Hope and Moonstones

“When a finger points to the moon, the imbecile looks at the finger”

 Chinese Proverbs

One of the few things I remember about Washington 22 years ago was touching a moonstone.  To me it just seemed like a smooth pebble until I looked up and saw a security guard watching over it.  How could I have ever imagined I would be back a couple of decades later, a different person, yet the moonstone was unchanged.  My thoughts quickly turned to how many fingers had touched the stone and I began to wonder where the hand sanitizer was. 

“To be surrounded by sixty people who make your life miserable is to be at a family reunion. But to be surrounded by 600,000 people who make the whole world miserable is to live in Washington DC." 

Jarod Kintz

The Air and Space Museum is truly a highlight to any trip to Washington.  With 7 million visitors a year there is a little problem with overcrowding.  When the pushing and shoving through the display on early aviation got a little too much, we decided to escape into the theatre. It was inspiring to watch the Imax movie about Hubble, how they fixed it and the faraway stars that the telescope can now photograph.  Being on the road for several months has broadened my horizons for sure, seeing the other side of distant universes stretched my celestial sphere to the point of no return.  Time to get grounded and what better way than with American Airlines (especially in Miami).

"There are only two emotions in a plane:  boredom and terror."

Orson Welles"

I wouldn't so much say that American Airlines is our carrier of choice, it's just we are loyally locked into trying to actually spend our frequent flyer miles with them.  I have to say their entertainment is pretty boring in comparison with their Asian and European counterparts. I'm not quite sure how many miles we have travelled so far on this trip.  During some of these flights, I do confess to moments of abject terror while nursing my drink in a pressurized tin tube hurtling at 600mph at 37,000ft.  Statistically, of course, it is the safest way to travel.  However, I am sure that I experience way more turbulence than in years gone by, what is that about?  Is it just my older bones feel it more?  Or did they make the tin tube slightly thinner to cut costs?  

"The act of contemplation then creates the thing created." 

Isaac D'Israeli

We were thinking about lunch and on recommendation from one of the Air and Space Museum curators we went over the Native American History Museum Canteen.  The cafeteria was set out in sections according to tribe and was nobly trying to offer up the relevant indigenous foods.  Note to self: the Native American Indians while renowned for their horsemanship, tracking, hunting and warrior abilities are not particularly famous for food or gastronomic delights.  After an overpriced, undistinguished mush it was onward once more. Stopping briefly by a fountain gave us all time for deep contemplation and to decide which flavor snow cone to buy.

"There's no cone like snow cone" 

Unknown

It seemed like winter in the sculpture garden looking at the leafless silver tree and feeling the chill of the ice.  

“Art is never finished, only abandoned.”

 Leonardo da Vinci 

The sculpture is a "Dendroid" and is actually made of stainless steel.  It is two trees sprouting from the same trunk; one irregular, gnarled and twisted and the other rhythmic, smooth and elegant.  It represents man's need to change nature and also the strain between order and chaos.  

“When was the last time you spent a quiet moment just doing nothing - just sitting and looking at the sea, or watching the wind blowing the tree limbs, or waves rippling on a pond, a flickering candle or children playing in the park?”

 Ralph Marston

Winter was a mere illusion as the heat and humidity closed in under the relentless sunshine.  We were feeling a little chaotic from the pace of the museum viewing, so we cooled our heels by dipping them in the water.  Just sitting and watching the ever changing fountain was delicious, but we still wanted to make it to the Natural History museum before closing time.  

"Hope diamond 45.52 carats India.  

You are looking at one of the world's most famous gems- renowned for its flawless clarity, rare deep blue color, and eventful history. It is surrounded by 16 white diamonds and suspended from a platinum chain bearing 46 more diamonds." 

Natural History Museum 

The Hope Diamond was easy to find in the museum, all we had to do was follow the crowds to the first floor and join the scrum around a display in the gem section.  The diamond certainly has an illustrious past. 

Legend tells of it being stolen from the forehead of a Hindu Goddess in the 1650's.  From India it went to Paris and into the hands of King Louis XIV, who recut the stone and called it the "Blue Diamond of the Crown".  It was passed down to King Louis XV and Marie Antoinette then stolen after their death.  Rumor tells of it being sold to King George IV of England.  The diamond is on record, in 1839, as part of the estate of Henry Hope, which is where the diamond got it's name.  

The Hope Diamond has been bought and sold over the centuries by many people, including Pierre Cartier who sold it to Mrs Evelyn Walsh Mclean in 1911. Perhaps Cartier  increased the power of its curse as a marketing ploy because Mrs Mclean claimed anything with bad luck would become powerfully positive in her possession.  She would own the diamond until her death in 1947 when it was bought by the last owner Harry Winston.  He donated the gem to the Smithsonian in 1962.  

The gem is indeed beautiful to gaze upon, its legend extraordinary and its worth incalculable.  However, it was the look on the kids faces that I found priceless.

"Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth." George Washington 

One hundred years after the birth of George Washington plans for the memorial began.  Construction began in 1848 using marble, granite and bluestone.  However, donations ran out and it would take 30 years and a civil war before building would resume.  Unfortunately, the same stone was not available and that is why there is a change in color about one third of the way up.  When it was finished in 1885 it was the tallest building in the world and it is the tallest stone structure in the world at 555ft (169m).  

“Good friends are like stars.... 

You don't always see them, but you know they are always there” 

Unknown

It was such a beautiful evening with a warm breeze fluttering the stars on the spangled banners.  Carrie had been with me the day I swore my oath and became an American, it seemed fitting that we could remember the moment together, at the feet of our forefathers.

"Fourscore and seven years ago 

our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, 

conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition 

that all men are created equal." 

Lincoln's Gettysburg Address

The Lincoln Memorial was the pinnacle of our evening.  Climbing the steps was difficult due to the large school groups.  Even though the building holds such historic symbolism the mood was celebratory and noisy.  It was so busy you had to be quick to get a photo without the crowds.  Reading Lincoln's address from the walls of this American Greek Temple was meaningful as tomorrow we would head out to learn of the Civil War in Gettysburg.