Kennedy Center : Interesting Views and Tasty Lunch

View from rooftop terrace to the Watergate

Hall of Flags is the full height of the building

One of my son's favorite activities when he is home from Pennsylvania is to take the Route 80 bus downtown to the Kennedy Center. Amazingly, we are on a direct bus line that goes right past our street and all the way to this International Style building. There are great views of the infamous Watergate building from the rooftop terrace as well as opportunities to watch planes fly into National Airport and boats going by on the Potomac. The Hall of Flags is also kind of interesting, although in need of a carpet cleaning, INMHO. We also go there for lunch in the KC Cafe on the top floor where you can have very good and interesting sandwiches, snacks and dinner food, and drinks (beer and wine), at very interesting high prices. The staff at the KC Cafe are notorious for their lack of friendliness but we never let that get in the way of a delicious lunch in a quiet restaurant with great views. Also, the site is wheelchair accessible, although I understand the theaters are not as good.

Photo Essay of Tuesday Lunchtime in DownTown DC

Lining up for lunch at the food truck

Lunch time I had an errand and went across Farragut Square to get a sandwich and some cookies for our staff meeting. Somehow I just knew it was going to  be a great day for photos as the park was filled with people eating their lunch, buying their lunch and chatting and just generally enjoying the sun. So I snapped a half dozen photos as I thought this captured downtown Washington DC in the summer very well. From the pigeons, gnarly trees, food trucks and flowers, it all seemed youthful and joyful and I wished I could have spent more of my day outside.

Pigeons ready to pounce

Interesting gnarly tree

View from K Street across the park

Pansies hanging in the  balance?

View towards the White House over Adm Farraguts Shoulder

Diagonal path across Farragut Square park

Best Little Chicken Salad Sandwich in DC

If you want a really good chicken salad sandwich if you're in downtown D.C. I think the best place is Harry's bar on the ground floor of the Hotel Harrington, a famous DC landmark on E street NW.  Apparently over 10 million people have slept there since it opened in 1914!  I hope they've changed the mattresses!!  But back to the main subject. We've often gone to Harry's after work on a Friday for a good chicken salad sandwich and then over to the E Street Movie Cinema afterwards. It's also easy to get to for me, as I just take the D street bus which stops right in front of my office and but one block from Harry's. Of course, we don't just have sandwiches but also there are great drinks at Harry's too, such as big and cheap martinis with the vodka of your choice, or a very good beer. Another good thing about Harry's is the music tape which plays remakes of 80s and 90s music over and over. If there's chicken salad in heaven, I'm sure it's made by Harry.

Ate the first tomato from my DC garden

On this beautiful sunny day with a blue sky, 80s and a breeze to keep you cool --if you stood still and let the sun soak you --I ate the first tomato that ripened in my DC backyard garden. Totally deelish. I ate it with some of the lettuce I had grown and my favorite Ranch dressing. Sheer bliss. I can hardly wait for the rest of them to ripen. Last time I looked at the two tomato plants I have there were over 2 dozen tomatoes that were still that lovely bright green that they are before they tinge yellow and you know that they will ripen soon after that. Huge clumps of tomatoes ripening in my garden! Such a gift from God! I'm already thinking about how I will cook or eat them. Such as sliced with mozzarella. Or chopped into garlic and vinegar. Or cooked with eggs and cheese. And maybe I'll get some bacon and make my very favorite sandwich, a BLT. I'm really not that much of a foodie, but anything I grow myself is inspirational in terms of cooking. Obviously, I have to grow more food! Thank God for sunshine!