A Weird Day

Wednesday I was scheduled for my Supreme Court lecture in the afternoon, so I headed over that way. The Court is behind the Capitol building, next to the Library of Congress (which I am also really looking forward to visiting). It is, naturally, a huge neoclassical building with columns, white marble, etc. I got into the great hall, which leads directly back to the courtroom. It's a pretty basic building in terms of layout. The upper level is just the hall and the courtroom, with some side rooms. We were not allowed to take pictures inside the courtroom (no one is, even the media) but there is a small model downstairs that I took a picture of.

The lecture was some basic American government stuff, which I already knew. But then we got into the details of the court, which I didn't know much about at all. Here are some things I learned:

• Justices are seated by seniority, except for the Chief Justice, who always sits in the center and is not necessarily the most senior judge. The only time we get a new Chief Justice is when that position comes open--justices never "move up" to that spot. After the Chief, the judges sit to his or her left and right, alternating sides, by seniority. The judges at the farthest edges are the least senior.


• The courtroom is always open to the public, which is what the benches at the back are for. Past the railing, the chairs are for those admitted to the Supreme Court Bar. So they are other lawyers, etc.


• In front of the many chairs is where the petitioner and defendant and their attorneys sit. The podium in the center is adjusted with an old fashioned crank. They are standing very close to the justices when they speak!


• To the right of the chairs for the members of the Bar is the area for special dignitaries and guests of the justices--who are also seated by the seniority of the justice they are the guest of.


• To the left of the chairs are some long tables as seating for reporters. They need tables because no recording devices of any kind are allowed, so all notes are taken by hand. Behind the reporters sit the artists, because no photography is allowed.



• The court is asked to hear thousands of cases per year, and they meet together in private to select which cases they will hear. Usually it is between 80 to 100. The justices select these cases based on which are most significant to lawmaking, and of course cases that involve lawsuits between the states.
  

I hope I got all of that right. It was a lot of information in a 30 minute lecture, and law is not exactly my specialty, so I learned quite a bit.

After leaving the court, I was faced with a few hours to explore. I checked my map and noticed that the Folger Shakespeare Library was nearby. I knew Adam wouldn't be too sad to miss out on that, so I headed on over. It was very quiet and lacking in tourists, compared to everything else around. A lady greeted me and mentioned that there was a tour in 15 minutes, so I just looked around until then. The building has a small Elizabethan theatre similar to the Globe, a great hall with an exhibit on interesting pieces in the library, and a bookstore. The reading room and other areas are closed to the public, but scholars may apply to research there.

Our tour consisted of four people and a guide--which was kind of a nice change. He told us about how this library was founded. Mr. and Mrs. Folger were a wealthy couple who both were interested in Shakespeare and had no children , so they decided to start collecting Shakespeare's works. There was an interest by the scholarly community in making this public, so in the early 1930's the building was built. The interior is Elizabethan, but the exterior is Art Deco and Neoclassical--the first to be modern to the times, the second to fit in with the surrounding architecture. Some people call it "Art Greco". It is decorated with friezes of scenes from the plays.

We saw one of only about 250 copies of Shakespeare's First Folio, which is the first collection of his works published in 1623, 7 years after his death. It was created by publishers as interest in his plays was beginning to fade, and they wanted to renew popularity for their own benefit. It contains 36 of his plays, which would likely have been lost if they had not been gathered at that time. Our guide explained the publishing process at that time, in which each page was individually typeset, and told us that because of that process most of the copies of the Folio have important differences. It is valuable for scholars to have access to several different versions in order to draw conclusions. The Folger has the largest collection of First Folios in the world at 39.

We peeked into the Reading Room, where books rest on special velvet pads so that their spines are not stressed, and leather straps hold the books open to reduce the amount of times they need to be touched. There were several very serious looking people in there just reading away.

The founders room was for the private use of Mr. and Mrs. Folger, but unfortunately he passed away before the library was completed. It contains stained glass of Shakespearean characters and an original painting of Queen Elizabeth.

Overall, it was interesting to me, but probably wouldn't be to anyone who was not the literary sort. I learned a lot and was reminded that there's a lot of Shakespeare that I don't know much about, too.

I left the museum and walked around the Capitol intending to head over to the Smithsonian area and choose a museum for Adam to meet me at when he got off of work. There were police and guards everywhere, which I certainly didn't remember from my last visit here 12 years ago. Of course, things were much different then, and we didn't' have to go through security anywhere but at the White House, as I recall. Now there are metal detectors everywhere, but the police presence was really intimidating to me. I was wondering if it had to do with the Supreme Court nomination hearings, or if something else was going on, or if this was the usual practice. As I continued walking, I saw police on every street corner and then a series of no less than 30 police cars, trucks, and "incident response vehicles" with sirens on passed by. In addition to being tired and hungry, I was starting to get the willies--so I headed over to the nearest Metro station and got going back to Arlington. I of course had no idea what was going on until I got back and got on my computer, only to find out that there had been a shooting at the Holocaust museum. I was several blocks away from there, but a little too close for my own comfort and it was a little unnerving. I am glad I went there on Monday, but I am also so sad that such things are still happening. There's a lot of security at that particular museum--even the cafe, which is separate, had metal detectors--but there are guards outside of the doors as well. I guess that was how the one man was killed. I am so glad that shooter was not able to get into the lobby of the museum, which was (at least on Monday) completely packed with people. In any case, I am going to choose to believe this was a completely isolated incident and be brave!

We had a great dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and an early night. I found out that some of the Smithsonian Museums are open later than I had thought in the summer, so Adam will be able to do some of those with me. I'm glad because even though I like to go at my own pace, it's much more fun with a buddy. :)

(Insert Spy Music Here)

Tuesday was a day with a "security" theme. I started out with a trip to the Pentagon, scheduled by my my friendly Senator Kit Bond's office. I went through quite a bit of security there, and possibly the most interesting part was sitting in the waiting area while all of the military types circulated around, checked in their guests, etc. It was amazing the amount of civilian (looking) traffic in there! Finally our tour started, led by two young people (don't know their ranks, but one was navy and one was army!) in uniform. The Pentagon is the largest low-level office building around, and it is quite huge. We basically walked by some military history displays in the hallways and listened to some history of the building. It was built during WWII mainly from concrete, to conserve steel for the war effort. Thus, it's quite tough! We were told that on 9-11-01, those on the opposite side of the building from the attack didn't even know that anything was going on for some time.

We did visit the portion of the building that has been rebuilt since that attack. One whole side of the five sided shape was taken out, and we visited the memorial and chapel in that section. It listed the names of all of the people who died (including two children who were on the plane) and showed that each received a medal. A new medal was created after the attack for civilians who died, called something like the "defense of freedom" medal. Outside they have placed benches for the number of victims at the exact angle to the building that the plane came in when it crashed.

We did get to walk through the center courtyard, and saw a small building in the very center. We were told that during the Cold War, Soviet spy satellites detected a large number of people coming in and out of that building every day. They determined that it must be an entrance to an underground bunker of some sort, and pointed their missiles right at it. As it turns out, it is a snack bar (recently renovated from being simply a hot dog stand). They joked that it was the world's most dangerous hot dog stand and nicknamed it ground zero.

Overall, the tour was not exceptional, but it was interesting in its own way just to be in that very important building. There was certainly a lot going on there, and many people were bustling around. Of course no pictures were allowed, but there wasn't all that much to take a picture of anyway.

In the afternoon, I visited the Smithsonian American Art Museum and Portrait Gallery. There was a lot of folk art there (my impression of which is that it could have been made by any third grader I know--I was not impressed) but also many beautiful paintings and sculptures by American artists. I'll post a few of my favorites.

An Albert Beirstat landscape (he's pretty awesome in my opinion) of the Sierra Nevadas. It filled its own room.

Some striking stained glass. I've already forgotten the artist, but it was called Peonies and Peacocks I and II.

Look very closely...this spells something out. I was impressed!

The portrait of Lincoln used for the penny. One of many, many portraits of presidents and more.

This was extremely cool, even though I am usually not that into modern art. It is huge, in its own room, and each state is filled with TV monitors showing some sort of image or series of images or a video clip related to that state's culture. MO was showing a clip from Meet me in St. Louis. It was really impressive, and meaningful, and probably took quite a bit of skill to create.

Finally, in the evening Adam met me across the street at the International Spy Museum. It was full of actual spy equipment and information--not fake movie stuff (although there was a section about that) but real items the CIA, KGB, etc. used in the last century. It was pretty cool! There was also quite a bit of info on how to be a spy (I don't think I'd do too well), the history of espionage dating from Biblical times, and codes and code-breakers during WWII and beyond. I learned quite a bit, and we both enjoyed it. We had dinner at a brewery restaurant across the street and met up with one of Adam's roommates and friends from college, so we had a good visit and nice evening all around.

The Holocaust Museum

I had been to the Holocaust Museum on my last visit, when I was 15. I remember being shocked by many of the things I saw and of course deeply moved. This time I knew what to expect, had a lot more background knowledge, and believe it or not, I still wanted to go. I am fascinated by that period in history despite how morbid it can be.

The museum is designed to echo the feeling of a ghetto, with tall brick walls and a glass ceiling that shows the sky. It is bleak and depressing even from the outside. The museum is divided into three parts, basically beginning, middle, and end. The first section shows how Hitler came to power and began to use propaganda and fear to gain support. One thing I was not as aware of was how much he used the public schools to indoctrinate young children about races and politics. There were charts used to demonstrate the features of different races, and children were taught the two classifications of people: superior and inferior races. I had always thought that Aryan meant blond hair and blue eyes, but according to the charts I might yet have made it though...as long as one wasn't African, Asian, or of course Jewish, you might just make it.

However, I think it's important to acknowledge that the Holocaust wasn't completely about race. It was really more about who was and was not an "enemy of the state". Most people know that Jews were required to wear yellow stars--but I didn't know that the stars were really two triangles together, and the other undesireables were forced to wear different colored triangles based on their "offense". Criminals wore green, purple was for Jehovah's Witnesses (partly because they refused to serve in the millitary), pink was for homosexuals, red was for political prisoners, and so on. Also, the first victims of the Holocaust were those in institutions with mental and physical handicaps. This operation began with forced sterilization and escalated to extermination.

The actual details of the ghettos and concentration camps are the most difficult and disgusting part of the experience, but they are (in my opinion) necessary. In fact, the point of the whole museum is to remember, so that these events will not be repeated. There are pictures and models of gas chambers, train cars used to transport people like cattle, and other artifacts of destruction. The final portion of the museum might actually be the most moving, because it simply shows the aftermath: thousands of shoes, personal items and shorn hair from those who entered the camps. The sheer numbers of each are overwhelming, and of course they only scratch the surface. There are also survivor stories, complete with pictures of the number tattoos on their forearms that will never disappear.

The last part of the museum that you experience is the remembrance hall, which is similar to a chapel or a memorial. It has candles and simple inscriptions of the name of each concentration camp and situation where thousands died. Again visitors are reminded to "never forget".

At the beginning of the tour, each person is given an identity of an actual holocaust victim with information about their life before, during, and after the war. Visitors are encouraged to read these portions during the three sections of the museum. My identity this time through was a young French Jewish woman who was sent to a concentration, and survived.

It's not by any means a fun experience, but thoroughly educational and, in my opinion, necessary. I would recommend it to any visitor to the area over the age of 14 or so. Even if it seems unlikely that any similar situation could happen again, there are other applications for this knowledge. We need to remember to think for ourselves, remember the power of education on young minds, and to value each and every human life as precious.

Just Being a Tourist

On Monday I was well-rested and ready to take on the truly touristy part of DC, the monuments. I had seen most of these before, but there were a few new ones and also I just felt like I should. So off I went, walking shoes on, first thing in the morning to beat the heat and the crowds. The truth is, many of the monuments and memorials are pretty much like you see in pictures and not overly exciting. Definitely worth seeing once, though. The Washington and Lincoln are bigger than you might expect. The Vietnam Wall is moving, even though I am not of a generation to be quite as affected by that as some, it is still very solemn to walk by panels and panels of names and to realize the cost of that war.

The World War Two Memorial was new since the last time I had visited, and I was looking forward to seeing it. It was much more spectacular than I had envisioned. For one thing, it's very large-and placed right between the Washington Monument and its reflecting pool--prime real estate. It stretches across the width of the Mall, which is pretty wide. There is a large fountain in the middle, and the the left and right are large areas memorializing the Atlantic and Pacific theatres of war. There are inscriptions of quotes around the outside, related to the war, as well as a wreath for every state whose men and women fought. I thought it was quite beautiful, and peaceful, and meaningful to me. Both of my grandfathers were part of that war, and thankfully both lived through it, but I am very proud of their services.

I took the long walk around the tidal basin and to the Jefferson Monument. He's one of my faves, and I enjoyed the walk. On the way there is also the FDR memorial, which is pretty neat. It has four sections for each of his four terms, and lots of fountains and sculptures of meaningful portions of his presidency. Four terms is a long time, and that man sure did get a lot done--from the depths of the Depression to the midst of WWII.

By the the time I made it back around from the Jefferson Monument, I was getting pretty hot. It feels just like home here--not incredibly hot yet, but reallllly humid and sticky. So I decided to take a lunch break and choose the nearest museum for the afternoon-the Holocaust Museum. I stepped into the museum cafe first, without realizing that it was vegetarian. I found the most protein-rich item I could, a cheese sandwich, and chilled in the AC for a bit. It was good to sit down and relax for a while. I think the Holocaust Museum will take a bit of writing, so I'll save it for the next post.

That evening, Adam and I came back to the Mall because they were allowing people to go up in the WA monument even in the evening (after it is usually closed) so I got two tickets for 8:30. It was not crowded and we even got a little bit of a sunset view. I have to say, next time I come here I am definitely doing the monuments and memorials in the evening. It was much more pleasant!

These are the four directional views from the top of the WA monument. You can pick out the White house above the ellipse here. It looks pretty small from this distance.

This shows the WWII Memorial, the reflecting pool, and the Lincoln Monument at the other end of the pool.

This shows the tidal basin and the Jefferson Monument.

That's the opposite direction from the Lincoln, down the mall with the Smithsonian Museums on either side and the Capital at the very end of the Mall.

And finally, words of truth from the Korean War Veterans Memorial...

Philadelphia

Sunday morning we hopped right up and ate that chocolate cake for breakfast, and it was GOOD! We walked the block or so to the Independence Hall visitor's center and picked up some tickets for a timed tour a little later in the morning. Then we passed through the Liberty Bell building on our way over to Independence Hall. It was sort of just a regular old bell. Maybe that sounds disrespectful, but having seen the image so many times it was pretty much just the same--not really larger than life or anything. It was neat how they displayed it with a glass back wall that looked right out to Independence Hall, though.

The tour of Independence Hall was impressive to me. We were told a little of the history--which I (and any person who remembers their fifth grade education) was pretty familiar with. In the actual hall, there are two rooms. The one to the right is the courtroom, and the one to the left is the room you see in the painting of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It looks exactly the same, same color and everything! That room definitely gave me a little tingle, to be in the very place where three major American documents were conceived. (Well, the Articles of Confederation were sort of a dud, but they were important at the time.) I could just imagine tall General Washington up there on the podium, presiding...we learned that the painting that you always see, that's in the textbooks, was actually used to help restore that room, so that's why they look so much alike. But it was still incredibly cool. And it was also very heartwarming to hear the crowd shouting out the answers to the (albeit very elementary) guide's questions. It was like the opposite of Jaywalking. Yes, there are actually educated Americans out there! I was really glad we got to be there and experience that place, which is definitely a history teacher's dream come true.

After all that history we needed to experience some other kinds of culture, so we walked several blocks to the Reading Terminal Market. This was once a railroad terminal, now a large indoor market that reminded me of the Pike Place Market in Seattle only not open-air and not really as fun. But we waited in line dutifully for our Philly cheesesteak sandwiches (not my favorite, but I felt it necessary) and had some fantastic ice cream from Bassett's, which is apparently a local specialty according to my guidebook. It was excellent!

After walking back to the historic district, we stopped by Franklin court. This was where Benjamin Franklin's home, printing office, and post office were. The latter two buildings still stand, but his home in the courtyard behind them was destroyed by his descendants. What a shame! Archaeologists have excavated the site, and "ghost" buildings (outlines in white metal) show where the buildings once were. There are windows looking down at the excavated foundations, too. There is an underground museum with some of Franklin's items from his home and some of his inventions as well. He was a true Renaissance man, and a fascinating personality in my opinion.

We thankfully made it out of the city and into the next city without too much trouble, and arrived safely in Arlington in time to get some dinner and get settled in. Another very eventful day! It was good to get settled in one place...even if it's not home, at least it's not a different hotel every night.

Eastern Pennsylvania

Saturday we were up early and ready to make up for lost time, as well as do some things that we were really interested in. Namely, chocolate for me and beer for Adam! We stayed very close to Hershey, so we got there when Hershey's Chocolate World opened and zipped right in. It's mostly a giant candy mall/ Hershey's product placement store. I knew this going in, but I still wanted to stop. Unfortunately so did about a zillion high school students and Asian tourists, whose busses dropped them off right at opening time as well. But we navigated the crowds to the Chocolate Tour, which is an amusement park-like ride that guides you through the making of a Hershey's product. It was cute, and fun, and involved free chocolate...so all in all, a good time. But that was pretty much all we did there, and then we were off to Pottsville, PA.

Why Pottsville? Yes, it's just as dinky and remote as it sounds, but it happens to be the home of America's oldest continuously operating brewery, Yeungling Brewery. (Ying-ling, as far as I can tell.) Apparently it's famous to the brewmeisters I know, so it was worth a jaunt up north. And it was really pretty neat. The town is a hilly little mountain village with narrow streets and brick buildings, very picturesque. We toured the brewery from top to bottom, inside and out, learning the history of this company that's been bought by generations of Yeunglings, son from father, since 1829. That's a German work ethic for ya. They even produced near-beer during Prohibition, as well as opening up an ice cream factory across the street. We walked through the dripping, hand-dug cellars and saw the bricked up shafts where the Feds sealed them off to prevent production during the '20's (so they say). The beer itself seemed pretty generic to me, but it was historical so I was happy! I think Adam enjoyed it.







The shot below is of the 19th century stained-glass ceiling in the boiler room that helped diffuse the light that glinted off the gleaming copper kettles and strained the workers' eyes. It was the prettiest part of a brewery that I've seen!







After a light lunch in Pottsville at the Garfield Diner (which was an authentic aluminum diner from the '50's that JFK ate at when he campaigned there) we were headed south to Philly.







On the way we stopped by Valley Forge. Again, it was really more of a battlefield than anything...and we know where I stand on those now. But I actually did want to stop here because I hit Valley Forge pretty hard when I taught fifth grade American History. So, I actually kind of knew what was going on there! The recreated cabins were neat, and we got to see the house where Washington had his headquarters as well. It was a much larger area than I expected. I'm sure it would have been more authentic to visit during the winter, but it was very pretty in the summer.


Finally we navigated our way into Philadelphia. Let me just say, I am verrrry glad that I was not the one driving. It was hard enough to be the navigator. That traffic was pretty much like you see in movies of the worst, scariest city traffic you would ever encounter. We actually saw a girl get out of her car, scream at the taxi driver in front of her, and generally scare everyone around. Luckily we were on foot at that time, and never got yelled at or even honked at. Adam did a great job! Our hotel was a fabulous location, just a block away from Independence Hall and all the main tourist attractions. (Thank you, Hotwire!) It was a very nice Holiday Inn, too. We walked to a restaurant that I was very excited about, the City Tavern. This authentic 1773 tavern was an actual hangout for Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Hancock, Adams...the whole gang. The servers were dressed in period costume and many of the recipes were authentic to the 18th century as well. It was yummy and so interesting, too. We tried beers brewed from the recipes of Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, and Hamilton, and a drink called shrub that was basically a fruit punch, spiked with rum. Adam had Martha Washington's turkey pot pie, and I had beef medallions (not necessarily historic...but tasty). Jefferson's favorite sweet potato rolls were mighty tasty, too. We ordered Martha Washington's chocolate mousse cake to go, because we were so stuffed. And boy did we crash hard that night, after a very full day!

Southern Pennsylvania

Friday dawned drizzly, cool, and gray. Usually one of my favorite kinds of days, but not the best for sightseeing. We had stayed in Somerset, PA after a long, long day of driving Thursday. We stopped for some breakfast snackage and got on the PA turnpike...only to discover that had somehow gotten going the wrong direction. The PA turnpike is a "restricted access" highway (not to mention ridiculously pricey in the toll department) and therefore we had no choice but to backtrack TWENTY miles before we could exit again. I was veeeery frustrated, because I had a lot of things planned for this day! So when I finally recovered and we exited, we saw the sign for Fallingwater--which we had tentatively planned to drive by on Thursday if we had the time. As it turned out, we were driving very late and it was completely dark when we were in that area, so there was no chance of stopping. But as we exited and saw that sign on Friday morning, we said "what the heck" and got off that blasted turnpike, and journeyed into the scenic Pennsylvania wilderness.

It really was a pretty drive, and so much more "real" than just miles of interstate. We had seen an architecture show on the house--known as Frank Lloyd Wright's masterwork, and a prime example of American design--so we knew a little bit of background. I expected to drive by, take a photo, and get moving with the day's plans. Well, we pulled in and found ourselves persuaded to sign up for a guided tour (don't ask the price!). As it turned out, we both agreed it was well worth the detour and delay. That house is AWESOME. I mean that in the true sense of the word---which should be used much less casually, in my opinion. I don't know much about architecture, but it was explained that Wright designed the home to be organic--to flow out of the natural landscape. I think the landscape was to his great advantage, as it is in a beautiful location. The outside of the home is interesting and unique, but the inside is what really impressed me. The house is built over a waterfall with cantilevered terraces. Inside the main room of the home, there is a hatch that opens to the creek below, letting in the gentle sound and cool breeze from the water. He designed almost every room with at least one glass wall, to "open up the box" as our tour guide put it. He also designed many interesting nooks and crannies--shelving, fireplaces, and all of the furniture. We were not allowed to take pictures inside the house, and received dire warning about even posting our pictures of the exterior on "any website". Since I am not much of a deviant, I will follow that rule...but I strongly suggest you Google Fallingwater and see what comes up. Pretty cool, huh?

After we got back on the road, we headed in the direction of Gettysburg. I should probably preface this next part by mentioning that for a history travel buff, I am not much for battlefields--and really the Civil War is not way up there either. Most that I've seen just look like fields, and if you're really involved in the experience then they are depressing fields at best. But I still felt obligated to go. We visited Antietam last summer and that experience was probably even better than this one turned out to be.

The visitor's center is really impressive--probably the biggest and nicest that I have been to, and I've seen a lot of them in the last few years. But they were charging big bucks for the museum and film, and the bookstore was incredibly crowded with obnoxious teenage school groups and ridiculously overpriced (I picked up a neat Confederate soldier's cap replica that I thought would be great for school...it was $100. 'nuff said.) So we took the auto tour (the free, paper one, not the $20 audio one) and cruised around the battlefield in the rain. I wasn't even that inclined to get out at the stops due to the icky weather, which really made the experience more of a drive in the rain than anything. I guess it could have been much better if I weren't such a tightwad and/or grumpypants, but whatever. I can say I saw it! And it was a really big field of battle. Here are some shots.

Now, next on the itinerary was to drive through Amish country and maybe even hit up Hershey. That did not pan out. We were both pretty tired and it was getting dark, so we headed up to Harrisburg and called it a night. We did get a pretty good off-interstate drive through some lovely country, though. Not a bad day, overall.