Seeing What Is Old Is Best

Highlights of the trip to the East Coast so far?

Well, seeing that Nina seems to be settled in a nice place and going to a good school would rank up there. But besides taking our daughter back to law school from spring break, this was the first time Audrey and I have visited Baltimore and Washington, DC.

I’m pretty excited about today, when we visit the Newseum. So far, the parts of the trip that have meant the most to me are:

Shoes in Holocaust Memorial.

The Holocaust Memorial in Washington. I suppose that’s not a big surprise, the museum is designed to evoke a reaction, from its somber design to the poignancy of its displays. From what I know, though, it seemed that all of the information we saw was not over stated. It’s one of the great, sad, true stories of the 20^th century, well told. “Think about what you saw,” enjoins the poster on the wall by the entrance and exit. We entered about 2 p.m. and had to rush to finish by the 5:30 closing—we were too busy lingering and reading. We didn’t talk much while we were inside, but chatted a lot about it afterwards.

Rose at Vietnam Memorial.

The Vietnam War memorial. It’s in an area of the National Mall devoted to several war memorials, including Korean and World War II. I didn’t see a World War I monument, other than the DC memorial, but we haven’t exactly toured the whole mall yet. The abstract design of the famous wall seems to summon up a somber tone of remembrance best, more than the triumphant statuary of the World War II memorial. It was like the “shoes” in the Holocaust Museum, which was the part of that display that I reacted to most. I photographed a rose at the wall, and it’s my favorite image of DC so far.

Top of main dome, Baltimore Basilica.

The Baltimore Basilica. A cathedral built in 1806 in federal style, by one of the architects of the U.S. Capitol, both the main church and the basement church were worth a visit.

That’s it, so far. One quick blog post during a busy Spring Break. I’ll probably write more later after day two in DC.