Washington D.C. and New York,
September 2004
NOTE: To access any of these slideshows, you'll need to turn off pop-up blockers.
D.C.
I started this trip taking plenty of shots while there was no film in my camera. Here's what happened when I finally loaded the damned thing.
New York miscellany
From the three-hour tour to the art museums to the graffiti, this was a way different trip than our first to New York last year.
Coney Island
We decided at the last minute on a sunny Sunday afternoon to visit the historic amusement park.
Festival of San Gennaro
Little Italy's festival was turned into an evening of happy debauchery.
The Grand Old Seat?
Our trip started in D.C. with me taking what I thought was a 36-exposure roll of film on my newish camera...which actually had no film in it. So gone are the shots of the Washington Monument, Reflecting Pool, White House, Jefferson Memorial, and Vietnam War Memorial. I felt doomed.
But that was about the worst thing that happened on this trip. We felt a little charmed when we happened upon our congressman Jim McDermott leaving the Capitol building and got to shake the man's hand (he's got a nice role in Fahrenheit 9/11...and he's a man not afraid to stand up to ridiculous invasions). We took a hop-on, hop-off trolley tour that proved entertaining and educational (did you know the largest embassy in the world is the brand new United States embassy in Iraq?), and we got to take in a lot of this lovely and leafy city.
Two days wasn't anywhere near enough time to spend there, but next time we know what we'll do...starting by not flying into Dulles. We did take the train one-way from D.C. back to New York, and it was a great way to travel. We saw the backsides of some American cities we'd never seen and were surprised by the neighborhoods by the tracks, especially in Baltimore. It was stunning to realize that this is our country, and it's completely different than the West coast.
The Giant Apple
This trip around, we crammed a lot into our five days in New York. The highlights were traipsing through the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art, the last days of MoMA QNS, the Whitney, a Circle Line tour around Manhattan Island, a trip to Coney Island and the ensuing voyage on the Cyclone, the incredible play I Am My Own Wife, wandering in SoHo, Little Italy and Greenwich Village, lots of good food, and a thunderstorm leftover from Hurricane Ivan that woke us up Saturday morning.
The thing about New York is that you feel like it's pretty easy to go back. And with plane tickets about the same price as those to Los Angeles, it really is. Considering I have a coupon for half off at the newly renovated MoMA, good until November 2005, I may have to go back next year.