After a quite wretched night of tossing and turning, I eventually got in about two hours of sleep, Tuesday night, thanks to double doses of melatonin tossed in with the Sudafed.

Needless to say, the arrival of Wednesday morning, when I dragged myself down to say good morning to Kevin and David, was not too welcome. Thankfully, however, my hosts are believers in plying guests with lots of strong coffee, so I was soon buzzing again. Actuallly, floating would be nearer the mark - as I still had some sudafed in my system too.

As we drank coffee, I can't tell you how much I enjoyed just sitting and chatting with Kevin and David. They made me feel so very welcome. One thing that I found amusing was that they both dressed separately and emerged wearing identical clothes - quite by accident!

Kevin and David (they don't always dress alike!), with Keith hiding behind the banister

I had finally ran out of both protein shakes and protein bars, so the first task of the day was to get enough protein bars to last me the remaining couple of days of my trip. It was killer hot. In fact, this has been one of the hottest East Coast Julys on record, and many states are facing droughts. And I don't even like the heat, so I would choose this month to come out!

Once my immediate hunger was satisifed, I managed to get myself down to Constitution Avenue to find a parking space. Pretty much all the things I wanted to do today were within a few blocks of each other. The question was, after my poor night of sleep, how long would my stamina last.

I've been to DC many times, and have done a lot of the tourist stuff already. But there is an absolute wealth of culture in this city, and no matter how often you visited the museums, I doubt you'd get through it in a lifetime. In any event, I intended mainly, today, to see museum exhibitions, and a couple of monuments I'd never seen before. But I did stop for a few obligatory tourist snapshots.

A moment of Zen before the White House :)

Before continuing, though, I was in need of some more coffee and some food. I'd happened to park next to the Old Post Office Building, which, although still owned by the Government, now contains a musty old mall that screams "state-run institution". There is a fairly standard food-court, where I tried to negotiate a healthful Chinese meal. But the silly old biddy running the place wouldn't let me order just beef and vegetables no matter how much I offered to pay - she kept gesticulating wildly at a sign that said "You can't order just toppings"!

I was just about to give up, when I realized that the next concession stand was a custom salad bar - a friendly woman prepared my usual chicken-caesar salad to my exact specifications before my eyes. What a find, I thought! Unfortunately, neither the dressing nor the chicken seemed to be the real thing! I guess authenticity is vanishing from American culture, along with good manners and consideration for others (how many public toilets have I been to on this trip where someone has urinated all over the lowered toilet seat!) Okay, off my soapbox.

Struggling with a strange chicken caesar in the Old Post Office

After lunch, I headed down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Sailor's Memorial. This is a lovely plaza dedicated to Navy seamen from not only the United States, but from all friendly sea-faring nations. It's a well-used public space - both with lunch-goers and with sailors from all over the world.

At the Sailor's Memorial

I didn't expect this, but there was a small museum and gift- store by the Memorial, where I broke down and bought a sailor's hat :)

On my way to the National Gallery, I stopped to take some photos of the Canadian Embassy, which is probably my favorite building in DC, from an architectural standpoint.

The East Building of the National Gallery is another wonderful modern space. I was visiting this time to see the Mary Cassat exhibition.

Visiting the National Gallery for Mary Cassat

The whole East Building complex is a wonderful public space - free, open, with many levels, just inviting you to linger.

After seeing her lovely paintings of society women drinking tea and bringing up baby, I took a drink in the completely civilized cafe on the mezzanine.

The wonderfully civilized cafe at the East Building

When I came out of the gallery, the humidity had thickened even more, and the sun had entirely vanished from the sky. The thickening gloom presaged a thunderstorm, I was beginning to feel. I drove over to the Library of Congress, and parked nearby.

My first impression of the interior of the Library of Congress was that it reminded me of a magnificent old hotel that had been over-restored. The colors in the ceiling seemed too bright, and the brass and woodwork too perfect. But in the rooms on the upper level, including the magnificent reading-room, my breath was taken away by the luxury and detail of the architecture.

I'd actually come to see the Eames exhibition, which really showed well how the Eames were devoted to building furniture that worked. You could see how there was a constant tension between their desire for simple, perfect form and the need to make the furniture both comfortable to use and affordable.

As I came out of the library, the first drops were falling, and I was entirely beat. It was time to head home.

When I got back to David and Kevin's place, I just had time to get some coffee, pack my suitcases, and take a shower before their dinner guests started to arrive. It turned out to be a wonderful dinner party. Kevin and David, being delightful themselves, have delightful, eclectic friends.

Dinner party at David and Kevin's

I enjoyed taking photos of everyone, except for the one mystery guest who didn't feel comfortable on account of his public job as a television news reporter.

David, a bright, funny guy doing a PhD in psychology

Jeremy - a very warm guy who works for IBM

One of my wonderful hosts, David

His other half, Kevin

My new host-to-be, Dennis, who has kindly rescued me from allergy hell :)

Anthony, a sweet, intelligent Italian-American New Yorker

After dinner, we all hung out in the living room chatting, while a few of us plonked out some tunes on David's baby grand. I couldn't resist having a photo taken with David and Kevin's Emmy Award.

In accepting this Emmy, I want to thank my mother ... :)

When Dennis had heard about my allergy problem, he had generously offered to put me up for the remaining two nights, so around 11.30, after a major sneezing fit, I collected my bags, said goodbye to everyone, couldn't thank Kevin and David enough, and followed Dennis to his downtownish apartment. Thanks Dennis!