willow_25 | Where I Live Weekend, companion post

You can check out my posts for this event on my flist; not sure why I couldn't get them to cross-post. The point of the thing it to show others where you live, doing a mini photo journal.

So, I was going to go take pics the other day, but got distracted. I actually took a couple of pics coming home from mymagritte's house last weekend, then put the camera away and took no more. Yesterday, the temp hovered around 100, and I didn't want to go walk a few miles in that. Today the heat broke around 2pm, lowering the temp to around 90, and there was cloud cover, so I went for it.

Walked from my street (Hamlin) north on 7th street to Monroe (the street names and numbers go up as you head away from the center of DC. In my case, I live in Northeast, so the numbers go up as I go north/letters go up as I go east). At Monroe I turned left/west and followed Monroe a little over a block, where it dead-ends/merges into Michigan Avenue, a major road in and out of the city.

I walked west past CUA (Catholic University), Dominican House, the National Shrine, and the Oblates, finally reaching TU (Trinity University) my alma mater. Walked around campus a bit, then crossed Michigan and headed back east. Made a left/north off of Michigan at Harewood Road, the street that runs along the Shrine and the CUA campus. Followed that up the hill to where it ends at Taylor Street, then went down the hill to the right/east on Taylor until I hit the Taylor Street Bridge over the Metro tracks. Rather than walking the bridge, I turned right/south down John McCormick Road along the other side of the CUA campus, until I reached the Metro station.

I took the Metro tunnel under the station to get to the other side, crossed the bus circle, walked through the 'Kiss & Ride' past the Brooks Mansion to Newton and 10th Street. Took Newton Street east to 12th Street, then turned right/south and followed 12th to Monroe again, which I hit about 5 blocks further east. Walked another block east, before crossing the street and heading back to 12th. I took 12th Street further south for 4 or blocks, took pics of some shops and did a little shopping. Then I crossed the street and headed back north to Monroe. Took a left/west on Monroe and walked to the Metro tracks, crossed the Monroe Street Bridge to 8th Street, and headed left/south on 8th street until I reached my street again.

The whole thing took two and a half hours. I was verry tired when I got back. Some pics I didn't get to use in my other posts:

Plants growing underground in Metro, taken last weekend.

Holy Redeemer College.

This used to be a community garden, now it's growing over.

Intersection of Monroe and Michigan Ave NE, with CUA dining hall in the background.

Construction notice.

Flowers in school colors, around the flagpole at Trinity. The library is in the background.

Two small buildings on the west side of Harewood Road. Evidently they're CUA property, but they're unused, and I've never heard a good explanation for why they exist. They're cute, though.

Nugent Hall at CUA; the University's Executive offices and residence to the University president. Pretty swanky digs, for a job usually held by a priest or monk.

Do you remember me saying at the begining that I walked uphill on Harewood and Downhill on Taylor? This is a view down the hill on Taylor. Now, see that little sign on the left? The white one, partially obscured by a utility pole...It's an apartment complex, the one I lived in my senior year of college. Thus, I walked uphill both ways to school.

A dorm at CUA, I've forgotten the name, and couldn't find a sign. Now, see that tower horribly tacked on to the front. It's an elevator shaft, and a friend of mine was partially responsible for it being there. He tripped in a drainage ditch playing ultimate frisbee and broke his leg in two places. Since he lived on the 4th floor, and there was no elevator then, he was forced to move into another dorm. Then, boom, they put in an elevator over the summer.

The ditch in question.

Statue of St. Frances in a garden on Newton Street. Or, "Gardner, gardner, there's a monk in my petunias!"

When I was in college, this was a dive bar; the kind where they served high schoolers, and put sawdust on the floors, and girls had to keep their hands over the tops of their drinks. Now it's an eye doctor's office.

Probably the weirdest thing I saw all day: a parakeet on the sidewalk, outside the fire station. I felt really bad leaving it there, but I'm allergic to birds, so grabbing it would have made my hands itch, and stopped the taking of pictures. And, it had food there, so it seemed okay. I hope it's okay. I've been worrying about it.