Yesterday Deborah and I headed down into DC to meet up with Christopher. It was "Take the Metro to Europe Day" in DC. Of the 27 members of the EU, 23 (22 countries and the European Commission) embassies were open for visitors. The free metro shuttle was set up on three different routes. We picked route 1 that went to Romania, France, Germany, Sweden, and the EC. However, we already knew where we wanted to go, so we went straight to Germany. As we drove past other embassies, you could clearly see which EU countries Americans favor. Ireland had a huge line (free
Guinness) and we heard the Italians had a long wait as well. The Germans had a long line, too, but in all their
efficiencies, it moved quickly. The inside was filled was vendors promoting the virtues of doing business in Germany, German education, and the American-German alliance which is much stronger than I ever imagined. I actually talked shop with a gentleman promoting an educational exchange (I felt very important, but Christopher was not impressed. Deborah was.) We followed the line outside to the food. We had a delicious lunch of bratwurst, pretzels, and beer (it wasn't
Bittburger, it started with an H, but it was one of the best beers I have tasted. Belgian or German? It is a tough call). Here is a photo. This is Deb's first time to eat sausage. The Germans did have a band set up, but they were not playing while we were there. I wonder what they played?
The ambassador's residence was one of the most stylish places I have been in DC. It was super modern with
gentlemens' and ladies' sitting rooms. All the furniture was simple, black and brown. The had a large porch in the back with an infinity edge that looked out onto Virginia from a high hilltop. Very cool.
The German and the French embassies are very close, so we walked over to the French embassy next. Estelle was working and we wanted to say hello. This was about 1 PM and the crowds had started to thin out, so it was easy to get in. The French seemed more lively, more intent on promoting the French culture than on building bridges. It was a party celebrating France, verse a German business meeting with little beer thrown in. We looked around the fancy, French stylish embassy and sat down with Estelle. She brought us a glass of champagne to share and it was also very good. We did not do as much exploring there and spent most of our time hanging out with Estelle, which was nice and relaxing.
From there we trekked through Georgetown on to the Swedish embassy. The Swedes just built a new embassy (complete with
rentable apartments) right on the Georgetown waterfront. It is an architectural marvel, also
incredibly modern, and "almost
entirely green." That is what Chris heard on the talk and I am not sure what that means, but there you go. The building has lots of glass, straight lines and right angles. It was supposed to have wood on the exterior, but the architect was afraid that it would deteriorate, so he took pictures of wood and put them in between planes of glass (see photo). The very top floor is a simple, large, empty wooden deck with great views of the Potomac and the Kennedy Center. The old Swedish embassy is actually near my office and looks like a Southwest mansion with a red slate roof and white stucco. Inside the embassy they had the most intellectual exhibits touting the Swedes efforts against global warming and their study of the
Arctic and
Antarctic climate and
bioshpere. Here is a photo and link. I think the Swedes contracted IKEA to do the interior decorating.
http://www.houseofsweden.com/
That was
the end of our Euro adventure. It was a really good time and I really hope they do it again next year. A couple of observations and culture clashes. First, I was really pleasantly surprised at the popularity. The Germans, who organized the event, did a great job organizing. However, in an event this large, things are bound to go wrong. There was a huge crowd at the start and so all the shuttles left at once and ended up all bunched together so there was a lot of waiting and this was the reason we walked most of the time. There was much complaining about this and I felt slightly ashamed of some of the guests behavior. I imagine this is what happens when an American tourist gets stranded in Paris or Berlin because of a train strike. We just expect everything to run smoothly and many of the visitors seemed to be really treating it like a visit to Europe. Not all the visitors were American, I heard many different languages. DC is quite international, so I think lots of people took the opportunity to scope out the EU, including EU citizens checking up on their neighbors. Second, 5 countries did not participate: UK, Estonia,
Latvia, Lithuania, and Spain. I was really annoyed that the Spanish did not participate, so I asked why not. It turns out that their labor laws do not allow them to make the embassy employees work on the weekends, so it was closed. I find this hilarious. Also, the Italians were two hours late in opening their embassy. I am not kidding. I found that most of the
embassies, the really big ones with enough money and space for national expression, have the embassies as a representation of modern national style, not traditional American notions of their culture. The bigger the country the less hospitable. France gave nothing away for free, but I heard everything was free at Romania. In the brochure, it was touted as a cultural expose, but there was no mention of alcohol (French wine, or German beer) because DC forbids the advertisement of free alcohol. Also, in typical DC style, they chose this weekend to do track maintenance on the metro, so it was running really slowly. It was an amusing bump of cultures and I know that the three of us had a really fun time. As I said, I hope to do this again next year and visit different embassies. Christopher came away with the most stuff as he purchased some
sausage at the German embassy.
