Making our way to Casa di Giovanni's BnB
We take a car service from Ft. Greene, Brooklyn to Penn Station in New York City. Penn Station has to be experienced to take in the chaotic method of catching a train. No just buying your ticket and going down to wait by the tracks. I had preordered tickets so we rolled our suitcases to center of the Amtrak waiting area. About fifteen minutes before you board the train, the schedule board which you keep checking announces when the train comes in and what track it will board on and then the announcement comes and we all rush to the one line formed to show your ticket and take the escalator down to the track. People have a habit of pushing and shoving in that line in hopes to finding seats together or get the best part of the train (if there is one--they must think there is by their rush to be first in line). We manage to stay together and get seats not too far apart. Luggage is tossed into the bins by the guys and finally we can just relax. We had grabbed breakfast at the station and could sit back and enjoy the ride.
The nice thing about the train is you can sit and see the countryside. While I am used to it and think nothing of it, I know how Jim and I feel when we are the train in Europe. You are trying to soak the country up and looking at the land is a good way to start. Four hours later and we are in Washington, DC Central Station which is a beautiful station. It is filled with shops and restaurants. It's a tourist spot all by itself and bustles with Amtrak stations as well as subway tracks which they call the "metro".
We decide with our luggage, not sure which metro line would take us to our destination, we will take a taxi. It doesn't take long and we count the numbers on the houses and find Casa di Giovanni's. I am feeling better as I see the neighbor is down from the Marine barracks. I mean, who is going to mug you next to a Marine?!
We are greeted by Giovanni who happens to be visiting DC and leaving later that day. It actually looks like the pictures with its large antique furniture that seems heavy in the modest townhouse but at the same time, "fits". We find a bottle of wine, some beer, coffee and even specialty cookies await us. He is a charming gentlemen and is soon joined by Apollo Broom whom we call the Captain as he decked out in dress whites as it turns out he is retired from the Coast Guard. We all regret we never got around to getting our picture with him. He is such a nice man and agrees to come and get us tomorrow at 7:45 and take us to our early 8:15 time to view the White House for less than a taxi ride. We realize later it is an easy metro ride but that first day we are still unsure how to maneuver in DC.
After we get settled we walk down two blocks and come to 7th street and find a street loaded with cafes and restaurants. We are delighted to see so many choices and stop at a cafe for lunch. We notice there is even a Belgium restaurant and promise we will visit before we leave!
We walk a few blocks more and see the metro stop and the Eastern Market which had a open market that day. Naturally, Betty and I can't resist looking at all the booths! I buy us some natural creams and just enjoy checking out the area. We grab something to cook that night at the Eastern Market which is a delightful place to find just about any kind of precooked food and fresh fish and meat.
By the end of the day we figure our the metro system and decide to have an apertif before heading back to the apartment. Perfect ending for the first day
The White House
Senator Doggett had arranged for a White House tour and a tour of the Senate Building. Due to security, you now have to put all requests into your representative. We were given an 8:30am time slot for the White House and were glad the Captain had agreed to come and pick us up and drop us off. We figured we could find our way home thanks to my Hop 'n Stop app but didn't want to test it due to the appointment time.
You can't take pictures inside the White House and you don't get to see the Oval Office. But you do get a glimpse of the rooms used for private and state affairs. There is an aide in each room to answer questions and each of them had a smart phone. You could see them googling for answers to historical questions and I was impressed how they made sure you had an answer.
Despite it's formal look, there are rooms that you feel a family could really relax in and I think how odd it must be to have you house closed up at certain times for the public to look at it! Nevertheless, it was an amazing experience to know you are not just walking through a government house, you are walking through history.
It was a gorgeous day so we walked around the statues, fountains and took some pictures. We wandered back later and went to the Eastern Market to pick up some food to cook that night. Betty and I cleaned up the patio area where they had cut down some limbs but had put it in a pile. There was a table and chairs but they were so dirty. We got some rags and cleaning stuff and cleaned them up and soon we had a nice little place to hang out in the evening. Eddy had found some bug spray in the supplies so he could sit out with us!
The next day we went to the Senate building to get our tickets to view the gallery. Jim and I had never been there so it was interesting to walk around and there is a short tour too. Our guide was pretty interesting but was always telling these Japanese tourists to "please, stay with the group" and finally I think when they realized you could not take pictures, they decided to exit. If you leave before the end of the tour a guard has to make sure you leave! He was quite interesting and at the end we took our tickets to go sit in the gallery itself. You look down and you think how much of our country is molded in that room....
Another day we make our way to the Lincoln Memorial and are getting quite good at using the metro. The Lincoln Memorial has this way of making you feel small. Maybe it is because Lincoln is so big or because I knew how much our whole country changed during his term.
Another day we walked to the World War II, Vietnam Memorials. We were fortunate as during the WWII, there was a ceremony with all the veterans of that war. It was a beautiful ceremony honoring the last of the veterans from a war this generation will not remember. The taps and bagpipe playing was very moving.
We walked along the Reflecting Pool on the way back and I think we had a powerful moment seeing what the USA is about in Washington, DC.
When we came home there was a festival on our 7th street and the Marines had a great booth. They let Eddy and Betty climb into the Humvee and there's a great shot of Eddy by the giant blow up Marine. We also saw a 4 star General there and even Jim said that is a rare sighting!
Each night we had the luxury of settling into our apartment for food or drinks. One night we went out for a walk and had a Mojito at a cafe. Betty and I wanted to smoke one of our cigarellos and realized we didn't have a light! I stopped a guy by our outdoor table who was flicking his lighter and he graciously let us borrow it!
Tomorrow we fly to Louisville where we get to meet the family. They are all so excited to meet them as it is the first connection to Belgium and Guill's roots that they have met. All of our life we have heard Guill talk about his family and now they get to meet them!
We take a car service from Ft. Greene, Brooklyn to Penn Station in New York City. Penn Station has to be experienced to take in the chaotic method of catching a train. No just buying your ticket and going down to wait by the tracks. I had preordered tickets so we rolled our suitcases to center of the Amtrak waiting area. About fifteen minutes before you board the train, the schedule board which you keep checking announces when the train comes in and what track it will board on and then the announcement comes and we all rush to the one line formed to show your ticket and take the escalator down to the track. People have a habit of pushing and shoving in that line in hopes to finding seats together or get the best part of the train (if there is one--they must think there is by their rush to be first in line). We manage to stay together and get seats not too far apart. Luggage is tossed into the bins by the guys and finally we can just relax. We had grabbed breakfast at the station and could sit back and enjoy the ride.
The nice thing about the train is you can sit and see the countryside. While I am used to it and think nothing of it, I know how Jim and I feel when we are the train in Europe. You are trying to soak the country up and looking at the land is a good way to start. Four hours later and we are in Washington, DC Central Station which is a beautiful station. It is filled with shops and restaurants. It's a tourist spot all by itself and bustles with Amtrak stations as well as subway tracks which they call the "metro".
We decide with our luggage, not sure which metro line would take us to our destination, we will take a taxi. It doesn't take long and we count the numbers on the houses and find Casa di Giovanni's. I am feeling better as I see the neighbor is down from the Marine barracks. I mean, who is going to mug you next to a Marine?!
We are greeted by Giovanni who happens to be visiting DC and leaving later that day. It actually looks like the pictures with its large antique furniture that seems heavy in the modest townhouse but at the same time, "fits". We find a bottle of wine, some beer, coffee and even specialty cookies await us. He is a charming gentlemen and is soon joined by Apollo Broom whom we call the Captain as he decked out in dress whites as it turns out he is retired from the Coast Guard. We all regret we never got around to getting our picture with him. He is such a nice man and agrees to come and get us tomorrow at 7:45 and take us to our early 8:15 time to view the White House for less than a taxi ride. We realize later it is an easy metro ride but that first day we are still unsure how to maneuver in DC.
After we get settled we walk down two blocks and come to 7th street and find a street loaded with cafes and restaurants. We are delighted to see so many choices and stop at a cafe for lunch. We notice there is even a Belgium restaurant and promise we will visit before we leave!
We walk a few blocks more and see the metro stop and the Eastern Market which had a open market that day. Naturally, Betty and I can't resist looking at all the booths! I buy us some natural creams and just enjoy checking out the area. We grab something to cook that night at the Eastern Market which is a delightful place to find just about any kind of precooked food and fresh fish and meat.
By the end of the day we figure our the metro system and decide to have an apertif before heading back to the apartment. Perfect ending for the first day
The White House
Senator Doggett had arranged for a White House tour and a tour of the Senate Building. Due to security, you now have to put all requests into your representative. We were given an 8:30am time slot for the White House and were glad the Captain had agreed to come and pick us up and drop us off. We figured we could find our way home thanks to my Hop 'n Stop app but didn't want to test it due to the appointment time.
You can't take pictures inside the White House and you don't get to see the Oval Office. But you do get a glimpse of the rooms used for private and state affairs. There is an aide in each room to answer questions and each of them had a smart phone. You could see them googling for answers to historical questions and I was impressed how they made sure you had an answer.
Despite it's formal look, there are rooms that you feel a family could really relax in and I think how odd it must be to have you house closed up at certain times for the public to look at it! Nevertheless, it was an amazing experience to know you are not just walking through a government house, you are walking through history.
It was a gorgeous day so we walked around the statues, fountains and took some pictures. We wandered back later and went to the Eastern Market to pick up some food to cook that night. Betty and I cleaned up the patio area where they had cut down some limbs but had put it in a pile. There was a table and chairs but they were so dirty. We got some rags and cleaning stuff and cleaned them up and soon we had a nice little place to hang out in the evening. Eddy had found some bug spray in the supplies so he could sit out with us!
The next day we went to the Senate building to get our tickets to view the gallery. Jim and I had never been there so it was interesting to walk around and there is a short tour too. Our guide was pretty interesting but was always telling these Japanese tourists to "please, stay with the group" and finally I think when they realized you could not take pictures, they decided to exit. If you leave before the end of the tour a guard has to make sure you leave! He was quite interesting and at the end we took our tickets to go sit in the gallery itself. You look down and you think how much of our country is molded in that room....
Another day we make our way to the Lincoln Memorial and are getting quite good at using the metro. The Lincoln Memorial has this way of making you feel small. Maybe it is because Lincoln is so big or because I knew how much our whole country changed during his term.
Another day we walked to the World War II, Vietnam Memorials. We were fortunate as during the WWII, there was a ceremony with all the veterans of that war. It was a beautiful ceremony honoring the last of the veterans from a war this generation will not remember. The taps and bagpipe playing was very moving.
We walked along the Reflecting Pool on the way back and I think we had a powerful moment seeing what the USA is about in Washington, DC.
When we came home there was a festival on our 7th street and the Marines had a great booth. They let Eddy and Betty climb into the Humvee and there's a great shot of Eddy by the giant blow up Marine. We also saw a 4 star General there and even Jim said that is a rare sighting!
Each night we had the luxury of settling into our apartment for food or drinks. One night we went out for a walk and had a Mojito at a cafe. Betty and I wanted to smoke one of our cigarellos and realized we didn't have a light! I stopped a guy by our outdoor table who was flicking his lighter and he graciously let us borrow it!
Tomorrow we fly to Louisville where we get to meet the family. They are all so excited to meet them as it is the first connection to Belgium and Guill's roots that they have met. All of our life we have heard Guill talk about his family and now they get to meet them!
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