The past two Saturdays have seen me spanning the globe, visiting six countries over four continents but still making it home in time for dinner. You’ve got to appreciate the way modern travel allows such amenities. Or, at least, D.C.’s cultural attractions.
On the 1st of May, Passport D.C. offered folks the opportunity to visit a broad swath of embassies. I got a late start and it was over 90 with high humidity, so I stuck with visiting nations close to home. That said, I still managed to make it to four countries:
First I jetted over to South Korea, where I got the chance to see a Jangu performance and to peruse various musical instruments native to the land:
Then it was across the street to Croatia, from where, I learned, the cravat originated.
They seem to appreciate colorful art, and their beautiful second story featured not only bright paintings, but also this lovely stained glass window:
Down the street, I was able to head to Africa to visit Zambia:
Zambian art seems to draw heavily from their native animals, such as in this carved table and this seed art:
By then it was getting late and I was hot, so I decided to head home, but not before stopping in one last country. The Dominican Republic offered a relaxed end to the day with traditional food for sale, an art and handicraft display, and a table set up for dominoes:
After the exhibit inside, I came back out for a closer look at the table of crafts set up on the front porch. A very nice older embassy employee was taking snapshots of some kids and came over to speak to me after they left. He explained that the crafts represented different regions of the country:
He also shared that the Dominican Republic is the world’s leading producer of cigars. (Being a visitor, I thought it best not to inquire what he thought about worldwide efforts to discourage people from smoking.) Luckily, we next moved on to baseball, which we could both agree was a good topic. Did you know there are currently 86 Dominicans in the major leagues?
Oh, and my nice embassy guide? Ambassador Roberto B. Saladin himself:
Stop back later in the week to hear about Rudi’s and my EU Day adventures.