Buckminster Fuller @Arena Stage

Last night we made the trek down to Crystal City to attend the Buckminster Fuller Salon hosted by Arena Stage. Crystal City is a complex of buildings all connected by underground passages. It has a lot of restaurants and is home to a somewhat erratic supply of shops. It looks a little like a forgotten suburban 80's mall. Each hallway seems to have a theme. One hall was decorated to look like a "Knights of the Roundtable" village, another looked like clinic hallway and then the other side was more "normal" mall-like decor with the big plastic looking plants in the tiled planters.

From looking at the Yelp and Google Map reviews of the stores and restaurants in the center the big draw seems to be that you don't have to go outside in bad weather as the metro station lets you out in the mall center.

Part of the staff at Arena Stage has called this center home for the past few years as their new Mead Center is under construction. The Lincoln Theatre is where they host the musicals, and this smaller more utilitarian theatre next to the Marriot, is for the plays.

Arena Stage has assembled three experts to be the speakers along with a facilitator who had been on the directorial staff for the production of the show. Each speaker talked about their individual area of expertise and then they began to take questions from the audience. The audience was comprised of season subscribers and many of them were extremely interesting. I thought the discussion was thought provoking. It stayed near the topic at all times and both sides of many arguments were addressed. You can read more about the show- here. or read Bucky's Wiki page here.

Upon leaving the theatre we realized that a Star Trek movie night was happening just around the corner from our current location. We walked over to a small square covered in blankets, chairs and people all facing a portable movie screen. I think my husband would have liked to stay for the movie but we decided to go home as we were not wearing our sit-on-the-ground-for-2 hours clothing and it looked like the movie would not be starting for another 45 minutes or so. They are showing the Star Trek movies in order each Monday night at 7 for the rest of the summer so we may attempt to go later in the year.

USA Game on H-Street

My third adventure this week was the USA vs. Ghana game at the H-Street Country Club Bar. Our good friend Sam and his roommate Megan picked us up and we traveled through the parade mess that is the DC Caribbean Festival (FYI-The website is loud) taking up all of Georgia Ave to a stretch of H-Street that houses a ton of bars, cute restaurants and boutiques. We were going to the newest hippest bar, Biergarden. However it was packed so we hopped down the street a few storefronts to the next bar that was open, had big TV's and where we could grab a table.

H-Street Country Club bar is pretty interesting. The inside is all decorated in sporty argyle memorabilia. They have a few pool tables, a shuffleboard table and skeet-ball. Upstairs they apparently boast a mini-golf course but since someone had claimed it for a birthday party I didn't make it up there yesterday. The menu includes nachos, quesadillas, chips and salsa, and empanadas. All Mexican, although our friend Sam, who is from Mexico, thought this was slightly weird. The beer selection was ok, the prices were normal for DC and they actually had a pretty big mixed drinks, wine and margarita selection for a sports bar.

The clientèle was also interesting. It was a pretty fair split male/female and while the males were definitely there to watch the game, I got the feeling a lot of a dressed up girls were there to meet a man. I would say that 98% of the bar was cheering for USA but we did have one table of people cheering for Ghana. This made the game even more interesting and I was happy to see that even after Ghana won and the 8 of them went wild, sportsmanship prevailed.

We have been watching at home and there is a difference watching with a huge group of strangers. The energy that came from having that many people intently watching the game was fun and exhilarating. The energy and collective reactions were amazing. I can only liken it to an amazing theatrical experience. When the entire audience gasps or sighs or cries there is something so uplifting and humanizing about the togetherness of it all.

For those of you who don't follow the game USA lost to Ghana 2-1 in overtime.

After the game we met my uncle and his daughter for dinner at Paragon Thai in Cleveland Park. Highly recommended. The food was delicious, the service was great and the prices were good. Here is their website. I had the spicy eggplant, but apparently their curry is to die for.

MLK Library

Today we went to the MLK Library. It is very near the Chinatown/Gallery Place Metro Station and the Verizon Center. The library is extremely large and divided into separate rooms for each subject. The rooms are on the outsides of the building so each has a great view of the DC area. In the center of the building there are conference rooms, offices, elevators and the restrooms/ water fountains. We have another library close to our apartment but as it is currently under-construction their books are pretty limited to fiction and children's lit.

We went to the library to pick up a few books on Theatre Management in the Arts, Music and Recreation Center. While I wait for my fellowship at Arena Stage to being at the end of August I decided to read all I can on Arts Management and American Theatre with a concentration on Edward Albee who is the focus for the Arena Stage season. I have picked up or purchased several books to begin reading this week.

Old Town Alexandria

I had a coffee meeting this morning in Old Town Alexandria. It was a pretty easy metro ride from our apartment, just a long sit on the yellow line train. The metro let me off on King Street and I strolled down to Misha's Coffee to meet my work acquaintance for some delicious coffee. This place is cute, the baristas are friendly and it has plenty of seating.

After my meeting I took a walk down King Street into Old Town proper. The town tried to keep the historical feel but has been modernized with lots of shopping, both chains and boutiques, as well as a ton of restaurants and bars. You can take King Street all the way down to the water and look over into the downtown district. They have a very active Farmer's Market and Art Scene in this area. The Torpedo Factory is a large building full of different artists right on the river. I walked in and wandered through several studios. It reminded me of The Blue Star Complex in San Antonio.

I forgot my camera this morning so the following image was found on google. If you get a chance to go to Old Town Alexandria, take it. And as a bonus you travel right under the Pentagon on the metro on the way down!

For more information check out the Wiki site- HERE.

National's Game

Sunday we went to a National's Game with Ry's old friend Mike. It was very hot. Mike got us great seats on the 3rd base line and we had a good view of the field and the big screen. It was a father's day special and the place was packed. Mike lives about 2 blocks away from the field and attends regularly and he was surprised at the amount of people that had shown up.

The Nats played the White Sox and lost 5 to 3. Earlier in the week President Obama had shown up to watch a game as he is apparently a fan of the White Sox. Some highlights of the day included; The President's race, where actors in costume with huge bobble-heads run around the field dressed as Presidents Lincoln, Roosevelt, Washington and Jefferson. The big sausages covered in chili, cheese and onions that Ry and Mike ate, GROSS! And the kids with their fathers who ran the bases after the game- very cute.

That's THREE for last week! This week may include Old Town Alexandria, the MLK library and possibly the drum circle at Meridian Park. Week one of the challenge is done.

Sophisticated Ladies

On Thursday night my husband and I went to see Sophisticated Ladies at Arena Stage. Since Arena Stage is undergoing a rebuilding they have been using two local stages for the past few years. The musicals have been held at the Lincoln Theatre on U Street and the plays are being held in Crystal City.

Sophisticated Ladies is a celebration of the life and music of Duke Ellington who is originally from Washington DC and was actually raised on U Street. My husband is in the middle of editing a book on Duke Ellington for Phil Schapp and Jazz at Lincoln Center. While this made him more interested in the performance, it also made him a bit of a know it all when the dates, music or images weren't exactly correct.

The show was very well done. The costumes were amazing, the dancing fantastic and I was very impressed with the technical aspects of the set. It was a standard bandstand and stairs set up; but the usage of sliding screens along with projected images was interesting and with the age of the building and the limitations thereof, challenging.

You can read more on the Arena Stage blog here, or read about their new residence program for American Playwrights at the Washington Post website.

First Visit to the Mall

On Thursday we took a trip to the National Mall to wander around the monuments. Our dear friend was in for a conference on International Health and decided to take the day off to come out with us. We started by wandering down past the Washington Monument to the Reflecting Pool and ended up at the Lincoln Memorial.

After braving the crowds at the Lincoln Monument, we took a trip down by the river to the Jefferson Memorial that overlooks the tidal pool.

Finally we walked up to the Smithsonian Castle and took at look at Madeline Albright's pin collection. You can read more about it and her new book "Read My Pins" here. To end the day we returned to Columbia Heights for a Thai dinner at Zagat rated Pho14.

Running

Now that we are in DC and looking for employment (or waiting for a position to begin in my case) my husband and I have taken up running.

We don't run together. I have a very particular pattern from all my years of cross country and soccer and a very particular pace that doesn't really fit the way he tends to run. I also don't listen to music when I run and his pace tends to change with the song on his MP3 player. So he runs when he wants to and I run when I feel like it- our patterns are currently determined pretty much by the World Cup. Ry is willing to wake up and run before the morning match, where I am pretty content to run later in the morning and miss the first drop.

In NYC we didn't run outside unless we were on our way to the Athletic Center to run on the indoor track. I tried it a few times and was serenaded with catcalls, sexual offers and remarks on my attire, running style and body. In DC I still tend to attract a lot of talk (maybe its because I don't wear ear buds?) but so far it has been pretty clean. This morning I was asked if I was 25 by two men in a car, and had a few good mornings from various men, women and children. The topper today was an older man who said "good morning" to me and after I passed said, "That's the way it should be" in reference to a lower part of my anatomy.

Thank you for the pep talk peoples!

I Need a Challenge

So Ryan and I are moved in and settled into DC life, but without employment it is pretty hard to put yourself on a regular schedule. Once the World Cup began we found ourselves spending 9 hours a day in front of the TV, lunch happens in the middle of the afternoon and everything is just topsy turvy. So until my fellowship begins (more on that once I sign on the line) and he finds a job we are looking for ways to make our day more structured.

He is still working on the Duke Ellington book for Phillip Schapp but I am pretty much at my leisure so I decided to give myself a challenge. I am going to do/visit 3 DC events or places a week and write a blog about each one. This week is already half over but we will be attending Arena Stage's Sophisticated Ladies tomorrow night and going to a Nationals game on Sunday so I should be able to squeeze one more in on Friday.

And the flag is dropped!

Final Days of Honeymoon Land

We spent our last two day in London and were able to finish off our museum list, visit with Duff and Larissa and act as cheerleaders at the PWC softball game. We also had some great veggie friendly food at the world food cafe- always good to do some internet research before wandering London.

We went to the City of London museum but were only able to see half of it as anything after the "Great Fire" was under reconstruction. Luckily Tudor England is my favorite so we were all good there.

We also went to the Museum of Transportation which was neat and recommended for any other travelers in the area. It is in Covent Garden and that was also a neat area to look around in.

This is us in a 60's tram car at the Transportation Museum. You can tell I need lunch and sleep.

A great Honeymoon.

Honeymoon Sofia Day 2

Woke up to a beautiful day in Sofia and had this lovely view out our apartment window to look at while we ate our leftovers and had some DD coffee.

The hostel we are staying in is called Internet Hostel. It is in a large building in a good location near the upscale shopping area. I don't know if I would stay in the regular rooms downstairs but we reserved the apartment and we have a kitchen, dining area, bathroom and bedroom to ourselves. The shower is a little weird as it is just a water pump in the middle of the bathroom so everything gets wet when you shower (while standing a foot away from the toliet and next to the sink). The apartment is part of a larger apartment that they "sealed" off by shutting the doors between the rooms. That would be fine except a "Real" family lives on the other side of those doors and there kitchen is adjoining your bedroom so when they and their 2 or 3 small kids get up at 7:30am it is pretty loud.

We wandered around again today with a plan to see this famous cathedral (i forgot its name) and to visit a large park in town.

At the park they had these places where people would pay to put their kids in the hamster balls and have them try to run around on top of the water. It looked like the main plan was to tire them out as fast as possible.

The park was also home to the large sport fields and several monuments left over from the Soviet rule. These monuments were in sorry shape with graffiti, missing statues and general abuse.

We also tried to go to the Military museum but it closed right before we arrived. We were able to wander the grounds and look into all the old machines.

We finished the day off with good old American pizza and beer. By this time I was ready to return to the states but we still had a few days in London with Duff and Larissa.

Honeymoon Sofia

Sorry this is coming in bits and spurts. Most of my life is job hunting right now so this is a secondary application.

We got off the train and found our hostel (Internet Hostel) in a big rainstorm. Needless to say after 14 hours of train and 7 hours of travel before that and getting all wet in a former Soviet Republic with crazy sidewalks; I was not in the best mood. But we grabbed a shower and a change of clothes and some veggie lunch and some Duncan Donuts (super hot) coffee and everything was looking up.

We went a wandering and found this nice mosque in a beautiful park across from a old bathhouse they are restoring.

This is the side of the bathhouse. In the picture above Ryan would be facing the Bathhouse.

And then wandered up and over past a huge synagogue, a main square and this MJ shrine.

Which was near the national theatre which was showing Cyrano de Bergerac. (we didn't go)

And then on to a huge park I didn't take pictures of that had a large monument in the middle to the Soviet Union. At least we think that is what it was, the Bulgarian's had put up scaffolding and set up large billboards to surround the old monument so that you couldn't see it.

Finally we were hungry for dinner so we found a Moroccan restaurant that had been noted on the board at the hostel. We thought we ordered a main dish that came with 4 side dishes each so we made sure to tell our waitress which "mezzos" we wanted to come with the main. We ended up with 9 full size mezzos AND of mains with smaller mezzos on the side. All in all a TABLE FULL of food. It was overkill. It was delicious. Luckily with the exchange rate on our side (for once) it was cheap and we took the leftovers home for the next day.

All in all an ok day in Bulgaria.

A Break From our Regularly Scheduled Programming

If you are interested in reading about our move to DC or seeing pictures of our new apartment please go here. http://lametexpatriot.blogspot.com.

Train Day to Sofia, Bulgaria

Upon leaving the island of Mykonos we traveled on the ferry back to the port of Athens and then grabbed a metro to the Larrissa Station where we got on our overnight train to Sofia, Bulgaria. This is a 14 hour train ride through the country in the middle of the night with one stop in Thessaloníki. The train is equipped with a very scary bathroom at each end of the car and little tiny rooms with three bunks and a sink all the way down. We had booked a double which meant that we didn't have any stranger on the third bunk, which is good because I don't know where we would have put our packs.

This is us ready to drink our beers and go to sleep. At this point it was about midnight and we had been traveling already since noon.

Ryan between the bunks and the little sink, excited to sleep on a train.

We arrived in Thessaloníki at 6am and there was a lot of banging and crashing while we changed engines. Then we sped along again until we stopped at the Greek border for about an hour and then again at the Bulgarian border for longer. They came and took our passports away, but eventually gave them back with stamps. They were very incredulous that an American boy and American girl were going to Bulgaria. We were apparently a rarity and our conductor just called us "the Americans." He had to announce names in order to get most of the passports back to the right people and that is when we found out that the guy next door's name was Paul Anka. How funny!

The above are from our Nikon series showing the countryside of Bulgaria through the eyes of the train.

Honeymoon Delos

Wednesday we went to the island of Delos. To get there you have to go to the port city of Mykonos on a bus and then purchase tickets to the ferry which takes about a half hour to get to Delos. Once you are on the island you pay another 5 euro to enter the island. Then you can wander wherever you like until 3 when the last ferry off the island leaves. They check bags for relics on the way out.

On the North Side of the island there is a little town with many walls and buildings still standing. This is called the theatre district because it is close to the theatre. Cleopatra's house is also in this area as well as several well preserved homes with large mosaics.

The famous Delos Lions.

One of the lesser preserved large homes. Each one was built around an inner courtyard that usually had a large mosaic in the middle or some sort of water feature.

The theatre. Do you see the tiny people on the upper left of this picture? They are standing on the top row of the seating. This is the picture I want to show to my actors from now on. Project to those tiny people!

It was a wonderful and HOT day and we returned to Mykonos exhausted. Followed this adventure with some dinner and wine and then took our sunburned selves to bed after watching some Greek Idol. It is just as terrible as it's American counterpart but with a much smaller talent pool to draw from.

Interruption

I will try to post a few more honeymoon items tomorrow. Right now we are moving into our new apartment and I have gotten a pretty bad cold which makes me want to sleep and cough and sleep.

I will also post a video of our new place when it finally gets put together.

we will now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

Honeymoon Mykonos

t this point our vacation turned into beach, beer, sleep and some minor tourist-y stuff for the next few days. We had frappe and cheap local beer and ate and visited Paradise Beach and Paranga Beach and saw the windmills at the port in Mykonos.

We did spend a day at Delos and I will make a separate post about that experience but basically the rest of the week we just chilled out.

The famous Pelicans of Mykonos.

The Greek's are smart.