Mourning the East Wing
I happened to be in Iceland, on my way back from a week touring Scotland with my partner, when I saw the pictures of the pile of rubble where the East Wing of the White House should be. President Trump succeeded where the British Army failed in 1814 and al-Qaeda failed in 2001: he managed to destroy the White House (or, at least, to destroy a large part of it.)
We took a lot of great tours this October in Scotland and Iceland, but none of them were as exciting as the White House tour I took back in February 1994. That tour began and ended at a visitors’ center in the East Wing. In retrospect, I see why Trump was not 100% pleased with the White House: it is smaller than it appears from afar, and back then the walls were devoid of gold-painted doodads. But I thought it was beautiful. I was there several weeks after the Christmas decorations had been taken down, but on my way out, I was able to buy the official 1993 White House ornament for half price at a little gift shop. Since I was elected to the New Hampshire House in 2008, I have never made the cut to be invited to go down to DC in person, but I have always enjoyed seeing pictures of my colleagues enjoying the seasonal decorations along the now-demolished East Wing Colonnade. This year, the holidays just won’t be the same.