Ice Cream with Tevye

Washington DC is hot and humid this time of year, so our walking tends to be in the morning and then in the late afternoon/evening.

So we headed out about 5 PM and walked up Connecticut, into Cleveland Park.  Wandered around areas where Richard once lived, looked in a few of his old haunts, and generally just enjoyed the moderate weather of dusk.

Then took a taxi back to Dupont Circle for more walking, dinner, and more walking.  (We've put on nearly 8 miles today.)  And, on the walk back to our hotel, we passed Larry's.

Larry's Homemade Ice Cream and Cupcakes - check it out:

http://larryshomemade.blogspot.com/

http://www.yelp.com/biz/larrys-ice-cream-washington-2

http://www.washingtonpost.com/gog/restaurants/larrys-ice-cream,1085039.html

Okay, so maybe you looked, maybe you didn't - but here's our experience:
We walk in and the older man behind the counter, with a familiar voice and accent, is serving ice cream to an older women.  We look around, ooh and aah over the pastries, read the descriptions of every ice cream, and Richard notices there's a smaller version of Picasso's "Guernica" painted on the wall, says something about the painting to the ice cream guy.  "Me?  Know who painted this?  I don't know," the man grumbles, winking at me as Richard looks away.  After some banter, we realize the characters in the painting are holding ice cream cones!!!!  In color!!!!!  We laugh, we chat, we banter, Richard vacillates between milk chocolate and key west chocolate (with orange) ice cream - old man makes outrageous comments, winks at me, laughs heartily. And begins whistling "If I Were a Rich Man" - and it comes to me, this is Topol as Tevye scooping up ice cream and slinging insults at customers!!!!  That was exactly the accent, the gravelly voice, the jokingly disparaging sense of humor and tone!  It was the most hysterical juxtaposition of people and situations, and I just started laughing.  (And the older woman served previously is quietly sitting at a table, daintily laughing into her ice cream at the entire conversation!)

So we chat, asking where he's from (and he seriously went into his "Scoop Nazi" routine) - turns out he's from Turkey.  Then when Richard asked for the senior discount, visitor discount, big ice cream eater discount, the man said he's Jewish and Richard must be Jewish too - we agreed we're all mishpachah.  See, I told you, the man WAS Tevye! 

That was today's adventure - ice cream with Tevye.  Which makes perfect sense, since Tevye WAS a milkman.