Traveling with Michelle: Spreading out across the city

April 8, 2022

Washington, DC

Pretty flowers in Georgetown

Today I woke up on the bottom bunk, much happier than I did on the top. It wasn't a great night's sleep, but it was better than the night before. My first night's roommate was Joy, a teacher from California. The second night was Maggie, a college professor in Florida. My roommate for the last two nights is Angelique, a high school special ed teacher from San Jose/Santa Clara (we talked shop quite a bit!).

Today I took the metro from the city center to Brookland, way in the NE corner of Washington. I went to the Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land in America to walk in their gardens. I had read good things about it from a travel page. It was very pretty and serene. I probably would have liked it more if I were religious. They had recreated some monuments from the Holy Land along the paths including the Tomb of the Virgin Mary near Jerusalem, the Grotto of Lourdes from Southern France, Ascension Chapel from Mt. of Olives, and the Grotto of Gethsemane. A funny thing which I forgot to take a picture of, were two staircases leading from the gardens down to a grove of trees that were recently planted. But the fences surrounding the garden didn't have gates to allow you access to the steps, in fact the steps were full of branches and leaves and you can tell that they are not used anymore. But at the top of one of the sets of stairs was a welcome mat! It made me laugh! Someone has a sense of humor! On a sad note, I started thinking of my mom while I was walking and sat down at the benches surrounding the Grotto of Lourdes to cry for awhile. She died in October and I am still dealing with my grief, though it is getting easier and the crying is less frequent. It was a serene and quiet space to cry, then calm myself.

A pretty tree near the metro stop (a redbud maybe?)

The Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land in America

Inside the gates

The beginning of the gardens

The Ascension Chapel

Inside the dome of the Ascension Chapel

Tomb of the Virgin Mary

The Grotto of Lourdes

The Grotto of Gethsemane

The front garden from the cloisters

The cloisters

Leading up from the metro downtown

Then I took the metro back to the city and on to the NW corner--Georgetown. The metro doesn't go all the way there. You have to get out at either Dupont Circle or Foggy Bottom. On the train, I saw a teenage boy with a bag from McDonald's and had a craving. I haven't eaten at McDonald's for a long time, so I decided to indulge myself, even though it is horrible for me. It was weird, you go up to a screen and order and pay at the screen. You pick up one of the plastic table markers with a number hanging there and you enter that so they will bring your food to your table.

An historic home all by itself surrounded by big glass buildings

These are all over the city, I think it was a contest;
they are all different.

Then I walked to Georgetown. Georgetown is a cute area of small shops and houses located between two universities. So I wandered, mostly window-shopping and found one area that was along the canal with swings (like porch swings) and Adirondack chairs. So I sat there for awhile and it was very peaceful. When I left there was a man sitting on one of the swings with a really big dog in his lap. He was holding it like a small child, the dogs head was on his shoulder. It was so sweet! I loved it and wanted to take a picture, but everytime I looked to take one, he was looking directly at me. Even when I had reached the other side of the canal--like he knew that I wanted to photograph him. So I didn't get a shot. I did stop and buy macarons at Olivia Macaron. I bought a lavender for me and a blueberry cheesecake for Joshua. The lavender was best!

One of the shops was all decorated for spring!

It was then time to head to Foggy Bottom at GW and meet Joshua at 5:00. He gave me a tour of the areas of campus that he goes to and we went into one of the classroom buildings. It was fun seeing inside the building and seeing where he spends all of his time. He showed me the outside of the dorm he requested as his first choice for next year. But he has a stomach virus, first day without a fever, but still needed to be near a bathroom, so he left to eat at his dorm and go back to his room while I headed back to my hostel. I stopped along the way at Panera for a salad for dinner (trying to make up for that heavy lunch!). Then met and talked to my roommate before (and while) writing this! Tomorrow I am with Joshua all day--hope he is all better by then.