Holiday Lights Tour, Part One

I went on my yearly Holiday Lights tour in the District this month, fitting it in before my mid-month operation which limited my mobility severely.  I bicycled over to the Ellipse from Haines Point, where I parked my car, to view the National Tree.

From the White House, I entered the Willard Hotel to see its Christmas tree, always very well trimmed.  The old Postal Pavilion, now known as the Trump Emolument Violation Hotel, is across the street.

      

I went into enemy territory to see the Trump Tree. Inside I fell into a conversation with a Californian lawyer who was arguing before the US Supreme Court the next day on the interesting question of national sovereignty for Indian tribes, and the more I chatted with him the more I started to think he was in the Trump Hotel for a reason, as when he boasted that "Kamala Harris always lost to me."

I went to the Portrait Museum next, where they had a holiday tree set up in its inside, covered courtyard.  I love the way the shadows created by the iron lattice roofing play off the walls.

From there I went to visit the Peace Officer tree outside the DC courthouse.  The tree is adorned with ornaments honoring slain police officers in the DMV area and I was saddened to see that the previous evergreen tree had been removed but gladdened to see that it had been replaced, albeit with a tiny new one.

My next stop, midway through the tour, was at the US Botanical Garden to see its tree.  That stop was memorable because while I was inside, the Federal Protective Service called me outside over the PA because I had parked my Capital Bike-Share bicycle by the entrance, which, it was carefully explained to me by an armed policeman, is definitely a big no-no for some illogical reason concerning a skinny little bike with no bags upon it.