Best of the DC Weekend

Hi all! StacJac here, one of the summer interns. I am one of the two in our cohort who hails from Northwestern. Yes, Chicago is cold (I get that question a lot), but yes, I do love school. Nevertheless, DC is an exhilirating and refreshing change of scenery for the summer. I love the environment - think overly excited political wannabees meets do-good non-profits and national museums, meets every-restaurant-has-a-happy-hour-ad-on-their-front-window.

This past weekend, I decided to take advantage of a wide breadth of DC's offerings. Thursday night, we attended the first of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) Summer Series seminars, geared toward interns in the District. The speaker was Howard Kohr, executive director of AIPAC. He spoke for about 15 minutes and then opened the rest of the hour-long seminar up for questions. His short speech highlighted the most important topics of late: Iran and its weapons threat, Obama's dealings with Israel, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I decided to bite the bullet and was the first to ask a question - Does giving the Palestinians a state pose a security risk to Israel and the U.S. in the near future? Might we look back on a move like that, just as we did after giving Iran the access to nuclear weapons, and say 'what were we thinking?' Kohr offered a succint response - it is key for a Palestinian state to be demilitarized.

Following the seminar we went with some AIPAC interns to a couple hotspots on the Hill before heading home. Work M-F 9-5 is tiring!! Yes mom, I know that's what all grown-ups do and I hope you feel vindicated!

Saturday I set out to experience DC culture and tourism to the fullest. First stop: the grand re-opening of Eastern Market. The newly renovated building, which suffered from a fire in 2007, was packed with eager shoppers and hungry patrons all fighting their way through the seafood, meat, poultry, dairy, and produce counters. Too hungry to wait in line for a crabcake from the cafe, my DC partner-in-crime and I waited in a shorter line for made-to-order sandwiches. To accompany our main courses- a pulled turkey sandwich and a turkey wrap - we each got a barrel pickle and picked up some fresh hummus and carrots.

Onto the National Mall! It's a much shorter walk than I expected from the map; in 10 minutes we were at Hawk and Dove (popular restaurant/bar at the edge of the Hill). We were heading toward the Museum of American History which is at the far opposite corner of the Mall, so we picked a spot about halfway there underneath a shady tree. The lunch was superb and filling. After some digestion/people watching, we headed to the Museum. Our first exhibit we visited was billed "Thanks for the Memories: Music, Sports and Entertainment History," and had a lot of mediocre memorabilia, such as "the puffy shirt" from Seinfeld, and a Muhammed Ali boxing glove. From there we hit up the Amerian presidents and Lincoln exhibits which I would highly recommend to anyone interested in U.S. history. Both have some really cool artifacts, like the top hat Lincoln was wearing when he was assassinated, and lots of interesting information about each administration. There is also an exhibit with photos from President Obama's inauguration that will be available until July 12. Last, we went to the Star Spangled Banner exhibit, which is really breathtaking. You enter the exhibit and immediately turn into a dark room where the mammoth flag is dazzlingly illuminated for viewing behind a glass wall. The wear and tear on the flag is visible but it still inspires the pride for the U.S.A. that Francis Scott Key felt when he wrote the National Anthem at Ft. McHenry during the War of 1812.

We left the Museum of American History around 7:15 and were sufficiently exhausted. Electing to walk home to Foggy Bottom while hoping our legs didn't give out on the way, we walked the length of the reflecting pool past the Washington Monument, WWII Memorial, and the Lincoln Memorial before heading north. My newfound appreciation for Lincoln thanks to the Museum's exhibits was overwhelming as I looked up at him in his throne-like chair, with the words "saved the union" etched above his head. Washington...what a place.

Yesterday we embarked on yet another day of tourism, though we committed to less walking and I committed to New Balances over Reefs. After a quick Potbelly's lunch, we headed to the National Archives. We waited in the ominous "45 minute" line that actually took 15 minutes, and went straight to the Rotunda to see the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. The line situation is a little weird - there isn't one officially but then you don't know if you want to be the one person who cuts everyone else in the "informal line." All the documents were fascinating; from the signatures of important founders to how worn the Declaration is, the Rotunda's contents are a true treat and an affective peak into poignant American history. The three features are supplemented by other important documents that represent significant events. And by the way, if you watched the John Adams HBO series like I did, you'll have even more to reference and get excited about in terms of important American history in front of your eyes.

Our last tourist stop was the Museum of Natural History. Anyone who has been here knows it could take days to do this museum justice, so we just focused on three exhibits: a forensics exhibit on the history of the people of the Chesapeake region, the gems section, and the Wild Ocean exhibit. The forensics exhibit was surprisingly engaging with a lot of interesting facts and demonstrations on determining human traits from bone structure. The gems area's traditional highlight - the Hope Diamond - was really beautiful, but even more impressive was the jewelry collection which included some of the biggest, most gorgeous rocks I have ever seen. The pieces hail from royalty and wealth all over the world. I'm a sucker for anything with European royalty so this was right up my alley. The last exhibit, Wild Ocean, was a bit disappointing. It was like a dumbed down version of an aquarium. The giant female squid on display, however, is definitely worth checking out.

From here we declared our day done and hopped on a Metro to Farragut West to grab a bite to eat. After dinner I came home and plopped myself on the couch - not to move again until I got in bed around midnight. It was back to the office in the morning and my DC weekend vacation (even my GW summer dorm is a converted hotel) had officially come to an end. Here's to next weekend for the 4th of July!