Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Merry Christmas everyone!

What a lovely day. It's nearly over and here I sit with Rachel (my BIL's daughter) watching the Travel Channel -- both of us are blogging and debating the relative merits of the TC's choices for top 10 food factories in America.

The day started slowly for me, heck for all of us. Witness the dog:
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I figured I was owed some slack for staying up until 3am last "night" trying to figure out NYC options (we'll get back to that). We brunched on divine prime rib sandwiches lounged about the house. Late this afternoon we went over to Arlington to visit Ellis and see the wreaths. The wreaths were lovely and moving, but the Ellis trip was a watch. Apparently the computer kiosks that tell you where your plot is were locked in the visitor's center. Oh well, we'll go back in a couple days. For now -- the wreaths....
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And the view from Arlington is inspirational:
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We headed up the hill to the Air Force Memorial. It's fairly new and towers over the city. I've been fascinated by it for a couple trips now so today we made it over there --
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Standing in the center and looking up you see:
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The Memorial has a phenomenal view of the city. Thats the Pentagon in the background--
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This is part of the etched glass Missing Man piece at the Memorial --
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You can see ***part*** of the expanse of Arlington from the Memorial
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This evening we picked up Tom's daughter and grand-daughter and had Christmas part 2. Apparently the gifts were a hit --
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Mommy's gifts included a box of "treasures" -- ornaments she'd made as a child
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Tomorrow? Who knows. Some walking. Some goofing off. Maybe Arlington. Maybe the Renwick which has a quilt exhibits. Maybe the Botanic Gardens. Tomorrow night we're taking the little one to Zoo Lights at the National Zoo. I predict it will be fun for all.

OK... NY thoughts -- any opinions on Old St. Patrick's? The Empire State Building? The Top of Rockefeller Center? Carriage rides in Central Park? The Smithsonian Indian Museum (it started out in NY log before it got the the Mall here in DC)?

A graceful and peaceful Christmas to you all. And to all a good night.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Thanks for sharing the photos of Arlington, I've never heard of them leaving wreaths before. Do you know if they put them on all the graves, or just the Christian ones?

I'm a New Yorker so if you have any specific questions feel free to ask! If you're going to do just one tall building, I'd vote for Top of the Rock because then you get to see the Empire State Building as part of the view. I've been to that Smithsonian & would recommend it, it's also nice to walk around that area of manhattan - it's very different than the rest of the city. There are some great restaurants, and the Museum of Jewish Heritage is also near the Smithsonian and it's very good.

Unknown said...

Gertel's, the best bakery on the LES, closed recently - it was on Hester Street. If you make it to the LES try Economy Candy on Rivington, they have a great selection. I don't know if you can go in or anything but the Streit's Matzah factory is also on Rivington, and I like walking past because there's always a film of matzah dust covering the street outside their ventilation fans, lol.

Unknown said...

I'm glad you are having such a good time in DC. Lexington, Kentucky, is a lot less...scenic, especially since we refuse to go to the biggest attraction in town, the Horse Park! Still the weather is very good and we are enjoying the company (if not the food). When I think of New York it is all museums all the time. I've been going to the Frick since I was very young. It's small, but it has a Vermeer! Then there is the Museum of Modern Art, the The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim Museum, the American Folk Art Museum, not to mention some of the photography galleries that are not to miss for us. Whatever you do, have fun (but skip the horse drawn carriages).

Kate said...

Sounds like you had a great christmas. Your photos are fantastic. I love the dog. That's how I like to spend my chrissy mornings too. :)

Chris said...

Wonderful pictures you've posted over the last couple of days. Have a safe and glorious trip to NYC.

I made it safely home today from Dad's. I logged on tonight, checked my blog and saw that I had been tagged to list 12 things about myself that relates to Christmas. And was supposed to tag a couple of folks to do the same. I did post 12 things on my blog and decided to tag you. SO....TAG!!!

Hugs and Love Ya!!!

Jennifer said...

I'll ditto Kim on Top of the Rock. We were there in July and the view is SPECTACULAR! The terraces are surrounded by thick sheets of plexiglass so you get an unobstructed view, but there are divisions in the plexiglass so you can aim your camera lens for a clear picture.

We're also sure to hit Ferrara's Bakery in Little Italy whenever we're there. They make miniatures of their pasteries so you can try several different ones.