Comparing Capitals

I’m on my way home to Ottawa tonight, having spent part of my trip in Washington, DC. While we were there, we went by the Capitol Building and some of “The Mall.” We also went into the National Archives and saw the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, as well as one of the original copies of the Magna Carta. I’d seen The Mall before, and several of the memorials, but I’d not been in the National Archives, so that was a treat.

The day before my trip (Monday), while J & J were in town, we showed them around Ottawa and took them on the tour of the Parliament Buildings. The next morning, I found myself standing in the wide expanse between the US Capitol Building and the Washington Monument. Not often do you have the opportunity to experience the legislatures of two great democracies in two days. They are certainly quite different.

Parliament Hill in Ottawa is picturesque and quite impressive. The buildings are set on a rocky bluff overlooking the Ottawa River, surrounded on Wellington Street by several other elegant stone buildings – several in the same neogothic style. I love to go up and enjoy the view from behind the Centre Block, next to the conical Parliamentary Library. The buildings themselves are fairly impressive, but it is the combination of the buildings and the landscape that makes it all so beautiful.

Washington DC is impressive first, and beautiful second. That’s one of the big differences. The central part of the city is a maze of massive stone structures, all somewhat similar in their classical design and their enormous size. Not even in Athens could you find more stone pillars and Parthenon facades. The entire sector is pristine and every building immaculate. It is all beautiful, especially towards the river and the Lincoln Memorial; however, it is the scale and the precision of the design that makes it so. Those are the main differences between Ottawa and Washington: that classic style, that enormous scale. Both are immaculate.

One more difference – Washington has Famous Dave’s BBQ. We ate there twice in three nights. Despite the Country-Fried-Steak incident Tuesday morning, I still managed to pack away an enormous rack of ribs in the evening. It was only my second time eating ribs like that, but I was game to try them again. That was my philosophy this trip – try new stuff. I had lobster for my first time, ribs for my second time, and Country-Fried-Steak for my last time.

Eating the lobster was tasty, but a little frightening. I’m not really the type of person who enjoys dissecting things, and that’s pretty much what was required. The lobster arrives on your plate in much the same state as it arrived in the pot. To me, it looked like it might get up and walk off the plate. I have to admit, I hesitated to touch it at first. That’s the problem with trying new things. Some new things are icky.

I put on my special lobster bib, grabbed the nutcracker pliers and went to work. I had some good coaching from the seasoned vets at my table, who instructed me to tear off the claws, then move on to the tail. The claws aren’t that bad. It’s when you turn it over to go after the tail -- there are legs everywhere. I swear, it is like dealing with a really big bug… a big bug that tastes like a big shrimp. I stopped after the tail. Apparently, the middle section is filled with “green stuff.” I’m not down with green stuff.

As I said, we went back to Famous Dave’s BBQ for night #3. In the spirit of the trip, two of us went for the All-American BBQ Feast (for 4-5 people). It had a rack of ribs, a whole chicken, two links of sausage, fries, beans, coleslaw, 2 corn cobs and 4 cornmeal muffins. The thing was served on the inverted lid of a garbage can. We managed to finish it, much to the surprise and delight of our associates.

While here, I bought a headset and managed to call R every night using Skype. The headset was $15, but we’ve already saved more than $3 on long distance charges. I was able to provide R with daily updates regarding my gluttony. She was impressed by both my adventurous spirit and my great thrift.

Final Analysis:
Ottawa is pretty. Washington is pretty impressive. Country Fried Steak is pretty nasty. Lobster is pretty spooky. Famous Dave’s is pretty wicked. Skype is pretty sweet, and I ate way too much.