Rag Time Alexandria

Today we joined our RV friends, Ginny and Eric, for a mad tour of downtown Alexandria, Virginia. We've mentioned downtown Alexandria in a prior blog entry about Mount Vernon in March 2012, and we visited Alexandria a second time with Weina and William for a luncheon outing in March 2012, but we really haven't done justice to downtown Alexandria.  Still it didn't seem all that exciting to do a typical "travelblog" version, so, instead, you'll get this slightly twisted (or "rag time") version of the place.

On our way down King Street to the Visitor Center, we hadn't even gotten oriented yet, when we were approached by three students from the local T.C. Williams High School who film and produce a daily TV show called "Everyday Titan" for their TV II Production Class:

They asked us if we would be willing to be filmed making our best guess about the meaning of a contemporary slang phrase.  We said we'd be delighted, and of course we made utter fools of ourselves.  The phrase is "turn up," which to us old fogies obviously means "show up," as in, "I decided to turn up at the party, even though I didn't want to."  Some of us guessed that, and others guessed something like "turn up the heat."  One of us even suggested, in jest, that it might mean a vegetable, as in "turn ups and rutabagas."  Well, those are not the current slang meaning.  A quick reference to that well-recognized authority on the meanings of slang expressions, chatslang.com, demonstrates that the phrase "turn up" actually describes how things are about to get wild, crazy, and possibly out of control; can refer to something bad that's about to happen, such as a fight, or something good that's about to happen, such as a party starting to get awesome - as in:  "Someone needs to turn up this joint or I'm outa here!"

Well, I guess we failed that quiz, but we probably provided some humorous video for the crew.  Stay tuned to a future blog if we make it past the cutting room floor.

We eventually found the Visitor Center, and then walked past City Hall, where the local Christmas tree stood ready for the decoration ceremony (what did you expect, lights and balls and tinsel?):

Not to be outdone by our adventures so far, as we headed to the base of King Street at the Potomac River, we happened upon this gentleman performing Christmas carols and classical pieces on what is known as the "Glass Harp":

The gentleman is named Jamey Turner, and he has his own website here.  According to Mr. Turner, a number of famous classical composers actually wrote pieces for the glass harp.  Here is a YouTube video of Mr. Turner playing Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" on the glass harp in Alexandria.

So far, this day had already been a rollicking success, and we haven't even gotten more than four blocks down King Street!  But we only had two hours on the parking meter, and we had almost used up a full hour, so, after a quick trip down to the waterfront to look at the river and some boats moored there, we worked our way up Queen Street to Bilbo Baggins global wine cafe and restaurant - otherwise known as the "Green Dragon Pub" -



- where we partook of our choices of the more than 112 worldwide craft beers available on tap or in bottles.  We also had some scrumptious, unusual pub-style food as well:

And, yes, Nephew Sam, they also serve beers from Oregon:

Now that our bellies were full and our parking meter depleted, we felt moved to move on to the highlight of our visit - the George Washington Masonic National Monument:

Perched high on a hill in the center of Alexandria, the monument can be seen for miles, and from the top of the tower, which we were able to access by taking the tour, you can see the entire Washington Metropolitan Area.  Here is the view of downtown Alexandria from the top of  the monument:

The monument is unique in being an entirely privately funded memorial to George Washington - not in his public capacity as general or President, but instead in his private capacity, as a member of the Freemasons.  The museum also presents an impressive introduction to Freemasonry, its history, purpose and organization.

There were numerous statues and paintings of George Washington, but always with the theme of depicting his role as a Freemason, of which these are only a few:



The museum even mentions Matt Groening's affectionate ribbing of the Masons from the Simpsons episode, "Homer the Great," in which "Number One," the leader of the "Stonecutters," is voiced by Sir Patrick Stewart:

This was an unexpected trip down memory lane for David, who had been a member of the DeMolays (think of junior Masons, ages 12-20) for a few years as a teenager in Salem, Oregon.  In fact, the museum displays a picture of the Masonic Lodge in Salem where David's Demolay group met each month:

No, Philly, we did not forget you.  The museum also has a picture of the Philadelphia Masonic Temple, which the museum says is considered the most beautiful of the U.S. Masonic Temples:

The Freemasons only require that a prospective member - other than being male (yes, Katie, that's a big exception) - need only be of good character and declare a belief in a Supreme Being (yes, Laird and Risa, the exclusion of true atheists is also a big exception, but there actually are Masonic Lodges that accept atheists and do not require a belief in a Supreme Being).  The candidate must be approved to join by the existing members.  While, in theory, a person may be of any religion to join, there are still lodges that only accept Christians, and the history of the group is open to great criticism in this area.  David himself recalls an enormous controversy when a friend of his who was Catholic was initially refused membership because he was not Protestant.

A quick Google search will turn up endless sources of information, history and opinions highly critical of Freemasonry, and, really, very little that show Masons in a positive light other than material prepared by Masons themselves.

So the Masons are not free from taint.  But in general today, Masons focus on social networking among their members and charitable work and are often recognized as positive contributors to local civic communities.  If you're interested in more information on the Freemasons, you can find it in this Wikipedia article or this page which is said to be the oldest website regarding Freemasonry.