Long Walks On Leafy Streets

01/07/24

Queens Chapel, Washington, DC    

ONE DAY VACATION


Again, a year has passed since I last wrote! My resolution for 2024 is to write more often. Here is hoping that I do!


It was a nice fall season, though. The weather was mostly very nice and the colors in our neighborhood were just wonderful.

I wrote most of this on Friday January the fifth. I was feeling fatigue from the semester, both mental and physical, and needed break from everything. Nicole was kind enough to give me the day off from family duties.

I think, just like we need physical education, we also need mental education. We need to teach children and young adults how to meditate or pray or understand their own mind, through various scientific and/or spiritual practices.

Anyway, I made sure to finish my preparations for the classes starting on Monday and set out friday morning around 8. It was so cold, below 30 degrees. My toes were freezing by the time I got to the bus. Got off at Gallery Place and had a small breakfast with just toast and hot apple cider at a little Italian place called Piccolina in the City Center mall. It was my plan to have just small meals costing less than $20 all day. After checking my work email, I headed out to catch the yellow line train at the archives metro station.

The downtown area was not as crowded as one expects at 9 AM in the morning. I don’t know if it was because the federal workers are coming to their office or just because people are still on vacation.

I enjoyed the view of the Potomac river and the planes landing and taking off from national airport from the train itself. The last time I did something like this, I actually went inside the airport but these days they don’t let you go inside past the check in counters, unless you are a passenger.

I had not planned to walk a lot. Nevertheless as the day progressed, and the sun came out, it became more pleasant to walk outside, so I ended up walking from the King St., Metro to the waterfront in Alexandria, and then walked along the river for a while. The Alexandria waterfront has been expanded quite a bit in the same style as the navy yard waterfront. They have put pedestrian walking and running paths all along the river for long distance (about a mile) from the King Street waterfront area.

I was also able to think about my research problem for a little bit while walking. I walked for about an hour, up and down the waterfront. Some people may think Alexandria is a bit touristy, and perhaps it is, but it has been one of our favorite places to hang out, for Nicole and I. After Georgetown, of course, where we had our first date.
I love walking amongst the ships and boats, watching the ducks on the water, children playing on the grass, planes descending to National Airport, lovers having an afternoon stroll,...It was a beautiful day to be out. By now it was a bit warmer and I could walk as much as I wanted.
By noon I was quite hungry and went for lunch at Mai Thai restaurant. Luckily it was not too crowded and I asked for and got a seat with a nice view of the river. This is our go to place when we come here. I had red curry with brown rice and tofu and it came exactly to $20 including tips.

After that I walked all the way down to the bridge and was lucky to see some double crested cormorants in the water. Looks like they enjoy hanging out on these wooden blocks. This walk on this beautiful sunny day by the water, although a little bit cold, it really refreshed me and took me back to the days when I was able to go on many such walks without a care in my mind. Lately I have been so worried by what is going on around the world. There are so many conflicts and so much confusion and misunderstanding and hatred amongst people. On this walk seeing all the smiling faces, people just enjoying the day and life, I couldn’t bring myself to worry about anything. When people talk to each other and spend time with each other, we realize that we all have the same concerns, and we enjoy the same things in life. The confusion and misunderstanding are exactly that, just confusion and misunderstanding.

From the waterfront, I walked back to the bus stop and then took the free trolley to the metro station at King Street to get on the blue line and took that to the Clarendon metro station. I like Clarendon, because I have good memories of hanging out there during my single days. It’s a nice area with some restaurants and dance halls and things like that. It was in a restaurant near the Clarendon metro station that I first met Nicole. It may look like this was a trip down nostalgia lane but I didn't plan it like that :-)

Sat down at Peet's Coffee and spent some time working on my research problem and also checking out what was going on at the joint meetings of the American mathematical society.

I had originally planned to go to San Francisco for the meetings, but considering the expenses and also the fact that I don’t want to add too much to carbon emissions, I decided to not go. There are flights out of San Francisco with United that use only sustainable fuel defined as fuel that doesn’t add to carbon emissions on the whole. But even with all that it would’ve been too much both in terms of money and the carbon cost.

That particular Peet's Coffee was really nice. I was able to charge my phone and laptop and had some nuts for snack as well as an oat milk steamer for about $10 so I was still keeping under my budget.

After that I took the silver line to Ashburn and back, about 50 miles total. After East Falls Church the silver line separates from the Orange line and we were treated to this display near MacLean.

The silver line from East Falls Church to Ashburn has been under construction for a while. I had ridden it to Tyson’s Corner but I had not been on it since it was extended to Ashburn. The train runs mostly above ground, winding in and out of Tysons corner and the airport, but otherwise mostly staying in the middle of the Dulles access road. I was particularly interested to see what the view of Dulles airport would look like and I was actually also thinking about stopping there maybe get something to eat or even manage to watch a plane landing although they say these days you cannot really get to the areas with the view of the runways unless you’re a passenger. I really enjoyed riding the train towards the setting sun with the city and nature starting to look sleepy in the crepuscular glow.

Looking out the window at the lights sprinkling in the distance in the darkness I was reminded of my travels by train in India, especially between Coimbatore and Chennai. I don’t know if they allow people to do this these days but I would often stand at the door, feeling the breeze on my face with the countryside or in front of me.

I had wanted to check out this part of the metro rail for a while. Lately, I’ve been watching a lot of YouTube videos on transportation. I like the channels by Reese Martin, Michael Downie, and some others. I enjoy learning about how transit systems are working in different parts of the world and also basically how trains, especially the high-speed ones, and of course planes work. I was impressed by the transit systems in Portland which we visited in the summer. The highlight was the Air Tram that goes from the riverside to the hill where the University hospital is.

When the train passed by Dulles in both directions I was able to sit by the window and watch the planes take off and land there. You do get some great views of the airport from the silver line train.

From Ashburn I rode the train all the way back to Farragut West. There were a good number of people on the train most of the way. There has been some concern over whether the silver line is justified. I think just for the sake of Tyson's corner and the airport it is quite justified, not to mention all the residential areas it serves. With time it can only get more useful.

I was about to walk north on Connecticut Ave when I saw the lights at the White House. Of course I had to stop and say hi to my friend Joe Biden. Although I am more of a Bernie Sanders guy, and Biden has his flaws and blind spots, he has shown an ability to learn and adapt.

Most of all I am impressed by his general decency and dogged determination. Like a cross between a bulldog and the Energizer bunny, the man keeps going even in these tough times, in spite of losing his wife and daughter in a crash, one son to cancer and another struggling with addiction.

By now I was hungry again and walked to Cava just south of Dupont circle. Dupont circle, like lots of Washington, has kept getting more and more upscale. I was happy to see, though, my old haunt the Lucky Bar (next to Mayflower). When I arrived as new in DC I lived in Silver Spring and remember biking to and from what was then called Planet Fred, in the middle of the night. I liked the name because Fred was a childhood knickname of mine, given to me because I resembled Roy Fredericks the great Caribbean batsman. It was not meant as a compliment but I am proud of that name.

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