As our current stint in the DMV begins to wind down, we probably won't be making too many more weekend visits to D.C. in the time we have remaining. This Saturday, then, was a chance to tick off a few boxes from the Things Left to Do checklist, as Amber and I took the Metro to U Street to have lunch at one of the city's most famous dining institutions, Ben's Chili Bowl:
I ordered the signature Original Chili Half-Smoke, while my daughter had a chicken sandwich (not pictured) and a small Ben's Famous Chili Bowl. The two of us shared an order of chili cheese fries:
Here's Amber eating that chicken sandwich. The food was good and deserving of its reputation, though eating such meals on a regular basis would probably result in a shorter lifespan:
Having been around since 1958, the restaurant has seen many celebrities pass through its doors, including the previous First Family (Barack, Michelle, Sasha and Malia):
The alley next to the restaurant is named after the diner's founder, the late Ben Ali. One wall of the alley features this baseball-themed mural, featuring the legendary Negro National League club Homestead Grays (though based in Pittsburgh, the team also played a number of its home games at Griffith Stadium, home of the American League's Washington Senators). Because of baseball's notorious color line, Grays stars such as Josh Gibson were denied the opportunity to test their skills in the major leagues:
Next door to the Ben's Chili Bowl is the Lincoln Theatre, founded in 1922. Many legendary African-American performers such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan have graced the theater's stage:
The U Street area is a prime example of gentrification, the uniquely American phenomenon whereby white people move into blighted minority areas to buy up apartments, in the process bringing in trendy clubs, restaurants and shops (while at the same time driving out with higher and higher rents the original inhabitants of the community). One example of the results of gentrification is the bar/bookstore/cafe/event space/restaurant Busboys and Poets. My daughter debated whether or not to jump on the Marie Kondō 近藤麻理恵 bandwagon. Apparently the book didn't spark enough joy because she opted not to buy it:
From Busboys and Poets we made our way through some progressively upscale neighborhoods to Meridian Hill Park, an urban park administered by the National Park Service. While the park is laid out in an attractive terraced arrangement (and seems to be enjoyed by area residents), I was disappointed that the waterfalls and reflecting pool were bereft of water due to a broken pipe:
The park has a small though odd collection of statues (why is there one of James Buchanan, almost universally regarded as the worst president in U.S. history, though the current occupant...never mind). Here I am looking up at Dante Alighieri (of Divine Comedy fame)...:
...while Amber poses with Joan of Arc:
From the park, we rode a bus to McPherson Square. Before getting on the subway, we took a 奶茶 break at Gòng Chá 貢茶, a Taiwanese drink shop franchise founded in Kāohsiúng 高雄 in 2006:
Earlier in the week (on Friday, to be exact), I traveled into Washington to drop off our Ethiopian visa applications. Afterward, I took a walk in the heat and humidity to the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery (which, in conjunction with the Freer Gallery of Art, is my favorite museum in the District). My most recent visit was in mid-April with Amber. This time, the famous Peacock Room had been restocked with blue and white porcelain pieces:
On the other hand, the fascinating Encountering the Buddha exhibit is closed temporarily. Empresses of China's Forbidden City, however, is still going strong. One can never get enough of lacquerware...:
...and Tibetan Buddhist images:
The exhibition had nothing but positive things to say about the notorious Empress Dowager Cixi 慈禧太后. Despite her conservative resistance to reforms that played a large role in China being dominated by the Western powers and Japan, she's apparently been the object of a sympathetic feminist reassessment in recent years. I tend to agree with one critic's comment that "rewriting Cixi as Catherine the Great or Margaret Thatcher is a poor bargain: the gain of an illusory icon at the expense of historical sense":
With the onset of warm weather, I've been going for walks in the local cemetery after dinner. No matter how often I stroll through, I'm always discovering things I hadn't noticed before, like this trio of gravestones dating from the 1860's:
Which leads one to wonder what walking opportunities will be available in Addis Ababa...
And I'll close this latest post off with a rant. What is it about the current generation of travelers and their (quixotic) quests to get off the "beaten path", avoid "touristy" places and have "authentic" experiences? I used to comment fairly regularly on the Lonely Planet Thorn Tree forum regarding Japan and Taiwan-related queries, but lately it seems (at least in regards to Japan) that posters are only asking about the three topics listed above. As I've pointed out on several occasions (both here and on Thorn Tree), Japan is groaning under the weight of foreign tourism - a record 30 million visited in 2018, with even more expected this year. These people who want to visit places like Kyōto 京都, Kōya-san 高野山 and so on seem to want to have their proverbial ケーキ's and to eat them, too, by avoiding the touristy spots, getting off the beaten path and having authen...ad nauseum. What they don't seem to realize, or what they don't want to face, is that they are the reason why so many famous places in Japan have become "touristy", i.e. full of people from Western countries just like themselves. Because I'm now eligible for senior discounts at some places, I can now reminisce about those days long ago when my presence on the train between Ōtsuki 大月 and Kawaguchi-ko 河口湖 was a source of great excitement to a group of traveling elementary school students; when junior high school students asked for my autograph and to pose for photos with me in Nikkō 日光; when I was invited to join in on the Bon Festival お盆 proceedings in the town of Kanra 甘楽 in Gunma Prefecture 群馬県; when my ex-wife and I practically had the mountain to ourselves one afternoon at Fushimi Inari-Taisha 伏見稲荷大社; when I was virtually the only white person checking out what was on offer at Kyoto's Nishiki Market 錦市場; and so on and so on. The travelers on LP and elsewhere desperate to avoid the hordes of tourists resembling themselves in all of Japan's well-trodden sightseeing spots have only to look into the nearest mirror (or take a selfie) to identify the cause of why it seems so hard these days to have that all-important "authentic" experience.
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