That’s right, I was in Washington DC with my mother for an absurdly short couple of days.  Let it be known that in a perfect world I would have spent much, much more time out and about with my camera.  Even the Metro is ridiculously photogenic in all of its low, moody lighting.

Unfortunately, I was unable to contribute to the growing pile of photos of various  members of Pete’s family with their fingers on the point of the East building in the National Gallery, because the grass was all roped off.

I did, however, enjoy the heck out of the Multiverse installation currently in the underground walkway between the two buildings.

And the Newseum, which we visited on a whim.

We were in town for uncharacteristically cold and rainy spring weather,but I feel obligated to point out that, by my standards, it really wasn’t that bad.  I got complimented by a restaurant employee for being so appropriately dressed for the weather.  I give all the credit to Canada and modern meteorological predictions.

And really?  DC is veritably lush compared to the pale blue and browns and greys dominating in these parts.  The cab ride to the Montreal airport takes you past the mountains of filthy gravel-y snow still lingering in the Turcot yards, and a panorama of dirt, concrete, and pavement.  In DC, everything is green, verdant, and blooming.  Plants seem to have much more bushy and voluminous growth habits, since they don’t have to expend their energy trying to survive the winter.

And people really are slightly but noticeably friendlier.  That said, when asked where I was visiting from, people were unfeignedly enthusiastic about the city I’d arrived from: “Oh, Montreal!  My husband used to work for Bombardier, and we loved visiting.”  “Montreal–what a great city!  James over there went to McGill…”

Here’s the souvenir of the United States that I brought back for Pete in my suitcase. Because nothing says “I missed you, baby” like a slightly crushed box of Cheez-Its.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 17th, 2009 at 9:59 am and is filed under bits. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.