Sat, 10 May 2008  Today we return to the heart of DC and visit the historic Capitol Hill Neighborhood, just east of all those big fancy government buildings. We recommend you use the Eastern Market Metro Station to start this tour.
We start off wandering around Washington's historic Eastern Market. We even shop there! (2:15) We talk about Capitol Hill Townhouses in general, of which you can see many photos in our photo album this week. In particular we look at the unusual townhomes in Philadephia Row. (5:08) We play Welcome to DC by DC Hip-Hop Band Mambo Sauce , which comes to us courtesy of the Podsafe Music Network. (7:53) We find ourselves at Lincoln Park, which combines history with a great public park, including playground and dog walk. (12:08) While we walk down East Capitol Street, we play Spring Fever by Monika Herzig , which comes to us courtesy of the Podsafe Music Network. (17:08) We pause at the corner of East Capitol and Third Streets - right on the cusp of the government buildings, near the Folger Theatre, and admire one of the smallest houses in this area. (20:57) We walk past the Frederick Douglas Museum and Hall of Fame for Caring Americans. Note the web site was not working when we posted - we hope that is a temporary condition. (22:23) We end up, on our way to our dinner at the nearby Cafe Berlin , at the Sewell-Belmont House and Museum. (23:31)
Our Opening Theme Music is Garden Walk by Kim Evans, our walking music was from Find Me by H, and our logo design is by Kathleen Hamm at Hamm Multimedia. Follow in our steps visually with our Capitol Hill Photo Album. Comments[0] |
Sat, 12 April 2008  Today we finish our two part "Papal Visit Special" by visiting the John Paul II Cultural Center, near Catholic University. We recommend you use the Brookland-CUA Metro Station to get to the Center, although there is parking here. This is an excellent site to match with the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception and the Franciscan Monastery, also nearby.
We start off with Julie talking about the history of the center, and it's function, then move on into a room with Memorabilia of John Paul II. (2:06) We play Praise the Lord, Psalm 147 by Chuck Stevens , which comes to us courtesy of the Podsafe Music Network. (9:15) We follow a ramp downstairs past the images of various hands of catholics from around the world, starting with Pope John Paul II's. (12:45) On the second level we check out Philip Ratner's sculptures from the Hebrew Scriptures, talk about the movie in the auditorium and the children's center before we enter the main exhibit space. (15:07) We view a few minutes of an introductory video on John Paul II, and then visit the interactive galleries on science and faith, the saints, and world religions, including our own denomination the United Church of Christ. (15:07) We play Kyrie Eleison by Helen White , which comes to us courtesy of the Podsafe Music Network. (30:21) We finish up visiting the Polish exhibit, which has some of John Paul's vestments and the like. (33:57) Washington Travelcast will take a break for the next three weeks, while Julie and Mark go on vacation. Look for our next show on May 10, 2008! Our Opening Theme Music is Garden Walk by Kim Evans, our walking music was from Find Me by H, and our logo design is by Kathleen Hamm at Hamm Multimedia. Check out the Cultural Center at our JP II Photo Album. Comments[2] |
Sat, 5 April 2008  Today we start a two part "Papal Visit Special" by visiting the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. (note - when we were publishing, this link was not working - we hope it is now.) We recommend you use the Brookland-CUA Metro Station to get to the Shrine, although there is parking here. After giving directions, Julie talks about the history of the shrine, and some of the church doctrine behind the concept of the Immaculate Conception (3:11)
We say we're going to start in the crypt church, but because we have only 30 minutes before mass is said in the upper church, we do a quick visit to that upper church, in order to visit all the little chapels, and get good pictures. We talk about it afterwards, in the Mary, Queen of Ireland Chapel. (6:30) We play Ave Maria by Jeanne Backofen Craig, from Virginia, which comes to us courtesy of the Podsafe Music Network. (14:49) We go downstairs and pause for a minute in the Memorial Hall, and then visit the Hall of American Saints. (18:36) We continue into the Crypt Church, and visit the church, and many of the little side chapels of this more intimate, more medieval place. (20:42) We play Queen of Apostles, by Nancy Krebs, from Maryland. This also comes to us courtesy of the Podsafe Music Network. (25:26) We finish up with a visit to the Garden behind the Shrine. (30:17)
Our Opening Theme Music is Garden Walk by Kim Evans, our walking music was from Find Me by H, and our logo design is by Kathleen Hamm at Hamm Multimedia. Check out the Shrine at our National Shrine Photo Album. Comments[0] |
Tue, 1 April 2008  We delayed this podcast in order to release it on April 1, 2008. Today we take you on a bus trip through a Capital City - but the Capital of Germany! We take you on a ride on Busses 100 and 200 through Berlin. Unfortunately, something in the busses caused varying levels of distortion in our recordings, which we did not realize until it was far too late to fix it. It is a problem primarily in the first 5 minutes of the podcast. Note that some of the web links today are in German.
We start off at Berlin's Bahnhof Zoologisher Garten Station and board Bus 100 toward Alexanderplatz. We settle in our bus seat. these busses have long been famous with backpackers, but recently (in the last 2 years or so) the city has capitalized on these great busses. We talk about the major train stations in Berlin. (2:20) We immediately pass the Kaiser Wilhelm Gedächtniskirche, and onto the Kurfurstendamm, then into the Tiergarten. (3:56) Once in the Tiergarten, we see the Siegessäule, the pass Schloß Bellevue, and the Haus der Kulturen der Welt, as we pass through the Federal Quarter, where many government buildings are. This portion of the tour culminates with passing near the Reichstag. Here's a link to the wrapped Reichstag. (5:16) We continue on to drive briefly on Wilhelmstrasse, and past the Brandenburger Tor, before heading down Unter den Linden. We talk a bit about construction in Berlin. (11:46) We pass Bebelplatz, and the area around across from Museumsinsel, then the Neptune Fountain, which we can't see very well. We see the Rotes Rathaus, the Marienkirche. We get off the bus (16:05) We play part of Metro by Taktfrequenz, from Germany, which comes to us courtesy of the Podsafe Music Network. (22:00) We stop at Alexanderplatz, and talk about its history, and about the Fernsehturm, and the shopping at Alex. We get ready to get cross the street to Bus #200. (21:50) We play a selection from Loveparade Berlin - Dance, by Bors23, from Germany. This also comes to us courtesy of the Podsafe Music Network. (22:30) Once on Bus #200 we head back along Unter den Linden, and make note of the Berliner Dom, the Altes Museum, Humboldt University, and the Neue Wache. (26:39) As we continue on our way. http://www.komische-oper-berlin.de>Komische Oper. We continue a bit south on Wilhelmstrasse, and admire the East German Plattenboden architecture, as we continue to Potsdamer Platz. (31:54) We continue on past Potsdammer Platz - and the Dunkin Donuts near it. We pass the central cultural area of the former West Berlin, the Kulturforum, which includes the Gemäldegalerie, the Neue Nationalgalerie, and the Berlin Philharmonic's concert hall. We continue past the Gardens just south of the Tiergarten, and the diplomatic quarter. We talk about Berlin's Hosteling International Youth Hostel.(37:25) We continue on back to the heart of former West Berlin, back on the Kurfürstendamm, the Europa-center, past the Berlin Zoo, and back to Bahnhof Zoo. (41:34)
Our Opening Theme Music is Garden Walk by Kim Evans, our walking music was from Find Me by H, and our logo design is by Kathleen Hamm at Hamm Multimedia. Check out the sites at our Berlin Photo Album. Comments[2] |
Sat, 22 March 2008  Today we celebrate 100 shows by taking you on the Grand Tour of Washington DC, a walk that takes you near most of the most popular tourist attractions, and most important government buildings. We start our tour from the Capitol South Metro Station. Note that where we have done a podcast on an attraction, our links today will be to our podcast on that subject.
We begin by passing behind the Capitol Building on First Street SE, talking about the Capitol and then turning our attention to the Library of Congress, followed by a walk past the Supreme Court Building. (3:39) We move on around the Capitol, talk about the Capitol Grounds and especially the Peace Memorial. (11:53) We reprise O Canada by Alberta women's acapella group Asani , which we played on our podcast on The 2006 Smithsonian Folklife Festival. This version of the Canadian National Anthem is sung in French, English and Cree. (16:00) We pass and talk about the Canadian Embassy, and the new Newseum which will open on April 11. Julie reads the first amendment off the building, and talks about the buildings that we passed on the way to the Newseum. (18:04) We play Eternal Father, Strong to Save, the Navy Hymn, sung by the Sea Chanters of the Navy Band. (22:30) We visit the Navy Memorial, and talk about the National Archives (23:27) We continue to the Post Office Pavilion, where we also talk about the FBI Building, Freedom Plaza and the area. (27:04) We play Hail to the Chief, performed by the Marine Band. (32:22) We visit the White House, and talk about all of the important buildings beside it and around Lafayette Square. (33:00) We head through the Ellipse to the Washington Monument, and look in all four directions. We talk about the Monuments heading west down the Mall, and the Museums headed East Down the Mall (North Side, South Side), as well as the various buildings and attractions to the north and south of the Memorial. There is a lot of wind here. (36:36) We play Moon-Shy City, by the DC band Lejune. This comes to us courtesy of the Podsafe Music Network. () We finish up at the Tidal Basin where we started Washington Travelcast, talking about the Jefferson Memorial and the FDR Memorial. We spend a few minutes thanking those who have helped make the first 100 shows possible, especially The Word Nerds, whose "node nerd", Dave, helped us get started. Our Opening Theme Music is Garden Walk by Kim Evans, our walking music was from Find Me by H, and our logo design is by Kathleen Hamm at Hamm Multimedia. We have a short Photo Album today. Comments[0] |
Sat, 15 March 2008  Today we present our annual review of things to do in Washington, DC during the spring season, from the Cherry Blossom Festival to the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. We get to do this show from the comfort of our home studio. We provide a lot of links on this page to the events we talk about.
We start with the Cherry Blossom Festival, that annual celebration of the gift of the Japanese Government that rings monumental washington in cotton candy pink every March or April. Check out the Festival's official site, with links to all of the events we talk about. (2:04) We play Just Another by Northern Virginia singer Sharif, which also comes to us via the PodsafeAudio.com. (19:10) We go on to talk about some other events that happen during the festival, but are not officially part of the festival. (23:44)
We talk about events associated with the planned pastoral visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Washington. (24:50) We talk about the other "classic" spring events in Washington. (29:20)
We talk about Gardens in DC (32:06)
Our Opening Theme Music is Garden Walk by Kim Evans, our walking music was from Find Me by H, and our logo design is by Kathleen Hamm at Hamm Multimedia. We have no photo album today. Comments[0] |
Sat, 8 March 2008  Today we visit the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian's American Art Museum. We recommend you use the McPherson Square Metro Stop to get here.
We start off in the Palm Court on the street level, talk about Smithsonian Security and the history of the Renwick Gallery. (2:58) We play Copernicus Museum by Rob Astor, which comes to us via the the Podsafe Music Network (9:17) We head up to the second floor and enjoy the beauty of the Grand Gallery. (12:00) We head counter-clockwise around the gallery, despite anything Julie says, and visit galleries including "Game Fish" and "Banketje". (15:17) We pause in the Octagon Room (10:13) We play Your Papers Please by Captain Pop, which also comes to us via the the Podsafe Music Network. (24:53) We visit Galleries of craft including "Bureau of Bureaucracy, before heading out after our brief visit. (28:11)
Our Opening Theme Music is Garden Walk by Kim Evans, our walking music was from Find Me by H, and our logo design is by Kathleen Hamm at Hamm Multimedia. We have no photo album today, as we know that publishing photos from the American Art Museum is not permitted, from our previous experience with them. You will just have to check out their site, and look up pictures there. Comments[0] |
Sat, 1 March 2008  Today we re-visit the National Museum of Natural History, to visit their new Butterfly Habitat. We recommend you use the Smithsonian Metro Stop. If you are going on weekends in the spring and summer of 2008, we also recommend you get tickets in advance at the NMNH's ticket site.
We start off talking about the new habitat, and discuss ticket prices and options. (1:48) Once we enter the museum, we find our way to the new Butterflies and Plants exhibit on the second floor. We travel through the exhibit. (3:13) We play Butterfly by Kathy Pfaffl. It comes to us courtesy of the Podsafe Music Network. (11:20) When our time comes, we wait in line for our time, and then take you through the butterfly habitat. (8:18) We play Insectgirl by Adrienne Pierce. It also comes to us courtesy of the Podsafe Music Network. Outside of the habitat, we visit the O. Orkin Insect Zoo, which has recently been entirely renovated. We enjoy all the icky squiggly bugs they have to offer. (12:24) Our Opening Theme Music is Garden Walk by Kim Evans, our walking music was from Find Me by H, and our logo design is by Kathleen Hamm at Hamm Multimedia. Our Photo Album has some pics of these beautiful flyers, as well as theire ickier cousins! Comments[0] |
Tue, 26 February 2008 Or some equally nasty bug. We'll be back online by March 2. Category: general -- posted at: 2:56 PM Comments[0] |
Sat, 16 February 2008  Today we visit the Mary McLeod Bethune Council House. You will need to go to the McPherson Square Metro Stop .
Julie begins with some biographical information about Mary McLeod Bethune (1:52) We take a tour of the house, given by our park service ranger. (3:18) We play Sunday State of Mind by Lou Lou. It comes to us via the The Podsafe Music Network (6:33) We continue to tour the upstairs of the building, going back and reading more of the interpretive signs than we could earlier. (8:42) We play Don't you tell me by Saffire, the Uppity Blues Women. It comes to us via the The Podsafe Music Network (13:46) We watch the half hour movie on Mary McLeod Bethune and the National Council of Negro Women, then finish up this relatively short podcast. Our Opening Theme Music is Garden Walk by Kim Evans, our walking music was from Find Me by H, and our logo design is by Kathleen Hamm at Hamm Multimedia. Our Photo Album of the site.Comments[0] |
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