Home again

Back at home now after a whirlwind tour of the nation's capitol as well as northern Virginia. I had not been there since being a teenager, sometime in the previous century, so I wanted to see some things again as well as what had changed, which of course, were a number of things. Their excellent Metro subway system being one of them. (It didn't exist when I was a teenager.) My friend and I stayed at a Holiday Inn which was convenient to the Capitol Mall but not to restaurants. The Metro L'Enfant Plaza Station was nearby so each evening we took the train up to the DuPont Circle Station and ate at restaurants on Connecticut Avenue. I like that neighborhood as well as the area from the Washington National Cathedral on down Wisconsin Avenue to the Georgetown section and then eastward towards DuPont Circle. The area around George Washington University seems nice too but since we only skimmed the surface due to time constraints, we did not get to see that much. At least we got passes from Senator Feinstein's office for the Senate and House chambers. We also visited various parts of the Smithsonian. Other stops included the aforementioned cathedral which included an organ demonstation/mini recital and a tour of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. That is a great place and I wish we had something like that here in San Francisco. Our old Opera House, is handsome (?) but old (1930s) and really out of date. It is very uncomfortable and outdated so we need something new. Alas, there is probably no money for it and certainly there is no space available in this city for such a large complex as the Kennedy Center. Anyway, we enjoyed our time in DC and then had a nice drive into northern Virginia which included a side trip to Monticello and a visit to Thomas Jefferson's home. We took the tour of the house but not the gardens. The surrounding area is very beautiful and I can see why he chose that location for a home.

Now it is back to the usual routine until my next journey to Thailand in January.

My next opera at SFO is Bellini's Norma which received a mixed review at the San Francisco Classical Voice Newsletter. The bad part, as usual with Pamela Rosenberg being general director, is that it is a stark modern production which has nothing to do with what Bellini wrote. Oh well, she will be gone by the end of the year to be replaced by David Gockley from the Houston Grand Opera.