I did it again!

There I was again, last Sunday afternoon, trying to be a stalker. I just had to polish my stalking skills. I convinced the hubby to go back to Georgetown, to take a walk down N Street in DC to see the houses Jackie O used to live. You see, I was a failure on my first attempt.

So last Sunday, we finally got to see the houses at 3307, 3038 and 3017 N Street, in our own Georgetown Walking Tour.

Armed with my own camera (borrowed for the day from the hubby), I was filled with excitement. I squealed like a schoolgirl when we got to the first house (3307). We found several older tourists also taking pictures of the house ;) I was a bit self-conscious. But I must say, to be there at that old house which was their home before they moved into the White House. After looking through all that black and white photos of JFK, Jackie and Caroline in books, looking into the real thing was really one-of-a-kind. I was truly in my die-hard fan mode.

Here’s an excerpt:
3307 N St. NW - Then-Sen. John F. Kennedy lived here when
he was elected president of the United States in November
1960. Perhaps the most famous and photographed of the
Kennedy Georgetown homes, the red- and rose-colored Federal-
style home cost JFK just under $100,000 when he bought it in
1957 while Jacqueline gave birth to daughter Caroline. It was
on the doorstep of this house, built in 1812, that Mr. Kennedy
announced the appointment of his Cabinet, including his brother
Robert as attorney general. "I think I'll open the front door of
the Georgetown house some morning about 2 a.m.," JFK said to
then-Newsweek reporter Ben Bradlee, "look up and down the
street, and if there's no one there, I'll whisper, `It's Bobby.'
" When the two finally did step out on the porch, JFK warned,
"Don't smile too much, or they'll think we are happy about the
appointment." Mr. Kennedy sold the house soon after the
inauguration.

Further on the same street, we found the Harriman House. Here’s a little piece of history:
3038 N Street -Across the street from the Beall Mansion is
the Riggs-Riley House. This is considered to be an outstand-
ing example of a small, balanced Federal house. It was built
in 1816 and owned by the family that founded the Riggs Nat-
ional Bank. In recent years, it has belonged to the family of
statesman W. Averil Harriman.

This was Jackie Kennedy’s temporary home right after she left the White House, after the assassination of JFK in 1963.

Then further on, we found the house Jackie bought after moving out from the Harriman House- 3017 N St, a 3-story, 18th century home on an ivy-covered hill. They lived there for a year, before they moved to an apartment in 1040 5th Ave, New York. It is a lovely house, thickly shaded by magnolia trees. Stories had been told that mobs of tourists used to haunt the streets just to get a glimpse of Jackie and her kids.

All in all, it was one happy excursion. How fanatic can I get?

Please click HERE to see some snapshots of JFK & JBK homes.

To complete our jaunt that day, we stumbled upon the Turkish Festival in full swing in Pennsylvania St, between 13th & 14th Sts. The smell of the Turkish food and the unequivocal sound of Turkish music emanated through the sunshiny yet a bit nippy DC afternoon. We watched Turkish dancers gaily swayed and whirled away on a make-shift stage. From time to time, there were two precocious toddlers hopping up the stage and unabashedly displayed their shimmies, with matching pint-sized beaded & coined hip scarves. Such sweet souls.

It was another hit weekend for us. Monday was a holiday, so we gladly roosted at home. After each perfectly lazy long weekend, it’s always a pain to finally go back to work. But it’s only gonna be four days before yet another weekend will come sauntering about.

¡Vivas!