A VISIT TO THE SMITHSONIAN MUSEUM IN WASHINGTON DC

For a long time my friend Len and I have been wanting to see the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC. Last fall we decided on an April departure.

Len is a good fellow to travel with. He likes to organize the tickets, phone around and get the most sensible deals on accommodations and so on. Also, he is a very knowledgeable ; just brimming with those humorous details and comments that put a different slant on things and make sightseeing interesting. Leonard has amazing stamina which meant that I managed to see far more that I would have thought possible in one week.

The Smithsonian is vast, and I will not even attempt an anywhere near complete description of the things we saw. What you get is a brief summary... which is all we got really, because there was only enough time for a quick walk-through.

I have done a fair amount of flying but I still enjoy looking at the ground below whenever there is clear weather. On this flight we were especially lucky because there was a light snow cover with bare patches over the whole flight path from the west to east coasts. This emphasized all the patterns that are to be seen ... meandering creeks and rivers, erosion contours, cliffs, seasonal drainage patterns, property lines, cultivation patterns, logged areas, puddles, lakes, roads, power lines, snowmobile trails, geologic folding and all the rest. Did you know that all fields are oriented north-south, except in Quebec... where they are at right angles to rivers?

We changed planes at Dorval Airport where there is an "Immigration Quebec" office on which the signs are not bilingual. The Canadair LC65 felt cramped after the Airbus A320. The top of its windows are at my shoulder level, which, coupled with insufficient space to lean forward, makes it too uncomfortable to look out to bother. The LC65 also has the noisiest wheel assembly I have yet experienced.

The Washington National Airport is located on the Potomac River; convenient to downtown. There is a subway stop right at the airport. The subway is clean, fast, reasonably priced, and a generally superior way to get around. Buses fill in the gaps, using subway stations as 'hubs'. Our Travelodge was simple to get to and from and reasonably priced. I don't think that most of the rooms measured up to what we had, but ours was large and there was a coffee maker; phone calls, newspaper and do-nuts were free. Len made a good choice.

There are sixteen buildings altogether - and each is huge.

Day One.
The Smithsonian "Castle" displays the sarcophagus of James Smithson who never visited the US while alive. He died in Italy in 1835.

The Air and Space Museum is probably the most popular place to visit.. and with good reason. Here is a very partial list of the things we saw: The Bell X1 and X15 rocket planes, the U2, Zero, Heinkel He 178, DC3, Ford Trimotor, Boeing 247D, Jupiter C, SS2 (Russian), V2, Lunar Lander, part of Enola Gay. The list goes on and includes various WWI aircraft and so on and so on and so on. We were left awed as well as exhausted.

Day Two
Walk around Capitol area (where Newt Gingrich carries on) to the Naval Memorial. I always thought that memorials were there to remind you of the dead; but according to the dictionary, it's ok to have memorials to non-dead things. One of the things I found fascinating here was the fact that chiseled in marble around the perimeter we see "Argentina", "China", "Italy" and a few others. The significance? These are the countries that have contributed more than $100,000 to the US Naval Memorial! Weird.

Museum of American History. The Eniac, the Sol, the C64, steam tractors and locomotives (you thought the Hudson was big), lots of old and new cars, guns, printing presses, a Foucault pendulum... they're all there.

Day Three
Museum of Natural History. Great if you like stuffed dead animals. Also extensive 'anthropological' displays.

National Archives. One of the original copies (there were four) of the Magna Carta (owned by Ross Perot, no less), telegram from Winston Churchill in which the term "Iron Curtain' is first used. Gutenberg Bible.

FBI building closed.

Day Four
Ford Theatre in which Lincoln was shot and across the street, the house where he died.National Portrait Gallery - portraits of US statesmen and well known personages like Elvis Presley and Martin Luther King et al, but also folk art, statues and some really neat posters.

It's been a really windy day. So windy that the Washington Tower was closed when we went there. This structure stood unfinished for 25 years after 1854, and when continued, a slightly different shade of stone was used!

We've bought eatables at the local Safeway and 'Giant Foods'. The bread is classic flannel. The cheese is Kraft. The sausage has no flavour. The water in the restaurant tastes of bleach. At the Travelodge the donuts are too sweet and orange juice is watered down.

Day Five
National Geographic Building. Lafayette Park. White House. Blair House. Treasury. Washington Monument (Washington was an officer in the British Army - and hence a deserter and traitor), Vietnam Memorial (the first was John in '59; the last, Jessie in '75). During these sixteen years 58,000 known killed and around 400,000 paraplegics were produced. (plus social costs, of course). Compare this with 600,000 UN killed in Korea (including 50,000 US) and 125,000 (in one day) in one particular battle of the US Civil War.

Lincoln Memorial. Arts of Peace and Arts of War bronzes (gift of Italy) on bridges crossing to Arlington Cemetery. Graves of the Kennedys', Wendel Holmes (after whom Sherlock is named) and... well, there are many. On to the Jefferson Memorial. Holocaust Museum which was disappointing.

Day Six
Naval Museum in the oldest Naval Yard in the country. Built 1799. Extensive artifacts including a cruise missile, lots of canons, a real destroyer, the Trieste and Alvin. Good.

The Union Station (1907) At that time 'The Biggest in the World'. Lots of great shops. Then on to the National Building Museum built to administrate Civil War Pensions. Beautiful Building. Enormous enclosed space. When we arrived they were flying model airplanes inside.

Across the street is the memorial to the 14,000 police officers killed while on duty in the US.

Day Seven
Korean War Memorial. Larger than life dozen hollow eyed soldiers in ponchos tromping though the mud and rain. Well done.

Arts and Industry Museum- machine tools, instrumentation. Hirschorn Museum of Modern Art - would have skipped this one. On to the National Gallery of Art. Next time I'm spending two days here. Rooms full of Picasso, Rodin, Renoir, Dali, Flemish, Victorian...

Candace was in Vancouver when I got back. We spent a few days at the Tuppers' (Fran and Bill) and also had a chance to spend time with Eugene (Killam), Bert (Young), Zeke and Isobel (Peters) as well as Kelly, Mark and Christine. We also had a superior lunch with friends Brian and Dorothy Fairholm.

A visit to Vancouver is never complete without a stop at Kea's Meats on East Hastings - the Nom de Gourmet of a certain Greek Food emporium. This is the only place I know you can get Saganaki cheese which you fry (quickly) and serve with lemon and pita... and one of the few places (besides Tosi on Main) that I know where you can get 'Baccalau'. 'Klippfisk' is unsalted dried cod from Norway, and is more difficult to prepare and therefore more expensive than salted cod, which the Norwegians call 'Stockfisk'. Italians, Greeks, Spaniards and Portugese only know of the salted variety which they call 'Baccalau'. This is also the name of the dish you make with it. Kari Hoff's recipe follows. Soak some salt cod in several changes of water for 12 hours. If you get the kind that has the bones and skin in it, soak only six hours and then boil for a couple of hours to soften and then pick skin and bones out. Get a largish (at least 12" x 12") flat (say 3" high) casserole and alternate the flaked fish with thinly sliced (scalloped) potatoes, onions, tomatoes, pepper, and a little chili with a fair dollop of olive oil stirred in. Bake for quite a long time (say four hours; too short is not good) at about 300. What I don't understand is that the cod these places stock comes from Nova Scotia. Whatever happened to the cod moratorium?

Now we're back on Saltspring with Harrison and Humphrey, looking forward to doing nothing for a while... that is once the garden has been planted, income tax papers filed, dentist visited, glasses found or renewed, dog taken to vet, bills paid, a few letters written, club cruise and sailpast is out of the way, finances sorted out, report for board meeting written, grass cut...