Serendipty 3 day blitz

So many things to write about and I find myself catching up after a three day blitz celebrating the blessing of my 20th wedding anniversary on April 17th — the one we celebrate annually — without Leap Year.

Firstly, my husband, Peter, and I went to Napoleon Bistro. I figured since I had written about it we should check it out and we wanted something fairly casual, good and hip. This fit the bill. The food was excellent. The paleron, a slow-roasted meat dish, absolutely melted in my mouth. The setting was romantic in the deep-red, Empire-theme decor with contemporary black and gold stripes. The lounge with the silver, metallic damask wallpaper was ultra cool. I can see someone using this style of decor in their basement; it was that fun and intimate. The DJ played bossanova, Hotel Costes lounge and reggae hits. Everyone was friendly. Fortunately, we caught the very last Metro train home.

Secondly, our friend was in town visiting Friday night and he hadn’t been back to his old stomping ground in a while so we thought we’d peruse the Penn Quarter, which has really seen a resurgence of vitality in the last five or so years. Now that we are “empty nesters,” my husband and I are just starting to realize what we’ve been missing.

We wound up at Zengo due to most every place being full on a Friday night. We were so relieved they could seat us for we’ve only been there three times now in the last three months. We love this place. It’s modern with a far-out, floating “bean” sculpture over the stairwell and thought provoking wall displays.

This time we ate in another part of the restaurant with shaded lanterns and a very interesting photo-collage wall mural. I was very intrigued, for I intend on expanding my business in this direction. (Stay tuned for the formal unveiling in future posts.) Could I have planned these good looking guys’ coordinating shirts any better?

Thirdly, serendipity takes over on Saturday. After taking advantage of the gorgeous 82º breezy and sunny weather and walking into Old Town for a late lunch, we discovered that the water taxi to the new National Harbor development was operating. How could we resist?

This puddle-jump jaunt took us 20 minutes, as long as it might take us to get into DC via the Metro but more pleasant. National Harbor is an impressive endeavor still under completion but the grand opening is next weekend. We feel lucky that we beat the rush and even saw other friends along the way, I guess being “nosy neighbors” too.

We headed straight for the Gaylord Hotel, with its over-the-top but sophisticated interior rendition of a colonial Virginia town. With Virgina our being our homebase, we liked this and it was very well done with bricked “steets” and all. We relaxed at the Belvedere Lobby Lounge and listened jazzy music while the DJ set up and then heard the guitar player, who had traversed with us over on the ferry, start to play his soulful tunes. Fortunately it was cocktail hour. [Note: the photo gallery on this link above is really worth viewing.]

After lingering a bit until the sun disappeared over the glass atrium’s concave roof line, we checked out the new home for J. Seward Johnson, Jr.’s sculpture, The Awakening, one of my favorite sculptures. It was one of the few sculptures to always be up for sale on National Park property. I learned this when I did a paper on it while at Georgetown in the summer of 1987. It took a lot of folks by surprise when it was moved because it just seemed to be a staple at Haines Point. [Note: dcmemorials.com has some fabulous pictures of The Awakening and it’s mentioned on the O.T.I.S. (Odd Things I’ve Seen) blog, which is very interesting to read.] The only thing lacking at its new location is the space. You don’t see it from a distance because it’s cramped in front of the non-contrasting concrete bandstand with an artificial mini “beach” below. The kids there were loving it. It’s meant to be climbed on but as an artist, I was disappointed that even up close it seemed to have lost some of its grandeur. The scale of the piece in proportion to it’s environment can make all the difference.

While walking on the waterfront theme streets, we came across many examples of artwork. Milt Peterson, the developer, states in this Washington Post article that his vision is all about art and art is the “mainstay” of the project. As an artist, I was taken with the details: from Albert Paley’s large-scale, metal eagles atop four story poles that beckon the harbor entrance; the beautiful and colorful mosaic murals, which used 3-dimensional crab shells, oysters, clams and other native shellfish as well as decorative metallic glass on either side of the “staircase” entry; and the mosaic floor-tile depiction of the Chesapeake & Potomac Rivers, Maryland and Virginia and a close cross section of DC, with treasure hunt-like questions on the bank of benches for finding key points of interest. This was very interactive. I think it’s fantastic! Although not all the artists names were visible for credit. I love this picture of Milt Peterson unveiling the sculptural eagles by James M. Thresher. He looks like he’s riding them through the sky, maybe too close to the sun.

Most of these photos of National Harbor are from the Washington Post. As often happens with spontaneity, some things get left out — I didn’t think to bring my camera. Consequently, I couldn’t take a photo of the Bellagio moment — when the courtyard fountain started spurting almost to the ceiling in a coordinated dance to My County ‘Tis of Thee. And I missed photographing Travis, the “traveling” on-site magician, who also had happened to come over on the boat with us. He performed brilliant, mind-boggling card tricks while we were waiting for dinner. I’m still trying to figure them out, especially when all the cards came flying out of his mouth. Wow!

After we had a delicious meal at the Moon Bay Coastal Cuisine restaurant, even though we were wary of the recent outbreak of norovirus, and we met the chef Duane Keller, who used to be at Blue Point Grille in Old Town, we had to head back to the pier to catch the next ferry. It runs right now on every half hour on the MD side and every hour on the VA side — until they get another boat up and running soon. We noticed the 80’s outdoor dance party for the Tek Industries convention and we saw the top neon lights of the Gaylord slowly change colors much like the other art hotels that I’ve mentioned. We made a note that we’d have to go back to Pose, the “ultra-hip” VIP dance spot, if anything just for the view — if the burly but very nice bouncers let us in.

Once The National Harbor gets its website function corrected, it might be worth visiting at www.nationalharbor.com. Until then, just think it’s our neighborhood version of Vegas Baby!