We did see a good fireworks display tonight. For the first time, we went to the mall and watched the display there.
Chris was afraid that the crowds would be awful, but they really weren't bad where we were. We took the metro to Arlington Cemetary, and walked across from the cemetary, in Virginia, to the Lincoln Memorial, in D.C. on Memorial Bridge which has nice, wide sidewalks. I've never crossed the Potomac on foot before, the view is spectacular. I never get tired of it, the Capitol, the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, and the Jefferson Memorial are all visible at the same time, as well as the spires of Georgetown University, and the highrise buildings in Rosslyn, and Crystal City.
On the other side of the Lincoln Memorial is the Reflecting Pool, and at the other end of the Reflecting Pool (which is rectangular, long, and narrow) is the Washington Monument, where the fireworks were set off. Along the side of the Reflecting Pool closest to the city, it was pandemonium, lots of teenagers and young adults, lots of noise, radios, and so on. So we went to the other side, and walked all the way up to the barricades, and turns out on the other side of the barricades was an area set off for Park Service families, so we were right outside that area, couldn't get a better seat, and it was all families around us, a very nice place if you don't mind a lot of people, but we had plenty of room, and everyone was well-behaved.
We had carried spring water with us, but it was so hot, I went off and got ice cream and lemon Italian ice for everyone, and we were still sucking on the Italian ice when the fireworks started.
It was very good, I can't do it justice. Maybe Gaugie could. I love fireworks, I see at least one show, maybe two a year, and the technology keeps getting better. I remember at the New Orleans World's Fair that was the first time that fireworks from Communist China had been displayed in the United States, and since then the Chinese style has become more common, before then it was all the Italian style. And now there are hybrids. The Italian style are the starbursts, and the Chinese style make shapes in the air when they explode. One shape that was really spectacular was a red five pointed star, like you see on a flag (but those are white, of course) surrounded by a blue circle. And they had something I had never seen, it looked kind of like a bow tie, two sets of streams of white light in opposite directions from a center, and then at the end blue and white star bursts.
There is one kind I love, that you see a lot these days, white streamers that curve downward like a weeping willow, and hang in the air, and the display tonight improved on it, so it was white streamers upon white streamers upon white streamers, all in different directions and hanging in the air. And then all of a sudden purple or blue puffs of sparks appeared at the ends.
And there were the ones that screamed, and the ones that crackled, I really like those.
But my favorites tonight had blue and purple zig-zags that went zigging and zagging everywhere, like watching sperm under a microscope, and some others had white corkscrews and whistled and had blue or purple at the ends, and went in curly-cues everywhere, they didn't just fall down, they kept shooting up after they start falling.
Well, that's the best I can do. It was quite something, lasted 20 minutes, and the paper says there were 3,800 shells, with 30% saved for the grand finale.
My motto with fireworks is "get as close as you can." Don't worry about the crowds, most people don't like to get close.
We walked back across the bridge, and then took the metro back to Crystal City, which is an office park with a lot of high-rise office buildings and apartment buildings, all connected underground with tunnels that are airconditioned and brightly lit and have stores and a little shopping mall. Sbarro's was open, and we fell on the pizza like famished wolves. Mushroom, spinach and garlic for me. |
