more of the place, and the people.

After the relaxing glass of wine at the house on Embassy Row, I was taken to Tosca , which is, from what I have been told, the best Italian restaurant in DC. Now, in relation to four stars or meal price, I couldn't care less. A thirty dollar a plate meal means very little to me, as I ordered a thirty-six dollar plate of Black Cod in Hawaii and nearly barfed all over everyone else's Japanese cuisine. What I am saying is this: It wasn't tasty because of the price. It was just damn tasty. Have you ever had thirty month old organic parmesan cheese? Neither had I. Now I have, and I can say with certainty, it was damn good. To add intrigue to my multiple glasses of wine, the spine tingling, dark brown eyed, salt and pepper haired Italian owner of Tosca, who happened to be visiting our table throughout the evening (did I mention his genuinely kind smile?), let us know of the "power house table", seated away from us common folk, in the Kitchen. We watched Tom and Linda Daschle, Dianne Feinstein, and Alan Greenspan file out of the restaurant when their inevitably fantastic meal had been consumed. Linda and Hillary are apparently friends, and Daschle is a supporter of Obama. Speculation by the DC crowd I was surrounded by was that Senator Daschle was trying to convince Delay to switch his allegiance from Mr. O to Mrs. Clinton, and become a superdelegate for Hillary. I just smiled and stared, realizing I was in the center of our election-year universe, witnessing the close of a dinner by influential leaders (possibly) attempting to influence the direction of history.

Following fine Italian dinner cuisine, naturally, was fine French brunch cuisine, on a Sunday, fittingly followed by a rainy day two hour nap. And that's one of the best parts of vacations; being with people that go with the flow, and don't consider a Sunday afternoon nap a waste of time. I benefited.

My last day in the City was affecting and infuriating, as we spend a good part of the afternoon at the Holocaust museum. I have thoughts and words, but I believe that deserves its own post.

With all these words about sites and monuments and museums and food, the thing I brought from that great historical city, and the thing that I most value, is my new old family. I haven't told any specific stories of my new cousin Pamela, or or spunky no bull-shit exceptionally giving and genuine attitude, so be prepared. They will come. What I will say is that she, and her husband Mark, were and are fantastic...hospitible, the kind of people you would want on your side; family.

Oh, and the wine was good too.