Sculptures Space Shots

Saturday 1st September

A really good day as Washington tourists - at last it felt cool enough to be out, with temperatures dipping to about eighty. Summer officially ends this weekend, but the forecast has it back to the nineties by the end of the week.
We took the bus from Georgetown to the Mall, and began by cooling our feet in the huge fountain at the Sculpture Garden, and wandering round exhibits including a pop-art wendy house and a giant metal spider (just like Lego Bionicles, said Tom). There's a lovely open air cafe, designed to blend with the transplanted Parisian Metro stop next door, all Art Nouveau metal swirls.
On the way across the Mall, we had that great view from Capitol Hill at one end sweeping up to the Washington Monument at the other. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to believe we really made the move, and we're not just on vacation... We diverted Tom for a few minutes to the old fashioned carousel that sits just outside the Smithsonian carousel and as I hope you can see from the photo he absolutely loved it. He couldn't quite believe that museums mix with merry-go-rounds.
Then we had a find I couldn't quite believe, a really lovely private eccentric garden, the Mary Ripley, tucked in with no fanfare next to the Sculpture Museum. In a way, it wasn't much more than a long curving path overhung with dozens of exotic plants, but it was the work of one horticulturalist Janet Draper, who'd handwritten lots of jolly labels and left a note inviting comments from her visitors. A friendly local told me that the gardener likes to meet people during the week, and give tours of her plants, and I immediately thought that Margaret must meet her.
Then my third trip to the Air & Space museum in two weeks, but this time we went into the IMAX theatre. Fantastic! We all put on those big plastic spectacles and saw a 3D presentation of "Space Station", filmed by the astronauts themselves with amazing footage of life hundreds of miles above us, the space shuttle coming in to dock, and painstaking repair work being done as earth sped past below ("ooh look, there's Africa"). Tom didn't like the noise of the rockets blasting off, but he was totally intrigued by the 3D effect, putting out his hands at one point to catch the astronaut's gloves seemingly floating past our faces. He also got to show Richard his favourite museum exhibit, the Mars Exploration Rover. Luckily for me, the little accompanying film was switched off today... or it would have been a sixth viewing.
On the bus, back through the Mall, up Pennslyvania Avenue, past the White House, and swinging through Georgetown, to tea in Paolo's Italian restaurant. Tom is fast asleep and though it's only nine o clock, I may soon be too.
Oh and an afterthought just to show that it's not all holiday. We have also been tangling with DC bureaucracy. I had to book Tom in for a preschool medical which involved us paying two hundred dollars, then waiting for ages in a hospital room, only to meet a nurse who came in with FIVE vaccination syringes gleaming on a tray. By the time I had argued it down to two mandatory shots, and the first needle went in, poor T screamed the place down. THEN we had to go upstairs to another laboratory to have his blood drawn for tests (unbelievable but compulsory) for tuberculosis and for lead poisoning. I have never seen him so upset. He had a big limp the next day from the shots in his thigh, and got lots of special attention from his teacher. I can write this now because he's absolutely perky again. Richard and I both had to have a swift beer after getting him to bed that night, as we felt emotionally wrecked.
That followed another bizarre experience, as I had a letter from school saying it was compulsory for me to take Tom to the Department of Bilingual Education. Because he's not American. Both his teacher and the principal were really apologetic at the obvious absurdity, but rules is rules. So I phoned up the Department, where a pleasant lady told me Tom would have to come in for tests of his language skills to see if any special education was required to get his English up to speed. I pointed out that being English, he actually spoke English. "Let me check this with the supervisor." A few minutes on hold. "Yes we see your point. Why don't you send us a letter saying that you decline our services?" I hope it works - Richard says if not, I should turn up professing to be delighted to have extra bilingual tutoring, and demand free Mandarin lessons.
This city. I do love it. But it's crazy too.
Tags: Edit Tags
Saturday 1 September 2007 -