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[DebJ]

59. Hey! I love Washington DC! My husband took me on a three week whirlwind tour of Europe

in 2003:
London
Paris
Interlochen, Switzerland
Juan le Pins, France
Rouen, France
Venice
Rome
then back to Paris and London, and still, time to see only so very little.

But my conclusion was this: Washington DC is the most beautiful city of them all.

I suppose to be honest I must admit that on Mom's side, I am 3rd generation born in DC on her Dad's side, and 4th on her mother's, and our Irish family was extensive and all across the city for generations. I loved hearing my mother's stories of life in DC in the 30s and 40s, when she played in the Capitol building and on its lawns, where her uncle was a gardener, when she walked to the fireworks quite some distance across the city by herself as a child, or took the bus all around town. To hear about the times when the city was segregated, not by race, but in the Greek section, the Polish section, etc, and cross-marrying was a big taboo... that's what taught me how idiotic racism was, because by the 60s, no one really cared if a Greek married and Irishman, or whatever. Mom always said DC was the most beautiful city in the world, and having seen just a bit of the world now, a tiny bit, I concur. And I could live in the museums there. The free concerts, and other free public activities. The closeness to Mt Vernon, and Jefferson's two homes, and so many other historic places. I grew up just over the city line in Maryland in the 1960s. and we would regularly go downtown, where all the time there was a march for this, that, or the other thing, and so, I grew up seeing political protest as normal, healthy, typical, and even, as an obligation of citizenry.

Ach! You have me so homesick now, stuck now in goobersville, south central Pennsylvania! But soon I will be taking my grandson and granddaughter to the Smithsonian again, and get a little visit there.

If I were to return to Europe, there is never enough time for Paris or London. I did not like Italy at all, and in my experience, women were treated incredibly rudely there. Astonishingly so. Everyone in France was marvelous, and far more friendly than London. Venice is not a good place for people like me who run on the claustrophobic side; the streets close in on you in a tight maze. The Riviera and the Caribbean are just a true delight, to float on that crystal water was an experience I was glad to have, and would do again...the French Riviera. Switzerland and especially the lakes in Interlochen is of a beauty so incredible it almost seems to be sci-fi, especially the color of the lakes, but wow, is it expensive and the people not as warm and inviting.

But DC, I could go there a zillion more times.