Morning Walk - Police Arrest on Pennsylvania Avenue

We always take in a morning walk. On the weekend it’s in our neighborhood. During the week it’s in the neighborhood park. If it rains then we go to the mall. If it snows we walk in the garage. But at least once or twice a week we drive in to town for a change of scenery. We generally go to our old Capitol Hill neighborhood or Alexandria with other points of interest depending on the weather and the need to explore new places. Yesterday we drove to the national mall and parked by the American Indian museum, then walked to the natural history museum. It was a glorious day and the crowds walking about are getting more intense. On our way back to the car we took Pennsylvania Avenue where we reached the Canadian Embassy across from the National Gallery of Art. Although we didn’t see anything we heard screams at about noon time. Then we saw two individuals almost get in to a major fight. The next thing we saw was a security person from the embassy appear, make a phone call, and within five minutes there were four police cars, an ambulance, and a fire truck on the scene. We were across the street from the nonsense. The suspect was immediately handcuffed and the individual who was attacked was being medically attended. This altercation occurred about two blocks from the Capitol building in the middle of the day. We lived in this neighborhood for thirteen years. For that reason alone I am glad that we moved three years ago. It’s nice to visit, but I’m not so sure about living there anymore. Things are just getting too weird. 

The Fortified Capitol Building

As is our usual activity, we drove in to DC this morning for our walk that took us to the Tidal Basin. We have driven by the area every time we go to our old neighborhood, but we haven’t actually stopped and parked there for quite a while. I thought there would be some great photo opportunities for the 52Frames challenge this week at the FDR Memorial. It involves taking images from a very low perspective. So we parked the car across from the MLK Memorial and walked all over the place. We noticed a lot of helicopters and police presence everywhere. When we were done, we drove towards the Capitol and our old neighborhood on Capitol Hill to see what was happening since last week’s events. All the streets leading to the Capitol building were closed off. And all around the grounds was the black ten foot fence and concrete blocks surrounding the place. About every twenty feet behind the fence were national guards - not just there, but also on every corner within a certain radius. The supreme court was also fenced off and the library of Congress Jefferson building had police, dog, and national guard presence. The house and senate office buildings were also fortified as well as half way down the street to where we used to live. I’m glad we don’t live in the neighborhood now - it’s a bit too uncomfortable for me. When we got home we learned the Washington monument tours were suspended because of threats. I don’t think things will calm down anytime soon and glad I didn’t think about it as we were walking about, wondering why there was no one in sight. 

National Police Week - Motorcycles and Horses

It's not every day that one sees sixty to seventy or more horses walk along Pennsylvania Avenue and just before that, near or more hundred of motorcycles lining the side of the street to salute bus loads of family members and officials making their way to the Capitol grounds. It's happened every year since we moved to DC and long before that - National Police Week. Perhaps it was the time of the day and day of the week...but we were caught up in the middle of the memorial service. Everyone was in full dress uniform and it was a quite solemn occasion. My husband commented that there is no other animal that behaves as well as the horse.They were all standing perfectly in sync and moved on command. There were vehicles from all over the US... From Michigan to Florida and beyond. You never know what you're going to run into when you head out to the national mall. 

A Suspicious Car Trunk Left Open

I saw one of our neighbors coming in to the house with her arms full of grocery bags. I also noticed that a car trunk was left open on a car parked on the street.  She may have been the one to leave the trunk of her car open - but I didn't know if it was her car. So I sent her an email to let her know, just in case. Living on Capitol Hill, there are police circulating the neighborhood on foot, bicycle, and car. Before I finished the email, a policeman was at the door talking to someone on the speaker. Obviously he looked up the license plate and called her. When he left, he closed her trunk. Later in the afternoon I got a thank you note from the neighbor acknowledging that it indeed was her car. When you live on the first floor you see and observe a lot of things. I wasn't surprised that the police were immediately checking it out, but also liked the idea of helping out someone. You just can't ignore it - at least we can't. It's a Midwest thing. 

Police Memorial at the Capitol

I usually work on Thursday but I had an appointment this morning and requested a whole day off. When we got home the parking situation was worse than usual. We figured out why when we went for a walk. As soon as we hit the Capitol grounds, our usual route was blocked off, so we walked along the east side of the building and headed to the Constitution Avenue/Senate side. There was a huge police presence, not just guarding entryways, but motorcycles and foot traffic. But these police were wearing their finest dress uniforms in this very humid and hot temperature - and it's only 80 degrees! A visitor from Barcelona asked why the flags were at half staff. I couldn't think of any particular individual, but then thought of Police Memorial Week. And sure enough, when we asked one of the participants,  that was it. We were not able to cross back over until we were a block away from the reflecting pond. From there, all the visitors were forced to stay in one spot as the ceremony progressed. It could be seen in the distance on the west lawn behind the tent that has been erected for the Memorial Day tribute at the end of the month. As we swung back around toward the US Botanical Garden, several police honor guards representing a variety of states or functions crossed in front of us. There are a lot of ways to pay tribute to fallen officers in the line of duty. Obviously this is a very special event and very well protected. 

Ford's Theatre, Petersen House, and LAPD

If the weather is nice, we try to take a walk to the Mall and see what is happening. We walked along Pennsylvania Avenue and diverted the path to 10th Street NW. This weekend there were a lot of activities around national police week. The streets around town were blocked off everywhere for motorcades, bicycle events, and who knows what. We headed toward Ford's Theatre on 10th Street. I  visited this place in high school and several years after that. It has undergone extensive renovation, and there are play performances here as well. Most recent is the play 1776, which is one of my favorites. I saw it in Boston and New York, and have seen the movie many times on TV.  Across the street is the Petersen House, where Lincoln died. But today, there was some additional fanfare. There were about 20 police on motorcycles sitting in front of Ford's Theater, and they were all the way from LA. Someone mentioned that they were on their way to the White House. All I could think of was that John Wilkes Booth would have been caught a lot sooner if they were standing guard that April evening so long ago. How things have changed.

The front looks the same- gas lamps and all

But the police on motorcycles was unexpected

Robert Redford and crew were here when the movie
"Lincoln Conspirators" previewed

All the way from LA

We only knew that because LAPD was on the side

Interesting scene

Across the street at the Petersen House

The street has changed a bit- T shirt anyone?