Travels in DC, April 2010, Part 1 NATURE and old synagogue

The first week of April, Howard and I were in Washington, DC. It was only the 2nd time for himg to be there and the first was a short visit (1 day of touring) around Leah and Nadav's wedding in August of 2008. My last time in DC, except for Aug 08, was 13 years ago when attending the ceremonies for Nadav and others to be Presidential scholars. I invited my mom to go along, and she had not been to DC since World War II! It is a wonderful city from many viewpoints, and I was delighted to go there when the cherry blossoms were in their glory. In March, 1912, the mayor of Tokyo gave DC a number of cherry blossom trees. The first were planted on the banks of the Tidal Basin by the Potomac River. In response, the US government gave the Japanese a number of dogwood trees. We took the bus from Connecticut, and our daughter-in-law's Mom, Marcy, picked us up in Bethesda, MD and graciously hosted us until Friday morning when we took the train to the Newark airport for our flight home.

Monday we walked about 8 blocks to the Metro. Although we were told the cherry blossoms had peaked the Thursday before, the ones closest to Marcy's the American University area were gorgeous. The tree that I am standing under is by the school that both Marcy and her daughter attended and where her older daughter now teaches.

On the way to the Metro, we saw lots of flowers including magnolia (or "tulip) trees, cherry blossoms, a reddish flowered tree, and dogwoods beginning to blossom and azaleas some just beginning to open and others like the one below..

and took the subway to the central area of DC. The Metro is quite good, clean, fast, and reasonable. We first got out at Dupont Circle. You can see the steep escalator entry to that station in the photo below.

In the area we spotted a brightly painted donkey in front of the Women's Democratic Party headquarters. Marcy later told us that statues of donkeys and elephants were painted, exhibited around town outside, and then auctioned off for charity. Seattle twice had something similar with statues of pigs.

We walked around Union Station,

then walked past the Capitol to the Botanical Gardens. On the way we saw a huge memorial, before passing the Capitol. We were suprised to see that it was for President Taft.

It was nice to see all of the foliage around the Capitol.

All week it was in the 80s (30 to 40 degrees warmer than Seattle) and the sun was shining brightly. We really enjoyed the weather.

The tulips were in their peak, and the bright colors and their shapes delighted me. The next day Marcy drove me by a small tulip garden with many varieties, all in bloom.

double tulips, still lovely when fully open

Note the unusual shape of the petals of this fully-opened tulip and how none of the petals drooped

Tulip garden in front of the original Smithsonian building

These pansies were right outside the Botanical Gardens. There were many pansies in a variety of colors in the neighborhood.

Inside the garden, while many flowers were not visible yet, there still were a number that caught our attention, including the following:

Unusual cactus flower poking out of a strange place

Inside the entry of Botanical gardens building, there was a lovely display of orchids. You can see some of the diversity of those on display in the following pictures.

Howard noticed that this Nile lily was the same kind we had in our garden last summer, just a lot taller. Maybe we needed to water it more.

The Mall was filled with visitors as many children were on spring vacation (like Howard was). You can see I enjoyed taking pictures of the flora.

A final close up shot of cherry blossoms.

We also saw the Adas Israel Congregation which was reinvented as the Sixth and I Historic Synagogue.  This building was dedicated in 1908, but the congregation actually began in 69 members of the Washington Hebrew Congregation who objected to that congregation's move towards Reform Judaism.  Sermons were given in German until the congregation dedicated its first building in 1876 at Sixth and G streets. That building has been restored and is now the Lillian & Albert Small Jewish Museum.

In 1898 it hired Rabbi Morris Mandel, the first rabbi ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. The congregation did not, however, join the Conservative Movement until 1948.   Later, when the Adas Israel synagogue moved out of the center area, this building was sold to a church. A few years ago, the church was going to sell it to someone who was going to turn it into a bar.  A group of concerned Jews found out and bought the building.  it is now a focus for Jewish Young Adults in the area and has different services at different times, Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform.

The ceiling of the synagogue
There are tours daily at 1 and 2.  We didn't know that and arrived at 3:15.  Luckily, they were kind enough to let us in.  The security person, an Israeli, gave us a brief tour, mostly in Hebrew!