March 28th-30th, 2014
There are times I instinctively look out for myself; it's a most helpful function of my subconscious. Like packing for DC the night before because I already only have time to throw in last minute items before I book it to the bus station--overshoot it by a couple blocks and an avenue--and get there with only a minute to spare. But I made it, and that's the important thing!
By 10:30, Captain Cadaver met me at Union and whisked us back to her campus via a very cheerful and oddly accented subway driver just in time for pizza and introductions.
Captain Cadaver lives with her boyfriend and his roommate--his roommate has a bow tie collection and a fez, so he will be the Doctor (as in Doctor Who), and since I first heard the Doctor refer to Captain Cadaver and her boyfriend collectively as "The Ponds" (also a Who reference), I'm changing their collective nickname to that, as well.
The weekend was pretty much rainy the whole time, but as Cap'n had warned me, nobody in DC uses umbrellas. They just walk through the rain a little hunched and look irritated about it. For the most part this was true, and there were a number of broken umbrellas in most of the trash cans we passed.
Rainy as it was, it was also warm so I didn't mind. Also this weekend was the weekend of BURGERS.
.jpg)
Anyone who knows me well knows that these are my weakness--which I am well aware is going to come back to haunt me on day--and so I was taken to a couple good burger joints this weekend and I'm not sorry about it. (I've been trying to go for salads all the following week, though.) But really. Look how beautiful that is. Enough to make a carnivore cry.
To help work off some of those burgers, we did do a little walking around. Unfortunately even though it was supposed to be the Cherry Blossom Festival, it had been too cold for any to have bloomed along the water. I did see two of them on campus, however, and they were quite lovely. It just means I have to go back to DC some time when they actually come out. I saw them once with my dad when I was little, and...well, here's an internet picture--doesn't do it justice to being in person, but still beautiful:
You understand why I'd want to go back? As for any allergies, I'll bring my own tissues and hand sanitizer. Worth it.
On our misty walk, we went into the National Gallery. I was hoping that I'd see some Han van Meegeren forgeries that had been donated to the museum with Andrew Mellon's collection, but I suppose I'm not totally surprised he did not get his own display. Having a museum in our capitol celebrating a forger probably isn't good press, no matter how good the story. And maybe they've sent Meegeren's work back to the Netherlands or have it in storage somewhere for special requests. The did have Vermeer, though, and plenty of other Dutch artists on the second floor, so that's where we spent most of our time.
Vermeer (right) has a painting of a Girl in the Red Hat that I saw there, and while it's not really like a portrait Meegeren (left) did of his wife, I still made a connection to it. It's probably the slant of the hat.
Back at the apartment, I was informed that Saturday is Movie Night, and Captain Cadaver had never seen any of the Back to the Future movies, which is just not allowed to continue, which is why the trilogy was marathoned. The Ponds sat on the couch, the Doctor and myself around a plate of vegan molasses cookies he'd made (I brought the tea), and the marathon commenced! Two more people showed up for the second movie, and overall it was a good night. Even if the nostalgia of childhood science fiction is lost on Cap'n having only seen these movies in her twenties, but she didn't dislike it, which is probably the best we were likely to get out of her.
The rest of the weekend involved some wonderfully nerdy board games, watching some Game of Thrones season three in preparation for the upcoming season (okay so that's just me, I haven't totally gotten around to watching season three, but I've read the books so it's less of a big deal), and of course, I can't come to DC without stopping for cupcakes.
Surprisingly, Georgetown Cupcakes was not where the Ponds get their cupcakes. Their guilty pleasure is a cupcake shop nearby the aforementioned other store, called Baked and Wired. Baked and Wired started as a Mom&Pop FedEx-like place, that started serving coffee and cupcakes in the back, and eventually the back got bigger and the owners said bye-bye to postal services. My favorite part about their cupcakes is that the cake-to-frosting ratio is much bigger than in other cupcake places I've been. I'm not an icing person, so having just enough sugar to seal in moisture for the cake is the best way to make them.
.jpg)
.jpg)
And yes. It was delicious. Your jealousy is understandable.
Thank you--Ponds, Doctor, $50 Greyhound Bus--for such a wonderful weekend in the capitol!
There are times I instinctively look out for myself; it's a most helpful function of my subconscious. Like packing for DC the night before because I already only have time to throw in last minute items before I book it to the bus station--overshoot it by a couple blocks and an avenue--and get there with only a minute to spare. But I made it, and that's the important thing!
By 10:30, Captain Cadaver met me at Union and whisked us back to her campus via a very cheerful and oddly accented subway driver just in time for pizza and introductions.
Captain Cadaver lives with her boyfriend and his roommate--his roommate has a bow tie collection and a fez, so he will be the Doctor (as in Doctor Who), and since I first heard the Doctor refer to Captain Cadaver and her boyfriend collectively as "The Ponds" (also a Who reference), I'm changing their collective nickname to that, as well.
The weekend was pretty much rainy the whole time, but as Cap'n had warned me, nobody in DC uses umbrellas. They just walk through the rain a little hunched and look irritated about it. For the most part this was true, and there were a number of broken umbrellas in most of the trash cans we passed.
Rainy as it was, it was also warm so I didn't mind. Also this weekend was the weekend of BURGERS.
To help work off some of those burgers, we did do a little walking around. Unfortunately even though it was supposed to be the Cherry Blossom Festival, it had been too cold for any to have bloomed along the water. I did see two of them on campus, however, and they were quite lovely. It just means I have to go back to DC some time when they actually come out. I saw them once with my dad when I was little, and...well, here's an internet picture--doesn't do it justice to being in person, but still beautiful:
On our misty walk, we went into the National Gallery. I was hoping that I'd see some Han van Meegeren forgeries that had been donated to the museum with Andrew Mellon's collection, but I suppose I'm not totally surprised he did not get his own display. Having a museum in our capitol celebrating a forger probably isn't good press, no matter how good the story. And maybe they've sent Meegeren's work back to the Netherlands or have it in storage somewhere for special requests. The did have Vermeer, though, and plenty of other Dutch artists on the second floor, so that's where we spent most of our time.
Vermeer (right) has a painting of a Girl in the Red Hat that I saw there, and while it's not really like a portrait Meegeren (left) did of his wife, I still made a connection to it. It's probably the slant of the hat.
Back at the apartment, I was informed that Saturday is Movie Night, and Captain Cadaver had never seen any of the Back to the Future movies, which is just not allowed to continue, which is why the trilogy was marathoned. The Ponds sat on the couch, the Doctor and myself around a plate of vegan molasses cookies he'd made (I brought the tea), and the marathon commenced! Two more people showed up for the second movie, and overall it was a good night. Even if the nostalgia of childhood science fiction is lost on Cap'n having only seen these movies in her twenties, but she didn't dislike it, which is probably the best we were likely to get out of her.
The rest of the weekend involved some wonderfully nerdy board games, watching some Game of Thrones season three in preparation for the upcoming season (okay so that's just me, I haven't totally gotten around to watching season three, but I've read the books so it's less of a big deal), and of course, I can't come to DC without stopping for cupcakes.
Surprisingly, Georgetown Cupcakes was not where the Ponds get their cupcakes. Their guilty pleasure is a cupcake shop nearby the aforementioned other store, called Baked and Wired. Baked and Wired started as a Mom&Pop FedEx-like place, that started serving coffee and cupcakes in the back, and eventually the back got bigger and the owners said bye-bye to postal services. My favorite part about their cupcakes is that the cake-to-frosting ratio is much bigger than in other cupcake places I've been. I'm not an icing person, so having just enough sugar to seal in moisture for the cake is the best way to make them.
And yes. It was delicious. Your jealousy is understandable.
Thank you--Ponds, Doctor, $50 Greyhound Bus--for such a wonderful weekend in the capitol!
No comments:
Post a Comment