And what a trip it was, beginning with a three hour drive from Richmond, VA to downtown Washington, DC a mere 90 miles, all highway, you would think you could do it in far less time. Never the less we packed ourselves into Vicki's car and spent the three hours discussing the merits of various museums and restaurants as to ascertain how we would spend our time in DC. Imagine 4 women, OK one is a pint size 11 year old, who all have an opinion as to what we should do in DC!
First up the US Marine Band free concert outside the Marine Barracks. Well who knew you needed tickets for a free concert; But having found that out we altered our original plan and decided that a dinner at Ulah Bistro about 1 mile from our hotel and then a nice walk to see the night lights of the monuments would be a good alternative.
Although the restaurant was only a mile from the hotel, it was rainy and we were already 20 minutes late for our reservation due to the extra hour of traffic we grabbed a cab after quickly dumping our bags in the hotel room.
Dinner was terrific, a bottle of sparkling French Rose, a trio of seafood tartar (tuna with olives, scallops with avocado and salmon with dill....perfect!), a bowl of homemade French onion soup, Chesapeake crab and artichoke dip, and duck fat fries all to share!!! Imagine, can you, french fries fried lovingly in duck fat, it's better then great! We were all so full of the appetizers that we almost didn't order dinner. But we did and ordered for the table again, a grilled Caesar salad, a pizza and one soup for mom, oh and another order of the duck fat fries. The grilled Caesar was really interesting and had a unique taste. A head of romaine lettuce was cut in half lengthwise and then grilled. It was not too wilted but it had a unique charred taste that blended well with the dressing. Unfortunately it was still raining so we did not take a walk to see the lights.
Saturday we headed out to the Martin Luther King Memorial (MLK) located across the tidal basin from the Jefferson Memorial. On our walk over we encountered this massive Canadian water dog by the name of Moose!
The MLK memorial to a man who was a proponent for opportunity for all - in America - and who openly disliked communism would perhaps be sadden to know that the sculptor is a Chinese National, it was sculpted in China and even the granite was procured in China. It's all a bit of a joke really. A true American icon ....produced in China. Welcome to the future. Weren't there any American sculptures who could create a monument to this great historic leader? Perhaps an American African ?? OK an American Chinese, how about any American? I had some pictures of the statue from last year when I first visited the site so I did not take any additional pictures. Unfortunately I cannot find those pics so I have searched Google for some shots for you. (pictures from internet.)
There is a wall surrounding the site with many MLK quotes inscribed on the wall. This one was my favorite.
The monument is quite impressive and if you didn't know the details you would walk away thinking - wow, great space, nice memorial. If you know the details you are still very impressed but sad that it was not "made in America". With that said perhaps the bottom line was, well the bottom line. It all costs money and perhaps it's just too expensive to create this sort of monument in the good ole USA. I don't know but I like to believe that we could have created this $120 million monument in the USA.
From the monument we headed to what I thought would be my favorite stop, the National Geographic Museum. I didn't know that Nat Geo had a museum in it's headquarters building but it does. Unfortunately it's not big but it also has a store!!! There is only one exhibit at a time and currently it is - 100 Years of the Titanic. I have seen enough Titanic programs on TV and of course saw the movie(!) so I wasn't so inclined to see the exhibit. Fortunately there is also a free picture gallery on M street with wonderful photos from the Nat Geo team. We spent some time in the store and then some time viewing the pictures.
At 12:40p we hustled up the street to the Tabard Inn for our lunch reservation at 1:00p.
A little background for you - " The Tabard Inn opened in 1922 and in its early years, the Tabard Inn was a popular meeting place for women’s social groups and clubs. In fact, Rogers (the owner) had never intended to become a hotel operator, but
simply desired a place “to just give parties.” She reflected that in
its first decades the Tabard Inn “was full of debutantes…” During World War II, the Tabard Inn served as a boardinghouse for Navy
Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES). The rooms and
lounges afforded luxurious accommodations, even for the seventy WAVES
officers that were assigned to the Tabard Inn. One of the volunteers
reported, “After the horrors we’d heard about the wartime housing
shortage in the nation’s capital, we were delighted to be there." " (from the Tabard Inn website, you can read more about it and see the menu here http://www.tabardinn.com/about_inn )
Here we are in the back room waiting for our lunch, we were so hungry that I forgot to take pictures of our meal. I had the poached eggs on savory cheese grits with fried oysters, it was incredible!
We had planned to go to the Abraham Lincoln summer cottage museum but it was raining again and no one wanted to slosh around on the wet grounds. After a quick vote we headed to Georgetown for some shopping.
Soon it was time to head back to the hotel room to get ready for another meal! And this one was going to be super special.
The four of us were hungry (again) and eager to have a "joyful eating experience". We were all looking forward to our dinner at Michel Ricard's Central. http://www.centralmichelrichard.com/visit/.
And we certainly did eat the whole thing! It was a bit of a frenzy really as it was the best we had ever had. Crisp flaky pastry, perfect cream in the center, all sitting on a pool of vanilla sauce. Yum! We staggered back to the hotel and collapsed on our beds.
Sunday morning we decided to go to the Eastern Market. Eastern Market indicating the location of the market in DC, not an Asian influenced market. Lots of neat local crafts as well as a food hall, reminiscent of a Chinese wet market in my neighborhood in Shanghai. although this one was much cleaner!
We had a great weekend together, laughing too much, eating too much and having too much fun!
First up the US Marine Band free concert outside the Marine Barracks. Well who knew you needed tickets for a free concert; But having found that out we altered our original plan and decided that a dinner at Ulah Bistro about 1 mile from our hotel and then a nice walk to see the night lights of the monuments would be a good alternative.
Saturday we headed out to the Martin Luther King Memorial (MLK) located across the tidal basin from the Jefferson Memorial. On our walk over we encountered this massive Canadian water dog by the name of Moose!
And enjoyed the other monuments along the way.
The MLK memorial to a man who was a proponent for opportunity for all - in America - and who openly disliked communism would perhaps be sadden to know that the sculptor is a Chinese National, it was sculpted in China and even the granite was procured in China. It's all a bit of a joke really. A true American icon ....produced in China. Welcome to the future. Weren't there any American sculptures who could create a monument to this great historic leader? Perhaps an American African ?? OK an American Chinese, how about any American? I had some pictures of the statue from last year when I first visited the site so I did not take any additional pictures. Unfortunately I cannot find those pics so I have searched Google for some shots for you. (pictures from internet.)
I like this image with the cherry trees mature and in bloom.
The monument is quite impressive and if you didn't know the details you would walk away thinking - wow, great space, nice memorial. If you know the details you are still very impressed but sad that it was not "made in America". With that said perhaps the bottom line was, well the bottom line. It all costs money and perhaps it's just too expensive to create this sort of monument in the good ole USA. I don't know but I like to believe that we could have created this $120 million monument in the USA.
From the monument we headed to what I thought would be my favorite stop, the National Geographic Museum. I didn't know that Nat Geo had a museum in it's headquarters building but it does. Unfortunately it's not big but it also has a store!!! There is only one exhibit at a time and currently it is - 100 Years of the Titanic. I have seen enough Titanic programs on TV and of course saw the movie(!) so I wasn't so inclined to see the exhibit. Fortunately there is also a free picture gallery on M street with wonderful photos from the Nat Geo team. We spent some time in the store and then some time viewing the pictures.
At 12:40p we hustled up the street to the Tabard Inn for our lunch reservation at 1:00p.
Waiting for our table in the cozy reception area.
We had planned to go to the Abraham Lincoln summer cottage museum but it was raining again and no one wanted to slosh around on the wet grounds. After a quick vote we headed to Georgetown for some shopping.
Soon it was time to head back to the hotel room to get ready for another meal! And this one was going to be super special.
The four of us were hungry (again) and eager to have a "joyful eating experience". We were all looking forward to our dinner at Michel Ricard's Central. http://www.centralmichelrichard.com/visit/.
We were quite star struck when we found out that Michel Richard was sitting behind us!
And what a friendly fellow!
We ordered for the table (of course) to start : frog legs, steak tartar with french fried and a frisse salad with poached egg and lardons.
The duck legs were a bit on the gamey side and over seasoned but definitely worth trying, the steak tartar was perfect and the french fries were even better than the duck fat fries we had the night before, who would have thought that would be possible. The salad was a cascade of fresh greens slathered with a broken soft egg and fried bacon or as the French say lardons. Central has a casual dining atmosphere with a menu to match.
We all decided that we did not want to share our mains so Sophie ordered the fried chicken and mashed potatoes.
Mom had the soft shell crab.
Vicki went for the Lamb shank.
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And I had the seared scallops with asparagus risotto. Each plate was perfection. And although no one had room for dessert we did order one for the table. A massive Napoleon.
And we certainly did eat the whole thing! It was a bit of a frenzy really as it was the best we had ever had. Crisp flaky pastry, perfect cream in the center, all sitting on a pool of vanilla sauce. Yum! We staggered back to the hotel and collapsed on our beds.
Sunday morning we decided to go to the Eastern Market. Eastern Market indicating the location of the market in DC, not an Asian influenced market. Lots of neat local crafts as well as a food hall, reminiscent of a Chinese wet market in my neighborhood in Shanghai. although this one was much cleaner!
And in case I was missing the interesting foods in China a smoked pigs tail to chew on!
We had a great weekend together, laughing too much, eating too much and having too much fun!
