AUGUST 5

Our vision for Washington was to do some sightseeing during the day and catch the Nationals playing the Padres in RFK stadium. So, after a pretty good rest, a morning run (by Ray), and a breakfast at a local place on M Street, we headed toward the World War II memorial.

The memorial has a great location, along the line between the Lincoln and Washington monuments. But that’s about the only thing I liked about it. I suppose in the funereal architecture realm, it’s difficult to capture the efforts of a nation for four years as well as over 400,000 US deaths. But I found it uninspiring.

We walked over to the Korean Memorial. By now it’s getting steamy, the temperature is rising and the infamous Washington humidity soaks us. But the memorial was shaded and peaceful. The statues gave a sense of being there and the black granite wall, with a nod toward the Vietnam Memorial, contained sandblasted images capturing the faces of the time. Now this was a step up from the World War II memorial.

Next we headed for the FDR Memorial. This was something special. His lengthy presidency was presented in a manner which segmented his terms, while showing his physical decline. But each scene was anchored by a quote, usually powerful, and ones that not only still hold true, but contain greater meaning in these difficult times.

We were very impressed with this memorial, understanding that the pictures do not do it justice.

But by now we were hot, sweaty, thirsty and hungry. So we headed back toward the hotel certain that we would find a place to eat along the way.

The President is out of town for five weeks and Congress is not in session, so the streets are inhabited by tourists and government workers. But we find a nice place that seems to be popular just a block or so west of the Executive Office Building. I think we consumed about a gallon each of ice tea and lemonade.

After lunch our pups were barking so we strolled back to the hotel, and snoozed.

In the evening we jumped on the Metro, which rekindled past trips to DC. The Metro wins our award for best subway, although Toronto’s comes very close.

The trip to RFK was a breeze, taking just over 15 minutes. The walk from the station to the stadium passes a gauntlet of scalpers, vendors, and street people. The stadium contains the same. But the mission statement for the trip became clearer.

RFK is a football stadium rehabbed into a baseball park. The Washington Redskins used to play there. Major league baseball made a decision last fall to move the Expo’s from Montreal to become the Nationals in Washington, DC. I can’t imagine what kind of condition the stadium was in, much less the field, but I must say that they did a masterful job on the field, (Ray tells me it’s because of the experts at US Cellular Field on loan to oversee the field rejuvenation) and an acceptable job on the stadium.

This game was much more fun. The Nationals were leading the Wild Card race in the National League, and the Padres were leading the Western Division, although they were one game below .500 at the time.

To top that off, the Nationals were pitching Livan Hernandez, a Cuban refugee, of substantial girth and mirth. A few weeks before, Livan threatened to end his season by getting knee surgery. Soon after he reconsidered.

Livan pitched well against a pesky Padre lineup, but in the sixth inning, the manager, Frank Robinson, pulled him and on his way into the dugout Livan flung his mitt into the stands. While in the dugout he hurled more stuff—a jacket, and something else. He later said that he has always liked to give things to the fans.

The game went back and forth until the Padres scored in the 9^th to beat the Nats 6-5. It’s late (for me) and we head back to the hotel before our leisurely trip to New York tomorrow.