This blog post has been a work in progress for over a week now. It’s getting published today in spite of the anguish I feel over the results of the Presidential election.

You can go ahead and make fun of me, call me dramatic, whatever. I’m distraught and worried about what the next four years is going to look like for us all, and I believe I have reason to be.

This very well may be the last time I post anything remotely political on this blog. I’m spent; yet determined to carry on with my quest to put some measure of good out there into the world via this blog.

That said, I greatly enjoyed my time in Washington, DC during the last week of October. Those of you who have been following me for a bit may recall that I was planning on traveling as Mr. NOA’s “plus one” for this work trip in our nation’s capital.

Inspired by a book I read as part of my “24 books in 2024” challenge, “Life in Five Senses” by Gretchen Rubin, which I wrote about it in this post, let me tell you all about my experiences sightseeing solo in DC through my own five senses.

SIGHT

I saw the American people and foreign tourists in all their glory. On the Metro platform, the blond yoga lady with her mat tucked under her arm. Little ones in their strollers. The buddhist monks (or Hare Krishnas?) with their orange sarongs on the National Mall. Some were more red. It made me wonder what the significance of the colors orange and red were to them. There has to be some significance, right? I visited the National Gallery, where I had the pleasure of viewing a large installation of French Impressionist art. It is amazing to me how large some of these pieces are and how much they look like actual photographs.

At the International Spy Museum, I got to see a multitude of exhibits featuring various gadgets used by spies over the years. I enjoyed some interactive exhibits there as well. There was an area where you could sit down and do these perception games. That was really interesting. Seeing a man’s face that at first to me looked like a woman sitting down with her head over her knees. The picture morphed several different times (or was that an illusion?) until at the end it was clear that it was a man’s face. It looked to me like Fred Flinstone. The other perception game I did was where I had to read a list of color words (like purple, white, brown, etc) but the colors didn’t match the word for the color. The mind is an interesting thing. It took concentration to get that right.

HEARING

This is more nuanced because the truth is, my hearing has diminished over the years. I did hear a lot of honking. One thing a person ought to know about visiting our nation’s capitol is that it’s cars that have the right of way, not pedestrians. Pedestrians, while there are plenty of them in DC, are essentially 2nd class citizens there. You could have 42 seconds to get from one side of the intersection to the other, and that black sedan turning left is going to be mere inches from you as you stride to the other side. The engineers (or is it operators?) of the Metro trains whose job it is to announce things over the loudspeaker were hard for me to hear. It’s similar to the experience one has at a children’s play where the kids don’t project their voices while simultaneously speaking rapidly. Luckily I didn’t have to rely on the voice on the loudspeaker to know where my next stop was as there’s a digital sign embedded into the wall that notifies the passengers of this important information.

TOUCH

This brings me to “touch”. One thing I did a lot of touching of whilst navigating my way through DC was escalator railings. This was due to my neuroses regarding escalators. They freak me out. My Grandma, the one I was closest with, had the same affliction. Though the difference between us is that I will indeed ride escalators. My Grandma, Pearl, flat out refused. However, elevators were an acceptable alternative to her. I have this macabre image in my head of falling backwards while riding an escalator, clunking my noggin on the metal as my body rapidly descends to the bottom. So, yes, if you see me on an escalator I will be the woman clutching onto the railing for dear life, taking deep soothing breaths while ascending or descending.

SMELL

Cannibas, which is legal there. What’s interesting is that I remember it being a bigger feature of my experience in DC when I was there in 2022. I didn’t smell it almost literally everywhere I went this time. I greatly enjoyed the savory aroma of ethnic dishes that wafted through the air as I walked through a pedestrian mall on my way to the Smithsonian Museum of American History. I resisted the urge (perhaps I shouldn’t have) to taste any of it, however, as I wanted to maximize my time in the museum.

TASTE

On my way back to the Union Station Metro to catch my train back to Silver Spring, I enjoyed my first ever “black and white” shake at the Shake Shack, along with some parmesan truffle fries. That cool creamy deliciousness was such a sweet little reward after having logged over 14,000 steps per my Amazfit watch. A glass of chilled Chardonnay was savored later when I met up with Mr. NOA and some of his work colleagues at a slightly upscale restaurant we enjoy visiting in Silver Spring.

Here’s a little collage of some pics I snapped during my sightseeing tour: