One of the things I love the most about living in beautiful southern Maryland is being within easy day-trip distance of our nation's capitol. I love the pulse of the city, the opportunity to people-watch, and most of all I love all the knowledge that is within such easy reach within the city. I love to spend a day in the museums and memorials.
Today I was exploring for the first time with my younger siblings Anna (16), Elizabeth and Allen (13), and Ruth (9). This is the first time the kids and I have hit the city sans parents (although my father metroed in later and took us all to dinner after a long day of walking).
In spite of the recent accidents that seem to be plaguing the Metro system, I love the convenience of the system. Here we are departing!
Something about riding Metro never grows old for kids. :)
We were destined for the American History Museum, but the peril of walking in D.C. is that there is always something fascinating that calls for a stop and a perusal... like the sculpture garden, one of my personal favorites. I love the playfulness of many modern sculptures and I'm fascinated by shape and form, period!
I loved this fun take on "The Thinker!"
Something else I love about sculpture is the way it changes as you change positions.
We did finally make it to the American History Museum and the display we came to see - the film and television "Hall of Fame"!
We found Dorothy's slippers...
Kermit the frog (I was sad to discover that none of my siblings had any clue who "Kermie" was!!!)...
And Oscar the Grouch! :)
Downstairs in the Lobby, I found another dear childhood friend! :)
After we finished in the American History Museum and met Dad, several of my siblings wanted to revisit the Natural History Museum. If I had to look at the Hope diamond or dino skeletons one more time, I was going to die... so Ruth and I parted for a quick run through the art gallery!
My favorite display was easily this new display of light and motion called "Multiverse." This is easily worth going to the gallery for alone! Try as I might, I could not get any pictures that came close to capturing the incredible beauty of this piece...
... However, this video at least gives you a sense of it.
Some of the pieces that Ruth and I deemed among our favorites included these geometric-y pieces.
We also found this picture by Jean DuBuffet, titled (very loosely translated) "Facade of a City Block". In fact, we liked it so much that we memorized the artist name so we could come home and google the picture!
This picture is too small to show much detail, but each of the little white spots in the windows is a face with its own personality! It truly captures the idea of a city block!
Maggie and I had visited Chop't during our last trip to D.C. for a concert at Strathmore, and so we walked to Chinatown for dinner.
For those of you unfamiliar with the concept of Chop't, it's like a giant salad bar stuffed with the most awesome of ingredients, like black beans, chickpeas, sesame noodles, grilled tun
a, avacado, edamame, hearts of palm, kalamata olives, goat cheese, craisins, and much, much more. You select your lettuce base, pile on the toppings, and the chefs then dice all your tastiness together with a mezzaluna knife (like this one). Everything ends up nicely distributed, so you get a bit of each flavor in each bite!
It was delicious as always. :)
It was a lovely trip, but my poor feet have had it. :) As one of my favorite books as a child ends: "At the end of a long, long day, it's nice to be alone and think about tomorrow."
2 comments:
I totaled my car this summer, but was fine living right outside D.C. and having the metro and other means of public transportation to get everywhere. I took the red line from my office in Silver Spring to class at UMD (near Fort Totten station) most weekdays. My dad said that I should borrow his car, leaving three drivers at my home in rural St. Mary's with one vehicle to share, and I'd have to learn to drive manual. I was frustrated and insisted that he keep it - that I didn't need it, but he brought it up one afternoon anyway and gave me a 2 hr crash course (no pun intended).
Couple days later... the train I had taken every day was in that nasty crash, and I had been lazy and taken dad's car that day! Of course he called to see if I was alive and offered a loving "I-told-you."
>_< Scary.
Whoa... you know, I have always felt complacently safe on the metro system (I know, I know, complacency borne of ignorance) but I did think about that when the kids and I boarded... somehow it's different going in on your own and going in with four dependents. :)
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