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| | Wednesday (Day Three)
This morning's featured pastry is the cranberry muffin, small but delicious.
Despite telling ourselves we wouldn't have one EVERYDAY, we've so far succumbed each morning!
Today is our big day.
We're off to the Capitol Building to meet all of those involved with the Maw & Co tiles, both past and present.
We're very excited to be wearing our official press passes and we feel very professional in our suits!
It's quite a walk from Union Station to the Capitol Building and we have a supremely Spinal Tap moment trying to find the architectural historian's office in Sub Basement 15.
None of the police or security guards know where to find it and the only person that gives us directions of any use is a laundry assistant!
Minton
We eventually find Bill Allen; and do our interview in one of the corridors beautifully patterned with the original Minton tiles from the 1850s.
As hundreds of tourists come past us, most of them are looking at the ceiling or concentrating on not losing their guide, the tiles, sadly, go largely unnoticed.
Bill explains that the original tiles were chosen because of the reputation Minton had for quality.
After leaving Bill we go back up the House press office, where a square of carpet has been cut out to reveal some of the tiles.
A typed note from Bill explaining where the tiles come from is framed on the wall because staff there are asked so often about them.
Olga, one of the press officers, enthuses about how beautiful they are and how she treasures two tiny pieces that were surplus when the room was refurbished.
Capitol
The Capitol Building is just amazingly beautiful: the central domed hallway being especially decorative.
It's also somewhere where crucial political decisions are made and it was hard to believe that some of the people passing us in the corridors were there debating, voting and moulding the face of the country we were in.The agent for Maw & Company in America is Paul McGinty, an ex-Scouser with relaxed American vowels and stressed English hair.
He knows his work inside out, almost down to each tile individually, but he's also incredibly passionate about what he does.
He appreciates the beauty of them every time he sees them.
And he wears his Everton FC tie with pride! ...Metro food...
It's back to Union Station for lunch, and some well deserved Haagen Dasz ice-cream - which I had a bit of a panic about on the Metro.
I wasn't going to waste the two spoonfuls I had left, but there are signs on the train that say 'no eating'! I sit guiltily with the empty tub between my feet wondering if I can get away with leaving it behind.
We were on our way to meet the president of Washington's Wedgwood Collectors' Society - and the last thing I want to greet her with is an empty ice cream tub!
But thankfully there's a bin at the Metro station in Vienna and I can shake Adele's hand with a clear conscience.
Signs in the station advertise the availability of a 'kiss and ride' service but we're still not sure what that involves!
The Queen of Wedgwood
Adele Barnett is a vision in Wedgwood-blue and talk to us as if she's known us for ever, when in reality we're people she's never even seen a photograph of before.
Her living room is a collector's dream.
Two and a half thousand pieces of Blue Jasper adorn every surface, every table, four or five cabinets and every inch of wall space.
Her knowledge and pride in both the company and everything she owns is amazing, and it's something that her husband, Alan, is learning in a kind of 'can't beat 'em, join 'em' type way.
We're treated to a fantastic home-cooked meal before Adele takes us to the local mall to meet her neighbour, Wasim.
He's an Egyptian who's been in the country for four years, and who runs an ice cream franchise.
He tells us about life in the USA, we talk to his young customers about their lack of knowledge of Robbie Williams, and are treated to a scoop of ice cream.
Adele and Alan's hospitality knows no bounds and we're given key-lime pie and coffee, before eventually being driven home at eleven o'clock. Thursday
Ah, a lie in!
It's been hard work so far this week and our walking tour this morning doesn't start until 10.30am.
Tony Pitch comes to pick us up, looking the sort of man who'd just come from a southern counties village rather than from 25 years in the Washington suburbs.
He took us to Georgetown, the part of the city where the politicians lived and still do.
Tony is a wealth of knowledge and talks in detail about the homes of JFK, Madelaine Albright (who is apparently partial to cream puffs!), Senator John Kerry and the house that the Clintons wanted after they left the White House but the Secret Service said was too exposed.
The architecture is varied and fascinating and it's a beautiful area - but one thing that struck me was the pavements. Although we were in a conservation area, the United States is the home of compensation culture, and in places the paths were incredibly broken and uneven because of the roots of trees.
The place to eat in Georgetown is Martin's Tavern, which is a warm sanctuary after what's been quite a chilly morning.
Billy Martin tells us that it's where President Nixon came for meatloaf, where Madaleine Albright likes to come for 'comfort food' and Booth No.3 is supposedly where JFK proposed to Jackie! We spend the evening processing our material for tomorrow's show, our tea being munchies from the nearby 'marts' because we don't have time to go out for dinner.
Jamie, together with our fellow guests at the Windsor Inn, oblige us in recording trails for the show, with their confidence coming largely from the complimentary sherry!
It's eventually all finished at 2am and we collapse into our respective beds for 5 hours sleep. Friday)
It's amazing how quickly an hour and a half goes! We get into the BBC Washington office around 9.15am and start preparing for the live programme.
Establishing contact with our colleagues back in Stoke proves a bit difficult and we finally get it sorted... about 2 minutes before the show is due to start!
Adrenalin carries us through the first hour of the show and we start the second hour with the BBC's Washington correspondent, Justin Webb. He tells us about the current stories in the city, how the Americans view the impending wedding of Charles and Camilla, and talks enthusiastically about life in the American capital.
One o'clock US time, six o'clock UK time and it's all over.
We're excited, happy and very relieved that it's all gone well!
We wander back to our guest house and drop off our stuff, then take ourselves for a well earned lunch at Johnny's Half Shell, a fantastic fish restaurant in Dupont Circle.
And a glass of wine of course!
Then we spend the afternoon touring the monuments like the tourists we haven't really yet had chance to be.
They're particularly spectacular at sundown but I'm very disappointed that the Reflecting Pool is empty!
We get ten minutes in the National Museum of American History to see Dorothy's red shoes from the Wizard of Oz, and Kermit, and then make our way to the Old Ebbitt Grill.
It's a bar used by many of the current politicians in Washington and, as you might imagine, is packed. But we find some space in a side room and enjoy some proper American food and a couple of Jack Daniels with the cheeky Glaswegian barman and two Washingtonians who keep us entertained.
Our night is cut short only by the fact that we can barely stay awake (and the rather large measures they serve!).
When Saturday comes
An early alarm call from home actually does us a favour this morning by getting us out of bed at 8 o'clock!!
This is kind-of our day off, and we take the Metro to the Eastern Market, as recommended to us by Rebecca at the tourism bureau.
Its an amazing place of fresh produce that traders and local people have come to sell ...THE biggest carrots you've every seen!
It's a riot of colour with slices of fruit for you to try.
Sugar-coated nuts are cooking in a pan outside and people are eating pancakes & eggs out in the sunshine.
There are also stalls selling jewellry, hand-dyed silk scarves and Russian china.
Shops and more shops
We do an interview with Quest, a woman who's got a personality as colourful as her textured pictures of curvaceous women.
I want to take home most of the furniture from the flea market across the road, but our attempt to make conversation with a trader over his Wedgwood vase is met with a dismissive grunt!
Its a 20 minute Metro journey down to Foggy Bottom (you should hear them say that in an American accent!) and we stroll in the sunshine down to Georgetown.
In the shopping mall we have possibly the best value meal yet (salmon, 2 choices of vegetables and a drink for about seven dollars!) and then we do a bit of shopping.
And if you're a fan of Friends, Pottery Barn is like a cross between Habitat and The Pier!
You can never do too much shopping in America, and we spend a couple of hours in Hechts in central Washington getting some presents for home, before heading back up to Union Station to see "Be Cool" at the cinema.
Dinner has no nutritional value at all - Johnny Rocket's Diner provides us with a toasted egg sandwich and fries, a chilli dog and a strawberry malt. Yum!!
Needless to say, by the time we get home we're exhausted.Sunday
Our last day and our B&B is almost empty.
The first we've seen of rain happens, but there are big umbrellas for us to borrow for our last shopping excursion - to find me a pair of Converse baseball boots (they call them Chucks in America apparently).
Its literally a dash to make it back to our accomodation before the shuttle taxi turns up to take us to the airport.
Our driver is one of the biggest men I've ever seen, incredibly slow-moving when he walks to the hotel reception to pick up his fares.
But when he's got some Anita Baker on the car stereo he moves with a fluidity and rhythm you'd be hard pushed to match!
We share our journey with 2 charity workers from Wales who've been to the worst parts of the city and they make our trip seem almost trivial.
...and home again - almost
It's a shame to get out at Dulles airport because it's total chaos and we're left with about ten minutes before boarding to get a quick dash round duty-free and something to eat.
Its all happened so fast and we can hardly believe it's all over.
We've had an amazing time, met some amazing people and have hopefully made some new friends. |
