Friday, August 25, 2006
Washington, Day Two
Spent the day in Baltimore, a 45-minute drive from Washington. Right as we arrived in the Inner Harbor, Naomi's car got a flat tire. We put the spare on, though, in a jiffy. We went to Naomi's workplace, the Maryland Historical Society, to find a mechanic.
After dropping the car off, we had lunch at a charming self-serve cafe called Sascha's. Then we hopped over to the Walters Art Center. The current exhibit was a retrospective of KAL, an editorial cartoonist who worked for 20 years at the Baltimore Sun.
All of these places are downtown. I was surprised to find many young people here, but it seems there are a couple of colleges in this area.
We left downtown and crossed the harbor to the Museum of Visionary Art. My favorite piece there was a print of Siegfried and Roy. The gift shop deserves mention — if you're looking for kitschy knickknacks and hipster odds and ends then you've found the place. After the museum we spent a short time in the Inner Harbor.
Changing a flat in Baltimore
We picked up the car and drove to Fells Point. This is an up-and-coming neighborhood along the harbor. There are a few nice stores and restaurants; a bunch of condos and townhomes are on the way.
In the evening we drove back to D.C. Dinner was at Café Citron, a Latin joint on Dupont Circle. It was busy. It was even louder. We had to wait for a table, which we didn't mind, but somehow the hostess gave us a hard time for it. ("You didn't make a reservation. Do you want to sit downstairs? You can only get appetizers there.") When we finally did get seated (ten minutes later) we were placed next to a boisterous table of young teachers. We sat right under a deck, which held a DJ spinning salsa/merengue/pop/house. Did I say the place was loud?
We went home early and tried to finish the Hitchcock film. Predictably after a long day, we fell asleep again.
