Greetings from the Folger and the Wharf

Paul, Cheryl, and I originally planned to go to the Maryland Renaissance Festival on Sunday, possibly with other friends, but it was warm and muggy and we decided we just weren't in the mood for dealing with the crowds and traffic that have become unfortunate hallmarks of the faire, where it is frequently impossible to get seats at shows and sometimes hard just to walk through the mobs near the food. So instead we went downtown to visit the Folger Shakespeare Library (where we found easy parking despite ongoing diversions of traffic around the Supreme Court right nearby and plenty of cheering anti-Kavanaugh posters in the neighborhood). The Folger currently has an exhibit on Winston Churchill and Shakespeare with several original letters by Churchill quoting the Bard and several of his books and articles of clothing.

Then we went to the wharf, where we got ice cream and went to see the Draken Harald Hårfagre, the big replica Viking longship currently visiting DC on its sailing tour of the East Coast. Unfortunately all the tickets to board the ship were sold out for the day, but we could walk around it at Transit Pier and read the displays about how it was built and how the Vikings explored the north Atlantic. Then we came back and watched some great past-season Doctor Who episodes before the evening repeat showing of "The Woman Who Fell To Earth," which we thought was predictable in terms of the writing but we all agreed Whittaker was great -- she has Smith's energy with Eccleston's humor and none of the overwhelming DOOOOOOOM, though that may change with the stories. After Cheryl went home, we watched Madam Secretary, also predictable but that was comforting this weekend!