Day Fifty-Six

Our last day in DC and it was marvelously quiet, early Fall day. It has been unseasonably warm here but with a little cloud cover, the day was most enjoyable. We took it easy and ended up back on the Mall headed to the American History Museum. Both of us had seen it before but when you're herding 50 8th grade students, you don't get to spend some time with the exhibits you really want to absorb. So, we took our time and had a enjoyable stroll. Once we were at the saturation point, we decided to catch an early afternoon lunch and ended up on Constitution and S St., sat outside and ate, and then walked around the neighborhood. Definitely upper class, white area with several embassies along the way. We stumbled into the Textile Museum and then decided to get back to the car and head over to the Basilica - and am I glad we did. In contrast to the National Cathedral, the Basilica is very bright, full of bright, colorful mosaics, and imbues the onlooker with the knowledge that man is meant to find meaning and beauty in life and it's many passages. The crypt Chapel is more subdued but nonetheless so impressive with the low, vaulted ceilings. It gives the impression that even death is a movement toward something discoverable. After that, we headed back over to Roselyn and stopped at the Cheesecake Factory for dessert! What a fitting way to end a vacation. Tomorrow is airport shuttling time.