right after A-100.

The campus in spring.

The statue of Ben Franklin is located just outside of where I was in A-100. It represents Franklin's role in US diplomacy.

Many was the time my Spanish classmates and I would walk the 1-mile loop around campus, speaking only in Spanish, praying that we would achieve the necessary score in our evaluations.

Another view of the campus. Beautiful all year round, but especially in the summer.

Memorials close to home

This morning R and I rose early and walked to the Pentagon Memorial. It's a somber reminder of 9/11 outside of New York, and honors the 184 people, aged 3 to 71, who died when terrorists took control of American Airlines Flight 77 and flew it into the Pentagon. It's a beautifully simplistic design - each person is represented by a marble bench, with the benches arranged in such a way that when you read the name engraved on the bench you are facing either toward the Pentagon (signifying the person was in the building at the time of the attack) or away from the Pentagon (signifying that the person was on the plane).

The date and time the plane hit the Pentagon.

We continued our walk and went to the Air Force Memorial, about a mile away. I love this memorial. It's so dramatic, and perfectly represents the Air Force. From www.airforcememorial.org:

The Memorial itself is 270 feet high and appears to be soaring. Its array of arcs against the sky evokes a modern image of flight by jet and space vehicles. At the same time, it enshrines the past in permanent remembrance of the pioneers of flight who came before, and pays homage to those of the future.

And from Wikipedia:

The three memorial spires range from 201 feet (61 m) to 270 feet (82 m) high and appear to be soaring; its array of stainless steel arcs against the sky evoke the image of "contrails  of the Air Force Thunderbirds as they peel back in a precision 'bomb burst' maneuver." Only three of the four contrails are depicted, at 120 degrees from each other, as the absent fourth suggests the missing man formation traditionally used at Air Force funeral fly-overs. 

If you look closely, you can see a jet taking off from Reagan National Airport.
(Toward the bottom of the clouds on the left side.)

Teeny tiny Washington Monument on the left.

It almost looks like the ocean. Or space.

High Flight
John Gillespie Magee, Jr.

"Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air....

Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace.
Where never lark, or even eagle flew —
And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
- Put out my hand, and touched the face of God."

John Denver's version.

Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens

Today R got the last of the required immunizations for the Dominican Republic (I finished mine about the time I finished Spanish). As a reward to ourselves, we went for a walk around the incredible Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens.

This place is gorgeous - I can't believe we didn't even know it existed until yesterday when we were coming back from Havre de Grace and happened to see a sign. It's managed by the National Park Service now, but was originally started by Walter Shaw, a civil war veteran who was homesick for the plants in his home state of Maine. After he died his daughter took over and eventually sold the gardens for $15,000 to create the public park - 700 acres of wonderment! 

Last minute tourism

We have less than a week remaining in Arlington. Last week R and I completed the Foreign Affairs Counter Threat course, wherein we learned about securing a tourniquet, vehicle skid control, firearms safety, self-defense, and much more. I'm not spilling any state secrets here; it's all out there on the interwebs. It was a fun week, but exhausting. And now that our remaining time is in limited supply, we're cramming all of those must-do, last-minute activities into the next several days.

Today we headed up to Havre de Grace, Maryland, a charming sea village located at the intersection of the Susquehanna River and the Chesapeake Bay. The scarcity of tourists combined with the natural beauty of the area made it really enjoyable.

Built in 1827, Concord Point Lighthouse is the northernmost lighthouse on Chesapeake Bay.

A former bank in Havre de Grace.

More adventures in the coming week!

A visit from L

Our time in DC is drawing to a close. Soon (oh, so very soon) all the training will be past and we'll be in the middle of our first grand adventure with the Foreign Service.

This past weekend, we had a local grand adventure via a fun-filled weekend with L (she flew in on Saturday morning). First, we drove an hour or so to take a look at the Manassas National Battlefield.

I have to say that Stonewall Jackson is looking pretty buff.

And then we went to The Winery at Bull Run for some wine tasting:

Here's to family!

Then we went out to dinner.

Saturday: check!

We began Sunday with cinnamon rolls and mimosas, lazily lounging in our small apartment. We hopped the metro and went to the Kennedy Center for the matinee performance of The Book of Mormon:

Really fun! Hysterical, in fact. :)

We returned home where R proceeded to put the finishing touches on a delicious authentic sauerbraten roast that he had made from scratch (and had been marinating for nearly a week!). Dinner included spaetzle and red cabbage/apple yumminess, followed by Black Forest Cake purchased from a local German deli. Divine.

And then, in keeping with our family tradition, we played board games.

The Dominican Republic is going to have to bring their best game to surpass this weekend!

The only drawback? H was missing. But we'll make up for that with an island Christmas!