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Writer's Block: A five-star location
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I live in a city of trees and gracious buildings. I live in a city of parks and imposing architecture. There are so many potential answers to the question that I nearly didn't try.
Instead I'll break it down by type.
Best Park -- I have a couple that I like, but really, as long as the Cherry Blossom Festival is over, my favorite is the Tidal Basin area. They have paddle boats in the summer. The trees are beautiful, and it affords a wonderful view of the city. Best of all, the Jefferson Memorial is there. It's lovely and rarely as crowded as the mall. There are small parks with dog runs or children's playgrounds in the city, and I love them too. But Washington is about the big spaces and this one is lovely.
Best Memorial -- The big imposing ones are wonderful. I try to visit each of them once a year or so -- I mean I see them all the time, they're part of my daily walks, but actually to go to them and be part of the crowd reading Lincoln's or Jefferson's words or the group looking down at the city and wondering what we're looking at is a great thing to do.
My favorite though is the Taft Carillon. I like the fact that Taft insisted his statue not be larger than life. I love listening to the bells. I love how shady the little patch of ground it's situated on is. It's peaceful in one of the busiest parts of the city. It gives us music at unexpected times. I love it.
Best Architecture -- Outside DC proper, my favorite building is still Dulles Airport. The grand sweep of the roof in the distance still makes my heart jump into my mouth every time I see it.
Inside the city, I'll count the Capitol and the East Wing of the National Gallery as my runners up, but my favorite is The National Building Museum. The grand sweep of its interior is amazing; it was obviously thought out well to take as much advantage as possible of natural light. It's a huge brick basilica with a Civil War frieze around it. The building was originally the pension office for Civil War veterans.
Best Church -- This is a city of churches nearly as much as a city of trees, but National Cathedral is unique. Yes, it's a Gothic cathedral, more in the French than the British style in spite of the denomination being Anglican/Episcopal, which made it an anachronism before it was begun. But it's beautiful. I love the tympanums, even though they were controversial when they were installed.
I live in a city of trees and gracious buildings. I live in a city of parks and imposing architecture. There are so many potential answers to the question that I nearly didn't try.
Instead I'll break it down by type.
Best Park -- I have a couple that I like, but really, as long as the Cherry Blossom Festival is over, my favorite is the Tidal Basin area. They have paddle boats in the summer. The trees are beautiful, and it affords a wonderful view of the city. Best of all, the Jefferson Memorial is there. It's lovely and rarely as crowded as the mall. There are small parks with dog runs or children's playgrounds in the city, and I love them too. But Washington is about the big spaces and this one is lovely.
Best Memorial -- The big imposing ones are wonderful. I try to visit each of them once a year or so -- I mean I see them all the time, they're part of my daily walks, but actually to go to them and be part of the crowd reading Lincoln's or Jefferson's words or the group looking down at the city and wondering what we're looking at is a great thing to do.
My favorite though is the Taft Carillon. I like the fact that Taft insisted his statue not be larger than life. I love listening to the bells. I love how shady the little patch of ground it's situated on is. It's peaceful in one of the busiest parts of the city. It gives us music at unexpected times. I love it.
Best Architecture -- Outside DC proper, my favorite building is still Dulles Airport. The grand sweep of the roof in the distance still makes my heart jump into my mouth every time I see it.
Inside the city, I'll count the Capitol and the East Wing of the National Gallery as my runners up, but my favorite is The National Building Museum. The grand sweep of its interior is amazing; it was obviously thought out well to take as much advantage as possible of natural light. It's a huge brick basilica with a Civil War frieze around it. The building was originally the pension office for Civil War veterans.
Best Church -- This is a city of churches nearly as much as a city of trees, but National Cathedral is unique. Yes, it's a Gothic cathedral, more in the French than the British style in spite of the denomination being Anglican/Episcopal, which made it an anachronism before it was begun. But it's beautiful. I love the tympanums, even though they were controversial when they were installed.