The end of my time in DC – I explored Georgetown and the Washington National Cathedral on my way out of town. Georgetown was fun – it really reminded me of an English high-street – except with the great French café on the corner which was perfect for brunch. (Though the 'Junior League' building threw me a little - I guess, these organizations really do exist ...) The Cathedral is magnificent in grandeur but at the same time, keeps true to just being a church - there was a midday service on when I was there which was nice to see. For me, of all the capital buildings, it demonstrates most the commitment of the city's forefathers to building/creating history e.g. a Gothic style church to rival those in Europe built in the 20th Century. I hadn't realized that DC was literally purpose built to house the new government after the revolution - the Cathedral was one of the last buildings built I believe - yet looks the oldest!
I was then off for New York via Philly via the Amish in Lancaster County, PA. I’m not sure exactly why, but I’d always wanted to see the Amish - I think I was curious to see how much of their traditional life they'd been able to hold on to in the 21st century. And despite other tourists like myself coming to gawk, they seem to have held on. It was beautiful countryside, very peaceful with the horse and buggy's going down the road. I stopped in a few shops to admire the quilts and then went into a grocery store in search of water - their life was alive and well and I was definitely the outsider here.
There was an advantage to the detour … the dress … I have two very good and patient friends who both spent considerable time with me going through my closet and providing exceedingly honest ‘give it, keep it, just throw it’ advice … and there were a few things in said closet that gave them both a great deal of amusement … one of these, was what they called the ‘Amish’ dress. Both laughed out loud (I’m really not kidding) when they saw it – and even more so once they saw it on. To give myself a little credit, while yes I did buy it a very long time ago …. I’ve never worn it – surely that has to count for something??? Anyway, I was out for brunch with both shortly before leaving and they decided that as I was going, the perfect one time wear of the dress should be when I was in Amish country – well, here’s to you girls, I did it – and hope you appreciate the picture :-)
Now I do want to put a disclaimer here – all potentially perceived mockery is entirely self-directed. None is intended for the Amish themselves – for whom I have the highest respect and appreciation for how they choose to live their lives. Really, no insult to them is at all intended and I hopefully none taken .... :-)
I arrived in Philly in time for dinner with an old friend from Crystal days – it was really nice to catch up with him – he knows his politics and so we had a great discussion on the recent election and some of my impressions on my travels to date – blue states, red states, Obama, Hillary, Bush etc. etc. Even the impact on the US of the Declaration of Independence having been written in Philadelphia (historically a more open liberal society back then with Quaker roots as compared to Boston for example.) It was great fun. He also gave me a driving tour of Philly – a very cool city from what I could tell – lots of brick and different neighborhoods all within a fairly small space - it felt like a very livable city, especially with the BYOB restaurants!
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