DC: Where architecture seems to have risen to the occasion

We were in DC last week to see my son, Alexander (Zan), who is a student there. As he was in class, Lee and I had time to "do DC." We were without a car (on purpose) and so happy to be in a walking city again. We wandered to the Mall toward the capital. It had been 25 years since I have been in DC and my memory of the place was foggy at best - who knows what I may have been smoking 25 years ago? This time I soaked up the architecture. I think of it as a city of white - white stone. I loved it against the gray skies. It is grand, not practical. Everything was larger than it needed to be and it bolstered my spirits to see it, engendering a confidence in our government that is probably undeserved today. But, someone, at some time, did it right. Standing in front of the National Gallery of Art, Lee commented that it reminded him of Rome. Good company, I thought.

What we wished? That the moral fortitude of our politicians might rise to meet the magnificance of the architecture. That we all might rise to that occasion.