A Surprising Day

So I began my weekend looking for a good place to get breakfast in DC. Some place well-reviewed that had a unique or special something to it. And it had to be close to the Metro because otherwise I have to walk further than I would like.After doing a few minutes of research I discovered a place called the Waffle Shop, across the street from Ford's Theater. It was described as a greasy spoon diner and I am here to tell you that description was dead on. Very few tables but a long, snaking counter where you just walked up to and sat down. Everything on the menu was pretty standard except for something called "scrapple". I asked my waitress what it was and she told me it was "the last part of the pig that was used. Sort of like mushy sausage." YUCK! Needless to say I did not partake. The food was acceptable, and filling, but nothing to really go back for, so with a full stomach I began to walk down to the National Mall again.

When I got to the back side of the Natural History Museum I turned left and headed for the National Gallery to go look at some art. Not just any art though, I wanted to spend time looking at the works of Rodin, Degas, and that of other sculptors whose names I can't remember. Rodin's work just moves me. His attention to detail, to form, and to emotion simply floor me. While I'm not a huge fan of the busts that he did, his other sculptures are very moving. Similarly with Degas. The detail he put into most of his work was not the same as Rodin, but Degas captures movement and life, particularly in his different dancers and horses.  After spending time being awed and humbled by such greatness I wandered upstairs to the portrait galleries where I sauntered past the Rembrandts and made my way to this painting.
 

 

This is "Moonlit Landscape With Bridge" by Aert Van Der Neer, and the first time I saw it, in January, I was struck by how strong the light shown out of the sky and illuminated the picture. There are obviously other great works of art in the Gallery, but this one jumped out at me, and on second viewing, had just as much impact. With that goal accomplished, I set off through the museum again and found another amazing exhibit, this one of etchings done by John Taylor Arms. I am always amazed at the talent that artists show, their ability to create so much emotion on different media, the fact that I can barely draw a stick figure in comparison. What Arms does though, is brings to life a scene, in many cases quite real, and etches it BACKWARDS on his plates. Thik about that for a second. Look at whatever is in front of you and imagine drawing the mirror image it. On metal. Apparently, according to his children, Arms would work with a pin that had been attached to a wooden handle, and etch lines while looking through a stack of three magnifying glasses. What might that create? 

After dreaming for 30 seconds about what it might feel like to have this kind of talent in art, I walked out the front door of the Gallery into a sea of white tents set up across half the Mall. 

What was this?!

This, was the National Book Fest, put on by the Library of Congress. There were tents for most genres of books: fiction, poetry, teen, children, contemporary, etc. They had the Magic School Bus there, a whole section from PBS Kids, a trailer set up to download digital library books, and at the far end of the field, a row of 20 small tents for book signings. Yes, that's right, 20 rows of people waiting to have a book signed by their favorite author. It looked like this:

I walked up to the tent for fiction just as they were announcing the next author to speak. I didn't recognize the name at first but heard something about Oz, so I stayed a bit longer, only to discover that it was Gregory McGuire, the author of Wicked. So I stayed longer. He read the first few pages of the fourth book in the Wicked series, which comes out shortly, and then began talking about how he came to write Wicked and then the subsequent books. Who would have thought that his muse was the first Gulf War and Hitler? Or that his second book was based on the incidents at Abu Ghraib? He was an engaging speaker and this discovery seemed to be the surprise of the day. Little did I know.

I left the Mall and headed off to look for a store, only to find that it had moved. So I jumped on the train to the next location where I could find the store I was looking for and when I walked out of the Clarendon Station I stepped square in the middle of a street fair. It was Clarendon Day! What? You have never heard of Clarendon Day? Good, because neither had I. Basically they closed off the center of town, in a two block radius from the Metro station, and filled it with food, games, activities, demonstrations, and vendors of all sorts. After getting turned around looking for the store I was seeking (stupid map program) I returned to the fair and had a look. The food was good, the entertainment was good, and I was able to walk around without everyone trying to sell me something and just take in the sights and sounds. 

This may not sound like much to some of you, but the point is that you just never know what you are going to find when you head off looking for breakfast. It was a very surprising day and I am so very glad that I went looking for waffles.