Tourist Season Starting!

The cherry blossoms are trying to bloom and the first rushes of tourism have begun. The National Mall is much more crowded during my afternoon runs and traffic is getting a bit worse. Soon I'll have to avoid one of my main running routes - around the Tidal Basin - due to the crowds.

But for now, I'm still tolerating the influx rather well. I'm still in the phase of the tourist season where I can appreciate living in a city where so many people from all over the world want to come and visit. I see people taking in the sites and sounds of the monuments and remind myself to slow down and enjoy life. I vow to help people with directions and commit other helpful acts.

I think it helps that I don't take metro too much anymore. Being on my scooter, while hot and somewhat dusty at times, offers a pleasant veil to the hectic crowds and slow-moving paper farecard users of the train system that is, by far, the most annoying aspect of summer.

We'll see how long my patience lasts, though. I'm sure you'll all be hearing about this again.

Museum Day!

Every year I make a resolution to spend more time seeing the sites that are so close to home. There were two exhibits at the National Gallery of Art that I've had on my list and a sunny Sunday seemed like the perfect time.

I got a little behind schedule after wandering around the wrong building by accident, but finally made it through the glittering tunnel connecting the East and West building and found the photographic manipulation (before photoshop!) exhibit that I wanted to see. It was crowded - a harbinger of springtime tourism! - so I only saw about half the exhibit just for the sake of avoiding the throngs.

The most interesting (manipulated) photos were the vintage political propaganda: images of Stalin with smoothed wrinkles to make him look more commanding and less frail, a group shot of Hitler, Leni Riefenstahl, and several others with one person cropped out - the person suspected of sleeping with the married film-makers, etc.

I stopped by the David-Apollo for a few minutes (not as grand as the Florentine David!) and stumbled across one of many of the statues of Diana house in the Gallery.

Last on my list was to browse the pre-Raphaelist paintings but the clock was ticking toward a meeting with a girlfriend at Teaism. And good timing; I was a little museum'd out by that point!

Ambar

I love where I live not only for the gorgeous rowhomes and rose gardens and proximity to all the best sites in the city but also for the ever-growing supply of restaurants, bars, coffee-shops, and specialty bakeries and gelaterias. New restaurants open faster than I can try them!

So tonight, to celebrate the occasion of having a lovely friend in town, I made reservations at one on my list: a Balkan restaurant down the street.

From the webite I gathered the dishes would resemble Mediterranean tapas and I supposed if one had to make a comparison that would be fair.

We started with the bread basket - fried sourdough and cornbread with three different spreads. The best one appeared to be a roasted red pepper/goat cheese chunky dip with a bit of heat to it.

From there we ordered a set of three mushroom crepes with a bechamel and gouda sauce, followed by a deliciously moist chicken thigh with mashed purple potatoes and roasted red peppers. The skin was crunch and the meat falling apart.

For the finale we went with the spinach risotto topped with baked shrimp. This was the highlight - the risotto was so cheesy and the shrimp perfectly cooked.

A pair of martinis (voda for me, gin for her, both dirty) complemented the fantastic meal.