I headed downtown around 1 PM and was out on the Mall by 1:30 PM. It was warmer than I expected out and I had worn jeans instead of shorts, but I survived. I found a bench and sat for an hour reading more of A Canticle for Leibowitz, which I expect to finish tonight or early tomorrow. At 2:30, I headed to the museum to meet AJ.
I met AJ at the Museum of American History, after some confusion about exactly where we were going to meet. By the time we found each other, we were both pretty hungry so we left the museum and headed to Old Ebbitt Grill, which I had heard about but had never managed to get to in the four years that I have been here. It was a cool place, an old style elegance, and the food was good too.
After lunch (which was AJ’s treat), we headed back to the museum to lurk around until closing. In a kind of stark contrast at one point, AJ and I stood in front of a display showcasing Washington, D.C. in 1900, while talking about the benefits of LCD vs. plasma flat panel televisions. We also spent time in front of a huge map of New York city in the 1920s with AJ asking all kinds of questions about the city, and me providing the answers
AJ: Where does the name “the Bronx” come from?
Me: From Jonas Bronck, who has a farm up in that part of the region back when New York City was still a Dutch colony. People would go and visit, “the Broncks”, which evolved into the Bronx.
AJ: Why do they call New York City “Gotham”?
Me: Gotham is derived from a Dutch word meaning “Goat Town”
Before we knew it, the museum was closing. It’s doors will now be closed until the summer of 2008, which seems like a long way off, but with the speed with which time seems to pass, it also right around the corner.
We walked into Georgetown and headed for Haagen Daas, where AJ obtained for us Belgian chocolate shakes (again, his treat!) and where we sat for quite some time talking about all manner of things. It wasn’t until 9 PM that we left and made our way back to Foggy Bottom so that I could catch a train home.
I was back home at 10 PM.
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