They have this cool system in DC (and in lots of other big
cities but never where we have been before), called Capital Bike Share. This
group set up locked bike racks all over the city with red bikes. You use a
credit card to purchase a membership and sign out a bike. You are charged a
daily fee and a fee for the minutes you use. This was the perfect alternative
for us!!
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| This is a photo from Capital Bikeshare but this is what we looked like on our neato bikes - sans helmets |
I downloaded an app for my phone that showed exactly where
to find the bike racks. I don’t mean to sound old but I am relatively new to
these apps. In this case I kept getting confused about where we were and where
we were going. But I figured it out!
The bikes are really heavy. I am not sure if it is the electronic equipment that must be stored on them to make sure the bikes are not stolen, or what, but they are heavy. They have three gears: hard to push, really light, and "is this thing engaged at all?" gear. But they work. The bikes get you to around where you need to be in a decent amount of time and at a pace that allows you to see what is going on around you. You get to see buildings, explore the city, and see the people all for a minimum fee. And you get to be outdoors, which is probably the best part when the weather is as perfect as it was while we were there.
The bikes are really heavy. I am not sure if it is the electronic equipment that must be stored on them to make sure the bikes are not stolen, or what, but they are heavy. They have three gears: hard to push, really light, and "is this thing engaged at all?" gear. But they work. The bikes get you to around where you need to be in a decent amount of time and at a pace that allows you to see what is going on around you. You get to see buildings, explore the city, and see the people all for a minimum fee. And you get to be outdoors, which is probably the best part when the weather is as perfect as it was while we were there.
On Saturday 6/15/13 we arranged to meet Marissa at her place
at 10am. We found a neat neighborhood walk of the SW district, her neighborhood,
which sounded great. This 2 hour walk started at 11:30 right at the metro
station near Marissa’s house. This was the perfect chance to use the rental
bikes to make the cross town trip!
The local bike rack was at the corner by our hotel, at Rhode
Island and 14th NW. We arrive promptly at 9am but there was only 1
bike! Oh no!! I opened the app to see where the next closest bike rack was and
while I was fiddling with the phone a lady arrived with a bike. She dropped it
off and we picked it up.
Now, “picking up” is a relative term. First we had to figure
out how to use the electronic machine with our credit card. Then we had to
figure out how to use the little code on the scrap of paper the machine spits
out to release the bikes. But we need two codes because we were renting two
bikes. So back to the machine to get the second scrap of paper. Fifteen minutes
later we had two bikes, secured the camera and bag on the front of one bike and
we were off. Stop to consult the map (paper of course – so much easier to read)
and we were off.
We accomplished all of this with a minimum of arguing,
believe it or not. We are getting a lot better at holding back the angry words.
One accomplishment on this trip!
We wound our way through the downtown to the mall – the park
area between the Washington Monument and the Capital Building. Our goal was a
car-free place to ride. The mall fit the ticket. Along the way we ran into lots
of traffic for a Saturday morning, went the wrong way on one way streets like
tourists, rode on the sidewalk occasionally. Then we ran into police blockades.
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| Pretty building spotted while zooming by on bikes in downtown DC |
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| Big purple walk in DC |
Totally cleaned up as if
nothing had every happened. These folks are amazing.
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| Better shot of the crowds of purple walkers |
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| Check out this cool soda machine - you pick buttons and out comes soda combination you selected into a cup you pick up around the corner. Never saw one like that before. We are such Ohio hicks. Marissa was embarrassed. |
Fortunately Marissa was running late and did not have brunch
prepared anyway. So she came down and we walked with her and the bikes over to
M and 4th SW to the Metro station where we needed to meet the group.
This is the location of Marissa’s Safeway, a great grocery store in a brand new
building.
We had coffee and relaxed for a while before meeting the gang
for the walking tour.
This tour was conducted by Carolyn, the lady who wrote the Frommer’s book on Washington DC walking tours. She seems to know a lot. She also lives in the SW district. We picked this tour because it was scheduled at a time convenient for us and it talked about Marissa’s neighborhood and also about the waterfront where the marinas are and where we would have stayed had we been able to come to DC in the boat.
This tour was conducted by Carolyn, the lady who wrote the Frommer’s book on Washington DC walking tours. She seems to know a lot. She also lives in the SW district. We picked this tour because it was scheduled at a time convenient for us and it talked about Marissa’s neighborhood and also about the waterfront where the marinas are and where we would have stayed had we been able to come to DC in the boat.
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| Carolyn the tour guide - she showed what the neighborhood used to look like |
We learned a lot about the neighborhood. On Friday when we
walked from Marissa’s apartment to the hotel we noticed there are a lot of new
looking buildings with a few really old historic homes mixed in. We thought
that was odd. On the tour we learned why.
The SW neighborhood was the oldest part of DC. It was part
of Pierre L’Enfant’s original city plans in the late 1700s. Fort McNair was
establishing in 1791 as the US Arsenal. According to Wikipedia, “Waterfront developed into a quite contradictory
area: it had a thriving commercial district with grocery stores, shops, a movie
theater, as well as a few large and elaborate houses (mostly owned by wealthy
blacks). However, most of the neighborhood was a very poor shantytown of
tenements, shacks, and even tents.”
In the late 1950s there was a movement in DC for urban
renewal. This was the beginning of the urban renewal trend that hit most big
cities. The powers that be decided it would be nice to clear away entire blocks
to build something shiny and new. The local folks didn’t exactly agree. The
neighborhood wasn’t bad, it was just old. Famous people like Marvin Gaye and Al
Jolson grew up here in the old neighborhood.
The city planners proceeded despite the protests and evicted
virtually all the residents of the SW quadrant south of the National Mall and
north of the river. Our guide told us
there was person whose job it was to relocate families. She said he grew to hate his job;
it was very hard to move people out of their historical homes.
They destroyed almost all the streets, buildings and
landscapes and started over. The only buildings left were those registered on
the National Registry of Historical Places. There weren’t even many of those
since the NRHP hadn’t really caught on yet. The people protested and took their
case all the way to the Supreme Court but they lost. That is why we have
eminent domain for private development.
Some really famous architects were involved in the master
plan. I. M. Pei who is famous for so many beautiful building developed the
initial urban renewal plan. Chloethiel Woodard Smith and Louis Justement made
the original proposal. Harry Weese designed the Arena Stage on the waterfront. (Thanks to
Wikipedia for this info.)
The plan has combinations of high rises and low rises built
around green spaces. The few historical homes are tucked into the new
construction. It is quite beautiful now. Marissa lives in one of these buildings built
in the 1960s.
But the point of the tour was to emphasize the total
destruction it took to create a new environment. Entire communities and
families were displaced to other places to make room for housing they could not
afford.
There is another building boom going on in this
neighborhood. Lots of new high rises are being built all around this
neighborhood. The Safeway grocery store where we had coffee before the tour is
in one of those beautiful new high rise multi-purpose buildings.
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| Washington National Stadium |
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| Washington National Stadium |
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| This is what the waterfront looked like |
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| SW Waterfront before urban renewal |
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| Tiber Island - see the mix of low and high rises? Clearly 1960s construction |
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| More Harbor Square - these buildings face a center green space with a pool and gardens |
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| Historic buildings from the late 1700s that are part of Harbor Square |
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| More gardens at Harbor Square |
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| See the gardens? |
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| Harbor Square from the other side of the block |
We walked all around Harbor Square, now a cooperative with more than 440 residences. It includes some homes in the National Historic Register that are townhomes now.
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| Historic row homes now part of Harbor Square |
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| This is the first mansion in SW from the late 1700s, it became a doctor's office and is now part of Harbor Square |
We also learned about explosions at the Armory housed in
Fort McNair. Fort McNair is also the place where the four co-conspirators
involved in Abraham Lincoln’s assassination were tried and hung for their
crimes.
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| Harbor Square |
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| The Armory |
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| Titanic Memorial |
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| Titanic Memorial |
You come around the corner to the water and stumble upon a
memorial to the Titanic. Evidently there is a group of men who meet every year
at midnight on April 14 when the ship went down and give eulogies to the men
who gave up their seats for the women.
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| the SW waterfront park |
We had lunch at Marissa’s new favorite hangout, Marina
Cantina. Lots of young people on a covered rooftop joint with a beer and a
sandwich. What a nice way to spend an afternoon with the kid!!
This was a busy, busy day. After lunch we took the Metro to
the mall. We had ice cream and walked in the sculpture garden. |
| Marissa and Katherine on the Mall |
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| Kermit, the frog |
Then we visited the Smithsonian Museum of American History. We split up and explored on our own. Marissa and I watched an actress demonstrate with the crowd and some volunteers what a sit-in demonstration was like at a segregated lunch counter. There is no substitute for active involvement in teaching.
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| The lunch counter sit-in in action |
We saw the exhibits about the American flag from 1812, the
presidents, the white house, and of course Archie Bunker’s chair. It seems that
the stuff is just sort of set out there without too much of a context. That
made the civil rights exhibit even better.
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| We couldn't get closer than Pennsylvania Avenue |
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| Crowds in front of the White House |
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| The Old Executive Office Building next to the White House |
We had cocktails and snacks at a fancy outdoor café across
from the Treasury Building. It was good to get off our feet.
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| A wedding in front of the White House |
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| Those darned segways |
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| Someone is getting cranky |
Marissa and I enjoyed the walking tour earlier in the day so
much we decided to go on a walking ghost tour at 7:30pm. It was really fun!
More walking. I think my feet were about to fall off but I kept saying,”one
more step” and it was fine.
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| Telling ghost stories in front of the Octagon House |
The ghost tour started at the Octagon House, reputedly the
most haunted place in DC. According to the tour guide (and thanks to Wikipedia
for refreshing my memory) it was built in 1801 by Colonel John Tayloe III, a
distinguished Virginia family that owned thousands of acres in Virginia. The
family home is Mount Airy in Richmond County VA built in 1758. I would like to
see that home but it is privately owned and still lived in by the Tayloe
family. George Washington asked Mr. Tayloe to build a home in DC as part of the
process of getting influential people to live there.So anyway, there are lots of reports of ghosts and spooky things at the Octagon House. We didn’t get to go inside because it was closed but the stories relate to ghosts of daughters who fell over tall railings to their death or angry servants/slaves who ring bells that aren’t there any longer made the hair on our necks rise.
We walked from the Octagon House to the White House and
Lafayette Square across from the White House.  |
| Lafayette Square |
Lafayette Square is really beautiful but it was going to be
another victim of urban renewal in the early 1960s until Jacqueline Kennedy
stepped in and made the entire square a national landmark, saving these
historic buildings.
The best story in the White House is about Abraham Lincoln
who wanders the halls at night. Evidently LBJs dog wouldn’t go in a certain
room because he sensed the spirit.
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| Those darned seqways are EVERYWHERE |
Ironically after we finished with the tour at about 9:30pm,
I walked back to the hotel!! I just kept saying, “one foot in front of the
other”. It was a fascinating walk because you see things at night that you don’t
see during the day.
Next up: Sunday with Trinity Resounding Joy and Monday with museums and Marissa
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