Farewell Washington, DC

My time in Washington, DC has come to an end. For now, anyways. I lived in the beautiful, clean, surreal, eclectic, pretentious, infuriating, monumental city for almost four years and will look back fondly on the experience. Now that I've left, I'd like to record some of my observations on our nation's capital, followed by a series of photos from my last few weeks there (as well as a few from earlier this year).

To begin, Washington, DC is a stately place as befits its role as America's capital city. The great seats of our federal government are housed in fancified buildings along wide, tree-lined boulevards. It's not often but, if you stick around long enough and indulge in the city frequently enough, you're bound to see some of the people who sit in high places of power...

In my time here, I've seen Bush Deputy Defense Secretary and World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz at Kinkeade's, Bush Attorney General Michael Mukasey in Dupont, Clinton Treasury Secretary and Obama economic advisor Larry Summers on Metro, Obama advisor Valerie  Jarrett in a car near the White House, New York Times columnist David Brooks outside CSIS on K St., and Clinton Secretary of State Madeleine Albright at Equinox. Not a bad list of politicos to have glimpsed out and about.

The District of Columbia is infused with history. Every which way you turn something important happened or someone notable lived. To give but a few examples: Grover Cleveland used to have a cottage in my Cleveland Park neighborhood. My office building was a half block from James Monroe's old house. A plaque on the facade of a greasy restaurant in Chinatown informs passersby that it was once the Surratt boarding house where the conspirators in the Lincoln assassination plotted.

This depth of history often goes unnoticed to the city's young demographics. Young and transitory. Very few people that you meet are actually from Washington, DC. They're from faraway places like South Dakota, Montana, or Mumbai. DC is just where they are for now, until the next step of their education or career. I've noticed that people living in DC tend to retain their original geographical identities. It's not "I'm from DC" but rather "I'm from [insert random place] and am living in DC."

While the city is visually spectacular it is not perfect. There are downsides. It's expensive and somewhat full of itself. This is fair to a degree because what people do there is important but an uncomfortable uptightness permeates the air--gnawing doubt within each associate and every staffer that the effort they are putting forth isn't sufficient for the grand ambitions they harbor. That's an aspect that I'm looking forward to getting away from.

DC, as much as it is not New York, is also getting more crowded and more congested. It wasn't meant to support this many people and its infrastructure is sagging. The waits on weekend Metro are hellish and unless you're taking it at rush hour (when the crowds can be overwhelming) be prepared to wait patiently for the next subway train.

To encapsulate what's not great about Washington, DC in a phrase is hard to do, but I've heard two sarcastic descriptions which are as pithy as they are apt. "Washington is Hollywood for ugly people," according to Senator John McCain, capturing the mentality of many that call the District home. Before that, President John F. Kennedy once described it as a "city of Northern charm and Southern efficiency." While perhaps a bit harsh, this too nicely summarizes what makes DC maddening.

But where else is it possible to stride across bridges built in the tree tops? Or gawk at towering marble pedestals to democracy on America's front lawn (i.e. the National Mall)? DC has much more green space than your average major metropolitan area which is spread throughout the city and goes a long ways towards making it livable. The city's beauty is its saving grace. This I will miss.

Cleveland Park (the neighborhood where I lived)

The Capitol

The White House

National Portrait Gallery (my favorite Smithsonian Museum)

Rock Creek Park

Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception

In spite of its unwieldy name, the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception (henceforth simply "the Basilica") is an awe-inspiring, though often-overlooked, DC landmark. It's the largest Catholic church in America, the eighth largest religious structure in the world, and the tallest building in Washington, DC, according to Wikipedia.

I had never been there before and it's less than ten Metro stops away from Cleveland Park so I thought it might be worth visiting on my last full day in the District. The Basilica was one of three remaining places on my DC-area "To See" list. I didn't make it to the other two before I left: George Washington's Mount Vernon estate and Shenandoah National Park, a couple hours away in Virginia.

The Basilica is located in a part of Northeast DC known as Brookland, which isn't the city's most inviting neighborhood. Thankfully, the structure is only three blocks from the Metro and the streets were practically empty the Wednesday morning I visited so I was able to get to and from the grounds without incident.

The epic stonework of the Basilica looks like like something out of "Game of Thrones" (King's Landing) or "Lord of the Rings" (the citadel atop Minas Tirith). This goes for both the outside and the inside. When I was there, some large graduation ceremony was taking place inside so I wasn't able to appreciate the cavernous chapel in all its somber, contemplative splendor, but it nevertheless made for a worthwhile experience.

After briefly exploring the crypt and the the main chapel (through which graduates were processing as families looked on), I took a lap around the Basilica grounds, taking in the hulking structure from numerous different angles. My favorite feature of the Basilica was the the narrow, steepled tower next to the main church building. In my mind, I dubbed this the Wizard's Tower even though the Pope might take offense.

After making my way around the Basilica's entirety, I ended up in front of a relief carving of my namesake: Saint Justin Martyr, who lived from the years 100 to 165.

Northern Lights

I want to go see them.

New York / Philadelphia

New York City

NYC. Capital of the World. Not my favorite place, but somewhere I wanted to pass through one final time before I left this region. I decided to make it the first stop on my East Coast farewell tour, a weekend jaunt to NYC and Philadelphia to see a few friends before I move out of DC next week.

24 hours in New York was enough. I traveled there by way of Megabus, a low-budget interstate bus line, arriving around 2:30 Saturday afternoon after a four and a half hour ride. I met up with friends and wandered the streets of Midtown, the Upper East Side, and SoHo where we dined on spicy Thai food.

Ever-looming above the city's streets is the not-yet-complete Freedom Tower, the massive structure being built at the site of Ground Zero. Only days ago it surpassed the Empire State Building as the tallest in the city and still has another 500 feet to climb.

The next morning after brunch I meandered south along Central Park's eastern boundary from 96th St. to approximately 79th St., passing by the Guggenheim and the Met. Crowds flocked to Central Park to celebrate the beautiful Mother's Day weather. I caught a Megabus to Philadelphia just outside the Port Authority terminal in Midtown.

While I'm long on record as describing New York as suffocating and unmanageable, it's a fun place to take in for short periods and I'm glad I was able to visit again.

Philadelphia

My stop in Philadelphia was primarily confined to eating delicious Chinese food and catching up with old friends. I stayed over with a friend who lives in the up-and-coming South Philadelphia neighborhood of Breeze Point and left aboard a bus at noon on Monday, which departed from the heart of Philadelphia's Chinatown.