Washington report for y'all

So I suppose I better check in with a little report so you don't all think I have done nothing but eat and sleep on this trip...though that wouldn't be so bad. Certainly, I have slightly different aims to J on this trip, after a long period of working too hard and desparately needing some space to think about what should come next. And also having a less emotional connection to American TV and films :p


It was interesting going back to Washington - this time with Jay and having been in other parts of the USA (where people had been soooo much more polite and friendly, and seemed generally interested about Australia, even if the only thing they knew about it was that it was "downunder").

It immediately struck me that we were staying in a much nicer area of the city, and that where you lived in Washington would have a real impact on  your outlook (a bit like Canberra I guess). In fact, really the whole place is a bit like Canberra - its planned, rather "fake" in my view, plus it has that whole nationalism thing on top of this...honestly I just gave up counting the flags!

We were staying right near Dupont Circle in a lovely B&B where the staff were just gorgeous and I felt much safer than last time. I was also less afronted this time by the poverty that clearly exists here...though if you spent most of your time in Georgetown you wouldn't know it!

A key highlight for me was the Phillips Collection. I didn't go here last time, and its just gorgeous - sure must be tough having so much money you can spend your inheritance collecting great works of art, but nice of them to open it up to the public! This was one of my favourite galleries so far, as the collection was carefully considered and the paintings arranged in the old family house by theme rather than the standard "history of art" approach. I also got to see a lot of artists' work that I hadn't seen before. And its always makes me happy to see how happy Jay is when before a Rothko painting - and in this case a whole room of his paintings!

It was great to also great to see the FDR memorial again - even if it was in temperatures that felt like we were in the centre of the earth. This place always makes me a little sad though. Such beautiful ideals are expressed here...but spend a day watching US news shows and you wonder what has happened to them [particularly after two days of listening to arguments about whether the muslim bortherhood has infiltrated the US government, courtesy of the Tea Party which brings new meaning to "evidence" to back up your claims]. 
I also managed to stop in at Freer and Sackler museum briefly - but the Mughal art exhibition was open yet...bah humbug :(


A lowlight was certainly the Newseum which made me really angry (despite their amazing collection of political and newspaper history artefacts, and some very moving exhibits around Sep 11). Propaganda is certainly alive and well here, and not just on Fox News. I am not sure what was worse, the exhibition on the Berlin Wall or the Murdoch alter of worship. Was really interesting to read all the glowing praise of the importance of freedom of speech - particularly in the context of Wikileaks (which was not mentioned at all) and a Falong gong demonstration going on outside.

And while my mother will groan at this, goth clubbing in Washington at Spellbound was LOTS of fun (even if it was the night before an early morning train ride....urgh), particularly after a brilliant meal at a vegetarian restaurant (food blog post to follow). Jay and I requested 5 songs and they played them all, and I could dance to my hearts content (with alcohol successfully numbing foot injuries!), plus for the first time in a long time just sit and listen to good music that I didn't know at also. It also made me laugh very hard that the actual venue was called "Recessions". Jay really should DJ here :)

Anyway, over and out from me for the moment, I won't comment on New York until we finish part two of our visit. Tomorrow is family history day in Boston - hiring a car and going to see my great granparents who are burried about 1/2 an hour out of town (if I don't drive on the wrong side of the road). Sounds a bit morbid perhaps, but after the ancestry research I have been doing recently, I really regret that I never had the chance to meet them. Hopefully we can also find the house they used to live in, in Annabel St (yes seriously, weird huh!), and the street where their ballet studio was in Boston.

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