Washington DC - Trinity Resounding Joy! on Sunday June 16

NCCC was on our regular walk schedule!
Rusty goes to church

On Sunday, June 16 we met the Trinity Resounding Joy bell choir for the day. Gosh, I miss these people. Dave Carnell and the rest of the choir brought us in like old friends.

The side entrance to the church

Every year the bell choir travels somewhere interesting and this year they decided to go to Washington DC. I heard about the trip a long time ago and we did a lot to get to town while they were here.

The ringers at work: R to L: Dave, Jerry (concentrating hard),
Fred, Carrie, Patty, Sandy

They have a beautiful organ

They were ringing at National City Christian Church, coincidentally around the corner from Helix Hotel. We didn’t do it on purpose but it was fun.

Notice the resemblance to Jefferson Memorial?

A presidential window

Church service was nice and the church is beautiful. It was built by the guy who built the Jefferson Memorial. You can see the same kind of details in the ceiling as in the monument. The windows are famous too. Presidents James Garfield and Lyndon Johnson both worshiped here and both have stained glass windows in their memories.

The whole gang after the service

The minute they started playing music I remembered I felt at home. I haven’t sung in a long time. The hymns were all familiar so it was delightful to be able to sing.

The bell choir played very well and the NCCC Sanctuary Choir was really good. If you haven't ever heard a bell choir, I have a snippet of the choir during one of the pieces but it was way too big to load into this blog. I can send it separately if you like. I will figure out a place to put it. They use lots of bells from little tiny bells to huge bells that weigh a lot. Each person has between 3 and 8 bells to handle during each song and at times it looks frantic but they are pros so it always sounds beautiful. 

Katherine at Arlington - Dave Carnell on the
right walking away

After church we walked over to Au Bon Pain for lunch then took a break at the hotel to change clothes. We joined the choir for the afternoon at Arlington National Cemetery.

Kennedy graves at the foot of
the Lee Mansion

Kermit and I have been to Arlington when my brother-in-law Roy was buried. We took the tour and saw the big sites - Kennedy graves and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

The auditorium at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

The guard

 Kermit particularly enjoyed the changing of the guard.
 

We listened to some guides talk about this honor. Evidently there have been about 250 honor guards since the tomb of the unknown soldier was laid after the Civil War. All honor guards come from the Army 3rd Division. It is such an honor that the guards are required to have impeccable behavior for their entire life. About 25 honor guards have been drummed out and their names permanently erased from the guard for bad behavior sometime in their lives.

Then over to Georgetown on the Trinity bus. We had dinner with the group at Old Glory, a BBQ restaurant.

A guy selling roses at Old Glory in Georgetown

It was great to catch up with everybody. I can’t wait to get back to sing with the choir again when we get back!

Kermit checking out the Old
Stone House in Georgetown

After dinner Kermit and I left the choir as they went on a harbor tour. The last thing we wanted was to go on a boat trip so we started to walk home.




On the way, we picked up bikes from our favorite bike rental and headed east to our hotel, almost parallel to Georgetown.

Kermit on the bike ride home

Strange statues along the way

Passing through Foggy Bottom and DuPont Circle  neighborhoods, the construction looked a lot like Chicago.

Kermit passing new residential construction on the way home

This building could be in Chicago

Wrong way on a one way street!

Row houses now home
to lobbying groups 

More row homes that could be in Chicago

This bike trip was really neat. We drove through Georgetown and Foggy Bottom then through DuPont Circle. All these neighborhoods are very fancy.

An elephant? 

Many of the buildings are really old since Georgetown was established in the late 1700s prior to the establishment of the District of Columbia. Many of the older buildings serve as headquarters for lobbying groups like the National Association of Political Science, or the Chemical Association.

Lots of embassies on the way home

Some of the buildings are old mansions that serve as homes for other lobbying groups. Since there was plenty of light we took in the sights. Many of the buildings are brand new, the result of more urban renewals.

Monday we did more touring. We walked over to the National Geographic Museum to see the Pirates exhibit.

The ceiling at the National Geographic building

Boy, was that exciting! It followed a particular ship, the Whydah (pronounced  that started as a slave ship, describing the slave trade. A young man from Maine captured the ship and converted it into a pirate ship. He was only in his early 20s when he became a pirate for a few years then went down in a shipwreck off the coast of North Carolina.

The ship was found a few years ago. The exhibit was made with artifacts from the wreck that was brought up with financing by the National Geographic.

Then we walked to the Museum of Natural History to see stuffed animals, an interesting exhibit on evolution, and the gems including the spectacular Hope Diamond.

Kermit walking to the Natural History Museum

 We really enjoyed the photography awards. The photos were absolutely stunning.

This is a real photograph!

We were scheduled to meet Marissa for dinner at a Chinese restaurant around the eastern end of the Capital. It was raining most of the day so we picked up bikes from Capital Rideshare to cross town since it was rush hour and cabs seemed hard to find. Also I wanted to ride the bikes again! It is a great way to see the town.

This guard is toting a VERY LARGE gun. I love this photo.

The Capital on the way to meet Marissa

Look in the other direction to see the Washington Monument

Of course we have the usual hassle about where to leave the bikes that delayed us even more.

Dinner was good, although we were a little late which always makes Marissa unhappy. We talked for a long time. It is such a pleasure to see Marissa. She is a wonderful young woman with a plan.

Fans of Rusty might wonder what he did while we were traveling all day long. We walked him first thing in the morning then again after breakfast at about 10am before leaving the hotel. This sort of limited our mornings but ensured we could stay out until after dinner before walking him again. He is a happy fellow so thought this routine was just fine!

Next: Mount Vernon and back to Virginia Beach