10-23-2024 Entry

Woke up (<>) and had some breakfast from the stuff we got at the little market the previous evening. Then we showered and got ready for a day of sightseeing. I checked out the bus lines and found the one that would get us to the National Cathedral. Was surprised at how far away this was from the main part of the city, it took us almost an hour on the bus to get there, lots of stops. The cathedral was interesting, Helen Keller and Mathew Shepard are buried there, as is Woodrow Wilson. There is a stained glass window with a piece of moon rock in it, as well as a gargoyle with Darth Vader's helmet (too high up to see it). They are building  Lego version of the cathedral inside as well. It's a curious mix of church (Episcopal), national, and military traditions, somewhat unsettling for this reason. The views from the top tower were touted to be spectacular, but they were merely interesting. DC is a flat city in a generally flat part of the country, used to be marsh land. After that, we took a bus over to near the Scottish Rite Temple and  had a good lunch at an Ethiopian food restaurant. We walked from there to the Temple and had a tour by the young docent. Lots of fascinating trivia and minutiae about the freemason guild and famous members, most of which I'm sure I will forget. They are much more open to new members than they used to be, including different faiths and people of color, still no women in the main guild. Ann got us on a bus back toward our Airbnb but it chose the wrong street address and we ended up by the National Mall and the Natural History Museum. We went in and looked at the gems and minerals, lots of tourists and school groups. Then we walked down the mall on this beautiful war day down to the Capitol and, from there, back to the Airbnb. It was a longish walk and, by the end, an was done walking for the day. I took a short break and then walked about 20 minutes to the grocery store and got some stuff for a couple of days to eat in the flat. By the time I walked back, my feet were telling me it was time to quit, so I made some seasoned rice for dinner and watched basketball. This Airbnb has cable, which is a welcome little perk. Long and generally good day.