The National Mall Walk

We’ve been pretty much home bound since March. We gradually started taking car rides after our morning walks to break up the monotony. After making a few trips in to DC, we thought yesterday was a good day to actually take a morning walk in our old neighborhood. It was a bit overcast and perfect for the occasion. So we parked near our old house on Capitol Hill and stated the trek towards the Capitol. It was easy to find parking because the city is still quite shut down and the streets were empty. We passed by the Library of Congress where I worked for ten years, then crossed over towards the house office buildings. A few people were out and about here and there but nothing like what a typical summer typically looked like. We felt like we had the whole place to ourselves. At the west side of the Capitol a lot of restoration work continues. The ducks couldn’t be bothered by us; the botanical gardens building was closed as were most of everything else. The mall looking toward the Washington monument was bare - hardly a soul to be seen except for the workers at the Air and Space Museum. On the way back along Independence Avenue the new Eisenhower memorial awaits the grand opening that has been long delayed. We put on three miles yesterday - and it felt like it when we got home. It’s hard to believe we lived on Capitol Hill for thirteen years. We are glad we can still visit every once in a while. But it doesn’t look the same.