Despite a funky attitude, vibrant nightlife and posh restaurants, the capital exudes a grand, monumental aura, befitting the US’s superpower status, say Gustasp and Jeroo Irani
Their voices soared over the magnificent columns and seemed to embrace the Supreme Court in Washington DC in waves of melody. We stood and listened — enchanted by the fact that a magnificent temple of justice was the object of devotion. The small tight knot of singing locals lowered their voices and then began to pray from the Bible. They pleaded with God to help a certain judge of the Supreme Court see the error of his ways and deliver judgements that would be in the interests of the country!
Yes, in Washington DC, one can listen to the heartbeat of a nation; not just any nation but the most powerful country on earth — The United States of America. The voice of the people is loud and clear on issues ranging from abortion to re-introducing the one dollar bill as versus the newly minted coin. People vent their emotions by singing songs of love and pain in the subway or near major monuments and strolling around with placards on their chests that scream: “Say No to Same Sex Marriages.” And this, in what is reputed to be one of the most gay-friendly cities in the US!
Despite its funky attitude, vibrant night life and restaurant scene, Washington can’t but help exude a grand, monumental aura, befitting the country’s status as a superpower. Indeed the capital yields glimpses of the lofty ideals on which the US was anchored. The Stars and Stripes flutters everywhere and the monuments, ranging from memorials and museums in the National Mall area to imposing Capitol Hill, the most powerful legislative body in the world, and the White House with the country’s first President of African American descent, proclaim in no uncertain terms that you are at the heart of the capital of the world. It’s enough to give you goose bumps, knowing that what Washington thinks and does can create ripples across the globe. No wonder the city has a certain hip swagger, an optimistic can-do attitude of being able to change the world.
What makes Washington an exciting city is that it stirs a cocktail of power and chest-thumping patriotism. This is the city of power breakfasts and dinners celebrated by the movers and shakers, cigar-puffing businessmen brokering deals, and suited and buttoned-up political top honchos who sip lattes at cafes as they tap away on laptops or relax over a drink with stiletto-shod, dynamic Washingtonian women. Stirred into this high-powered brew are placard-bearing psychics, activists, students sporting Mohawk hair-dos, political interns and mothers with kids in tow.
You may bump into actor George Clooney protesting at the Sudanese embassy, the charismatic Dalai lama on a spiritual mission or even a past President or two. If you are lucky, you may even spy Bill and Hillary Clinton or even President Obama and his wife savouring a quiet anniversary dinner at The Blue Duck Tavern at the discreet Park Hyatt Washington near posh Georgetown, amidst a swarm of eagle-eyed security men who stake out within the hotel.
Yes, thanks to its indefinable aura of power and pelf as well as its marble and granite edifices lining wide tree-lined avenues, Washington is a great walking city. In fact, the US capital has turned its aristocratic nose up to Manhattan-style towers of glass and steel, and its low-rise architecture with columns and domes gives it a very European feel. The city has been designed in a grid system which makes it eminently walkable and its sleek metro makes it easy to navigate its farthest reaches.
We began our explorations from our hotel in the swish Georgetown area, passing Billy Martin’s Tavern where former President John F Kennedy reportedly proposed marriage to his then future wife Jacqueline! A short subway ride later, and we were in the National Mall area, the city’s great public space and rebellious heart which has seen many protest rallies over the decades. The three-km long lawn, anchored at one end by the lincoln Memorial and Capitol Hill on the other, is intersected by water bodies, the World War II Memorial and the Washington Monument, a 555-ft needle-sharp obelisk, which seems to follow you everywhere.
The Smithsonian’s many museums which line the eastern side of the National Mall have staggering collections which could take a week or more to cover (the entry is free). We strolled through only some of them — the Museum of Natural History with its dinosaur skeletons and its fascinating National Gem Collection, which has more than 10,000 specimens including the humongous 45-carat Hope Diamond discovered in the Golconda mines in India. The National Museum of Art, the National Museum of the American Indian and the National Museum of Asian Art, too, have eye-engorging treasures.
The cluster of memorials on the western arm of the National Mall, where the nation’s hopes and ideals are inscribed on the walls, commemorates the leaders who guided a nascent country. The grand domed and pillared Jefferson Memorial, dubbed by critics as Jefferson’s Muffin, is a fitting tribute to the founding father of the nation and author of the Declaration of Independence. The lincoln Memorial is dominated by the larger-than-life statue of an imposing Abraham lincoln who is seated on a throne-like chair. The interiors are inscribed with moving passages from lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address.
The Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial dedicated to the country’s longest serving President unravels over seven-and-a-half acres and is dramatically lit at night (as are all the memorials) and enhanced with a delicate interplay of rocks, fountains, and cascades. The latter recycle 100,000 gallons of water every minute. Equally imposing is the city’s newest memorial, dedicated to Martin luther King, Jr, 48 years after his stirring “I have a dream” speech.
Of the war memorials, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is perhaps the most poignant — with only a stark black granite wall bearing the names of 60,000 soldiers who died or went missing during the war. Next to one name, the daughter of a soldier killed in the war had placed a photograph of the dead veteran’s granddaughter with a simple message: “We miss you.” There were several such mementoes and floral wreathes symbolising a nation’s collective grief. An elderly woman stood as one of the staff stencilled the name of her husband on a paper to take back with her... an evanescent bit of memorabilia as transient as life itself.
The Korean War Veterans Memorial, too, is laced with pathos. It features 19 life-size statues of soldiers heading into battle through a patch of lush green grass and presents a stark contrast to a black granite wall with sand-blasted images of 2,500 combat and support personnel who served in the war. There we saw a group of war veterans in red regalia (accompanied by their wives) who did a smart little drill to honour fallen colleagues.
The impressive Supreme Court, the highest court in the country, library of Congress with its baroque, neoclassical interior... we covered it all largely on foot, in the space of a four-day stay. On the last day, we headed for the White House which the most powerful man on earth calls home. Here school groups pose and peace activists often sit in but its graceful solidity stands unimpaired by past fires and extensive renovations done by successive heads of state and their wives. Jacqueline Kennedy brought to it her inimitable style; Roosevelt added a pool; Clinton a jogging track and George W Bush, a T-ball field.
We left Washington via the Union Station, a gorgeous 1908 beaux arts building (its great hall was modelled on the Roman baths of Diocletian) which is today studded with shops and restaurants. As trains thundered in and out, our last sight was of a cross-section of locals tucking into a hurried lunch at the various eateries, oblivious to the arrivals and departures and life swirling around them.
When you are so close to the seat of political power, only power matters, and remains the abiding soundtrack of a city.
Copyright: Exotica, the wellness and lifestyle magazine from The Pioneer Group, available in all rooms of select five-star hotel chains across the country