Capital City - Day 2

The difference between visiting a city that is new to you and revisiting a place where you once lived, is in knowing those quaint places that are off the beaten track. One of the best sights in DC (for those who are scientifically inclined) is the Albert Einstein statue that sits on the grounds of the National Academy of Sciences, a stone’s throw from the Lincoln Memorial, at the intersection of Constitution Avenue and 22nd Street. The bronzed statue of Einstein in a sitting position looms 21 feet tall. It was installed on the birth centenary of Einstein and a brief description of his accomplishments is listed alongside. I wanted to show Aparna my fondness for this understated celebration of a great man who differs from all the other political statesmen who have been immortalized in this most political of all places in America. So we dutifully took pictures of the renowned scientist and sat for a while observing the two naughty boys who climbed up the statue, chasing each other, exploring the uninhibitedly.

The short walk to the White House was uneventful and we had a good view from the Ellipse, the side facing the Washington Monument. But as we walked by the Washington Hotel to approach 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue (the most famous address in the US, that of the White House), we were caught in an unexpected downpour. The DC area is notorious for its rapid changes in weather leading to sudden deluges in the summer months. We took shelter under a small tree and the shower retreated as quickly as it had appeared. Tourists thronged the front gates, getting a good view of the graceful columns and manicured lawns. We took the mandatory picture in front of the black metal fence contrasting against the milky expanse of the eponymous house behind it. The White House has been the official residence-cum-office of the US President for as long as anyone cares to remember.

Our next stop was the home another prominent piece of history, a rock, to be precise – the Hope Diamond. The Smithsonian Museum of Natural History contains many interesting displays but none as famous as the 45+ carat rare blue diamond, named “Hope” Diamond. The origin of the diamond is in India and it started its life as a 67 carat brilliant piece of carbon which then made its way across the world. It was bequeathed to the Smithsonian Institution and now lies, splendidly displayed in a secure glass case which rotates to give you a 360 degree view of its magnificence, stopping long enough for you to take a picture.

While I have listed all the places we visited, there is still so much that was left unexplored – a tour of the US Capitol, watching dollar bills being printed at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, looking at pictures of Americas Most Wanted criminals at the FBI, getting a glimpse of the horrors of the holocaust at the Holocaust Museum, watching a performance at the Kennedy Center. There are seasonal attractions in DC that are worth mentioning – the Cherry Blossom parade every spring when the cherry trees around the Tidal Basin bloom in unison, the brilliant colors of fall in October, the national Christmas tree in the White House lawns, with little trees for each state of the Union on a cool December evening.

In general, I feel that cities generally tend to look alike. But capital cities everywhere in the world have a character that is unique, Washington DC is no exception. What made this visit special for me was my connection to this particular capital city. The heap of memories linked to every place here, whether or not of tourist interest overflowed as we created more.

Cheers to Washington DC!

Capital City - Day 1

Washington DC is not a city, it is a district, District of Columbia, and along with the 50 other states that united to form the USA, is the seat of power of the American democracy. Our last halt on this long holiday was DC. I had to speak at a conference here, so these ten days constituted the “work” part of the trip. We had a weekend to explore this historic city which I knew thoroughly – I had lived in the DC metropolitan area for the first 7 years of the fourteen years that I had lived in the US.

Like any wise tourist, we got off the orange line metro at Smithsonian station, the central point on the famous national mall. The rectangular section of real estate that lies between the US capitol on one side and the elegant obelisk of the Washington Monument houses the museums that form part of the Smithsonian Institution. The red building of the Smithsonian Castle provides information regarding the magnanimous donor, Englishman James Smithson, who donated his estate to America for establishment of an institution for increase and diffusion of knowledge in Washington DC. The notable aspect of this generous donation was that Smithson himself had never stepped into America!

In pursuit of this lofty goal and from subsequent donations of other philanthropists, the Smithsonian Museums line the national mall which is borderd by Independence Avenue and Constitution Avenue on either side of the walk from Capitol to the Monument. There is no entry fee for any museum and there is a museum for all types – for art aficionados, science buffs, natural history lovers and curious people of all ages. We chose to visit the Natural History museum and admired its most famous possession, the Hope Diamond. The Sackler Gallery of Asian Art had an amazing collection of artefacts from Cambodia on display. The Air and Space Museum where I had seen many of the then new IMAX releases also houses “Kittyhawk”, the first airplane flown by the Wright Brothers.

It was a hot Saturday as we walked to base of the Washington Monument, standing like a slender watchman, the tallest building in the district at 555 feet. On one side marked the Capitol while the austere façade of the Lincoln Memorial looked humbly past the reflecting pool. The White House and the Jefferson Memorial could be clearly seen from the green mound which houses the entrance to the viewing gallery at the top of the monument. There was a time when you could stand in line and ride up the elevator for an aerial view but now advance reservations are required to ascend the tower, the next available tickets were for 9 July!

Lincoln Memorial continues to be my favorite tourist spot in DC; there is a sincerity in the hallowed hall where President Lincoln sits majestically, with his finest speeches including the Gettysburg address, inscribed in the marble walls. The reflecting pool faithfully reproduced the slim lines of the monument, blurred occasionally by ducks looking to cool off in the midday sun. We walked by the Potomac River that marks the boundary between the state of Virginia on the south and crossed towards the Tidal Basin where the picturesque Jefferson Memorial is located. We passed the sightseeing tourmobiles which dropped off tourists are various spots and plied in a continuous loop. The green lawns were dotted with teams practicing various sports including a Hindi-speaking cricket team. We stopped frequently to munch on peanuts or crackers, sip water and give our tired legs a break. The gently curved dome of Jefferson Memorial marks the centerpiece of the circular path lined with graceful cherry trees, a gift from Japan many years before the world wars. We sat on the shaded lawns and got a good view of paddle boats in the blue waters of the basin, too tired to walk around the water. We found out later that the memorial was closed for repairs.

Trying to retrace our path guided by the triangular apex of the monument, we wandered into the Roosevelt Memorial, a new addition to the multiple monuments dedicated to past presidents. Aparna loved the metal statue of President Roosevelt seated informally on a low chair, with his dog sitting by his feet. Quotes engraved in stone facades, flowing waterfalls provided welcome relief from the heat in this open structure. A standing figure of the diminutive Eleanor Roosevelt reminded me of one of her quotes which I try to live by “No one can make you feel inferior without your permission.”

Baltimore - Back to Alma Mater

The cab dropped us off at a familiar address in Baltimore, 20 N. Pine Street. The building looked bigger and more imposing than ever before. The prominent sign “School of Pharmacy” was not visible but a modest "20" on the entrance indicated the steps that I had climbed every day, for the half decade that I pursued my Ph.D. Aparna and I entered the lobby where a diligent security guard took us through the prescribed process before letting us into the building.

Richard, the only professor still at the school had kindly agreed to meet us and show us the place. His office was the corner office on the sixth floor, the same room which the head of the department had occupied almost 20 years ago when I had stuck my face around the door to enquire about the admission process, in my salwar kameez and bindi. We caught up on old times and I was happy to show my lab and desk, as proof to Aparna, of my claim on this place, my Alma Mater. Much had changed, including the department structure, the curriculum and teaching methodology but some things were the same. The heavy plain wooden doors which we had decorated one Christmas, for a friendly inter-departmen “door-decorating contest”, the simple wall-mounted black phone, the bright yellow cabinets for solvents and the lab coats hanging on the wall. The lunch room which had housed an ancient microwave had been converted to offices, but had previously served as a meeting place for students, some American, some Chinese and many Indians. I had colored a paper drawing of a turkey for Thanksgiving and won second prize one year. Another year, I had binged on the different cakes baked for a Valentine’s Day Bake-off contest which was rigged and won by the kind head of the department, Dr. Shangraw. Today there is a sign honoring his contributions and an endowed chair named in his memory. What a wonderful family he had created for all of us students, so far from home but welcomed with open arms for having one characteristic, a desire to learn.

We walked out into the warm summer sunshine on familiar streets, past the historic dental school, the veterans hospital and the renovated medical hospital. The small park which hosted live musicians at lunchtime in the summer weeks still managed to hold its own amongst the concrete jungle of downtown Baltimore. The old library location was now a parking lot and the new one stood across the road, five floors of well-lit bookshelves, wired, provide with private cubicles for quiet study and an extensive online journal collection. What had been missing on this campus then was a place for students to have some fun. The brand new student center had taken care of this lack by and now housed exercise equipment and a large swimming pool.

Lunch choices in the café included not just vegetarian but vegan choices as well. We rewarded ourselves with delicious coffee cake before heading off for a few hours of sightseeing at the famous Balitmore Inner harbor. It was a day with clear skies, pleasant enough to walk but warm enough to appreciate the cool breeze that tousled our hair on the water taxi ride to Fort McHenry. The star-shaped fort is considered to be the birthplace of the US national anthem, Star-Spangled Banner, written by Francis Scott Key. Federal Hill looks down proudly on the inner harbor with the flag waving majestically. Fell’s Point is another well-known spot, pictured in the popular movie “Sleepless in Seattle” where we stopped for a few pictures.

We shared a Ben n Jerry’s “Imagine Whirled Peace” ice-cream sundae and watched groups of school kids dressed in identical t-shirts on a field trip to the Balitmore aquarium. An old gentleman was belting out soulful jazz in the amphitheater. We walked back to the MARC commuter train station located adjacent to the Camden Yards baseball stadium, home of the local team, Orioles. Street vendors sold tees with Orioles and Mets (NYteam), hotdogs and burgers, ice cold water and sodas. The mood was cheerful and contagious as we boarded the southbound train back to Greenbelt, where we were staying with friends.