VACATION MUSING

 Continuing my vacation report:

NYC:  I  just love it.  I do.  All the people and skyscrapers and parks and shops and restaurants and activity and diversity and history....all of it. Of course, I am a tourist and I only inhabit the parts of Manhattan that feel safe and welcoming.  As with anywhere, life isn't a vacation and there are challenges and dangers lurking.  Still, my experiences have been positive.  Everyone is friendly and helpful and there is less stigma about mental illness because you can't tell the difference from folks talking to invisible friends from those talking through earpods on their concealed cell phones.  Win-Win!

As I said in the previous post we walked everywhere and saw a lot.  We spent nearly 5 hours just walking to and exploring Central Park before meeting friends for dinner near their apartment on the Upper East Side -- our first indoor restaurant in over a year -- had our temp checked on the way in and tables distanced and separated by plexiglass.   We went to Wall Street to see the Bull and, even better, Fearless Girl.  We went to Hudson Yards, Times Square, walked along the Hudson River Park, along the Highline Trail, to Little Italy and Chinatown, through Tribeca and Greenwich Village and Washington Square.  We saw City Hall and the Courthouse at the Southern District of New York where we hoped smart lawyers were hard at work on some overdue indictments.  Our hotel had a view of the Empire State Building and was close to Bryant Park where we sat people-watching over lunch from take-out stands in the park or from the Whole Foods across the street.  

We visited dozens of public restrooms! Here's my take on those:  not bad!  Someone is doing a good job there.  My only issue, and I offer this Random Acts of Kindness suggestion we should all follow: Leave a tail of fresh TP after you rip off your portion.  So exasperating to sit there spinning and spinning the roll inside those massive stainless steel cylinders trying to find the starting place!  I took to always leaving a fresh tail -- you're welcome.  

DC: I am a Democrat; a liberal; a progressive.  And I am patriotic.  Yes, my gauzy assumptions about our country and what I took to be true (from my privileged white girl perspective, who grew up in the Post-WWII and Cold War American supremacy years) has been good and disavowed over the past 5 years.  But put me in front of the White House and watch me sob like a baby.  

The fences around Lafayette Square, the White House behind barricades and fencing, the Capitol behind fencing, the Supreme Court and the Library of Congress behind fencing....it was all too much for this red, white, and blue lover of history and possibility.  But there you have it.  We have gone through a dark time and it's not over.  The January 6th insurrection was a talking point on the Hop on Hop Off Tour Bus narration we overheard as it passed by.  We visited all the war memorials and statues and monuments as if for the first time, marveling and grieving at what this country has wrought.  It's complicated.  

But DC is a beautiful city and still shines brightly with hope and determination.  We joined in the periphery of a huge march for immigration and citizenship rights and I felt the awesome power of people coming together to demand compassion and justice.  Even if those things are hard to come by these days, I didn't see anyone giving up and I was inspired to keep on.   Our democracy is on shaky ground these days from those who seek power over others rather than the equality of rights we are supposed to represent.   But America is still an ideal worth fighting for.  DC is a monument to that ideal.  

Virginia:  We took a water taxi cruise from DC to Alexandria VA.  We'd never been there.  Very lovely, very historic, very hot, very touristy -- at least where we were.   At one cross street we smelled a very strong odor of natural gas and noticed a cover over an underground access point so we called 911 to report a possible gas leak.  In short order two fire trucks arrived at the intersection presumably to check it out.  Of course we will never know the outcome, but we believe we likely saved Alexandria from a pipeline explosion disaster.  Again, you're welcome.

We also went to Arlington National Cemetery and took a tram tour (two of four people on the whole tram!  Covid Times means no tourists!)  We were able to get off and wander around a bit and came across this grave marker for John Paul Stevens.  But what really caught our eye was the addendum (even though she died first) of his wife.   I wonder if Mrs. Stevens pre-approved her epitaph?  I doubt it.  I told Hub I hope my gravesite will memorialize me as "Beautiful wife and yoga teacher".  That about sums it up, right?

At least, that's the view from here...©