Yesterday I did one of those things that residents of the D.C. metro area never do: I went to a free local event. And kicked myself yet again, because it takes 30 minutes to get from my front door to the National Mall. 30 minutes! That includes driving to the metro, parking for free (all weekend and weekdays after 5:00), 10 minutes on the train, and walking two blocks.
Weather and tourists are two reasons I prefer home to the city’s culture, and yesterday I combated both. But mostly the weather—it was one of those lovely Washington days, as you can see at left. Cloudy, but so bright you needed sunglasses. And raining, but too warm and humid to wear a rain jacket. Getting wet was preferable to any sort of cover.
Because I allowed a full hour to get to town, I had time to kill before meeting my friend at the fiction tent. Rather than face the crowds on the mall, I visited the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden and took a few pictures. The garden is a little modern for my poor, linear brain (for example, is this construction or a sculpture?), but I do like this character (photo at left) peeking up over the bushes.
The Book Fest was so crowded this year that it was somewhat inaccessible. This is what the crowd for Salmon Rushdie looked like. It was only slightly smaller for the author I wanted to see, Philippa Gregory. But we did manage to push into the back of the tent and hear her speak.
Afterward, my friend and I walked over to the National Portrait Gallery to have lunch. It’s on the pricey side as museums go, but cheaper than your average D.C. restaurant. The setting is far superior to all other museums—seating is in a beautiful courtyard with trees, a waterfall floor, and a high ceiling made entirely of skylights. So you feel like you’re outside… but with air conditioning. Most telling—there were more lunching locals than tourists in our midst, solitary artistic-types reading and plugged into iPods.
For a few more pictures, visit our new photo gallery (a work in progress). Don’t miss this one—it’s my favorite.
[...] Festival. I have to say it was a much better experience this year. What you didn’t read in last year’s blog entry was that I was still in the midst of morning sickness (which should be called “all day [...]