More D.C.

We spent a couple of hours at the National Air and Space Museum late one afternoon – what an amazing place! I tried to take photos but they don’t do justice to all the exhibits. Some things you just couldn’t get far enough back to get the plane (Wright brothers original plane) or rocket (both American and Russian) in the shot. Space capsules are behind glass so there were reflections – seeing in person is best!

I struggled with getting equations punched in correctly when I took a programming class in 1971, but at least my mistakes didn’t cause a rocket to veer off course.

Rich has been a fan of the Braves since they were the Milwaukee Braves, so when he found they were playing the Nationals we decided to get tickets. We had hot dogs, beer, peanuts, had seats just a few rows behind the Braves dugout along the third base line, and had a good time. Unfortunately the Braves lost.

One afternoon we went to the International Spy Museum, thinking we would only be there an hour or so. Instead, we were there 2 1/2 hours and would have stayed longer, but it was closing time. According to Wikipedia it’s “a private non-profit museum dedicated to the tradecraft, history and contemporary role of espionage, featuring the largest collection of international espionage artifacts currently on public display.” It was so fascinating and educational, well worth the price of admission. Speaking of the price of admission, they offer reduced rates for senior citizens, which we asked for. We got carded to make sure we were old enough to get the reduced rate! I guess we should take that as a compliment that we look too young to be senior citizens. 😂

We had many good meals at restaurants at the Wharf, but one place, directly across from the gate to our marina, was truly outstanding. We didn’t have a reservation so we found two seats at the bar and were immediately fascinated by the drinks the bartender was making. I took some video of the two drinks we ordered as they were being made but I can’t figure out how to get them into my blog, so you’ll have to take my word that they were real works of art and it was wonderful entertainment watching the bartender making them.

One of the tapas we had along with our cocktails was jamon Iberico, which was being carved right behind us. The man carving was so skilled – every piece was sliced perfectly . We wondered how long it took him to be able to do this so uniformly every time.

I love martinis made with Tanqueray 10, but it’s not a gin that’s found in all bars. Imagine my surprise to see three shelves filled with it (the bottles with a silver band near the top). I was all set to order a martini until we watched the bartender making the specialty cocktails.

Sometimes we look at specialty drink menus and think that we could make those at home. Here are two drink menus that we could never copy because we have no idea what some of the ingredients are, and even if we did know, we wouldn’t know where to get them!

Cherry bark, butterfly pea flower – really??

Smoked black tea syrup – sure, we always have that on hand.

At one end of the Wharf is a large fish market. We now have a red snapper and a large rockfish in our freezer just waiting to be grilled, along with a pound of huge shrimp. The selection was mind-boggling – could we move that market to Indiana?

We did a hop on, hop off bus tour one day and hopped off to visit the Holocaust Museum – very sobering. It’s not the sort of place you take photos. Later that day we visited the Vietnam Memorial – again, a very sobering experience and one that you can’t capture in a photo.

Welcome

M/V Prime Meridian on the Great Loop

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