D.C., Last Day

 We had to leave to catch our flight home at 2 pm, so we started out early to see as much as we could.  First, we went to the Library of Congress, the ultimate destination for book lovers!  The building is beautiful, one of the most impressive that we saw in D.C. 

 

Cameras weren't allowed in any of the rooms with book collections, but they were amazing to see.  Centuries old and incredibly rare!  One of my favorites was Thomas Jefferson's collection of rare books that he sold to the U.S. for the Library of Congress.   There was so much history to read through in the LoC galleries, but we couldn't take too much time there because I needed to finish going through the National Art Gallery!

 We planned to spend 2 more hours at the NAG, so we started in the rooms we ended with the day before.  I saw so many paintings I have loved for years.  I took pictures of many of them just to remind me that I stood only a foot away from them.  Wow!  Here are just a few of my favorites:

I love this painting by Monet of his wife and son. You can almost feel the sunshine and the light breeze.

Portrait of a Lady by Van der Weyden, painted in 1460, has such rich color and detail.  She's stunning!

I wasn't familiar with this painting, but it is wonderful!  Two Women at a Window by Spanish artist Murillo in the 1600s.

One of my favorites by Rembrandt is The Mill. 

One of the highlights of the NAG is Leonardo da Vinci's Ginevra de' Benci, painted in 1474.  It is the only da Vinci painting in Western Hemisphere, and is very well-protected.  In the NAG there were dozens of security guards, one assigned to every two rooms of paintings. This security agent was assigned to guard only the Ginevra, and he never moved from her side.  She had better security than the President!

  We were told that the painting had been cut down at some point, and originally she held some flowers in her hands.  An original artist's sketch is kept in London, Buckingham Palace (I think).

I decided to try my hand at painting, and I think I did pretty well for my first time!  Really, they had easels in a few of the rooms, and painters would work on learning the techniques of the masters and copying the famous paintings.

We had a few minutes before we needed to head back to the hotel to catch the shuttle, so Del told me there was one more exhibit he wanted me to see in the Hirshhorn modern art museum. He had seen it the day before and thought I would like it. We headed down the escalator, turned round the first corner, and there he was!  A giant, naked man! 

He's very realistic and very creepy!  Look at the veins and wrinkles in these feet!  The toenails grossed me out!  We stood over to the side to look at him because he's not sitting very modestly and had all of the family jewels exposed for the world to see.  Not a pretty sight, let me tell you!  I'm so glad we made time to see Big Man.  Thanks a lot, honey!!!

We never did get to go in the castle, but it looked great from the outside.  Maybe next time we visit!

 After a long flight and a long drive home from Boise, we were home!  The kids surprised us with this great "Welcome Home" sign.  

 

 

It was St. Patrick's Day, so Chris added this leprechaun and the girls made us some green foods for dinner, including a yummy green pound cake.  Visiting Washington, D.C. was wonderful, but coming home felt even better!

D.C., Day 3

 

This was our only full day of touring D.C., so it was packed with lots of what we wanted to see.  First was an 8 am tour of the White House.  We had requested tickets when I found out we were going to D.C., but the process usually takes about 6 weeks because of background checks, so we ended up using some guest passes from the Senator's office.  We felt pretty special, but we still got the regular tour.  You can't take pictures until you are out of the portico in back, so we took some with our camera phone.

There were 3 buildings that I had to see before leaving: The National Museum of American History, The Library of Congress, and the National Gallery of Art.  Del really wanted to see the Museum of Natural History, so that was on our list, too.  We started with the MNH, and we were amazed at how much there was to see.  

We kept recognizing things from the movie, "Night at the Museum," so we felt like we had been there before.  Remember this elephant from the movie? We figured that he was a movie star, so Del posed with him.

 

 

I loved getting a close-up view of the Hope diamond and reading about its fascinating history!  If I could have just tried it on I would have been in heaven!

 

We spent lots of time in the gem room.  I guess I have some of my dad's geologist genes.  It's hard to tell from this picture how big they are, but the mineral in the bottom right corner is over a foot tall and about 20 inches wide.  I coveted lots of things in this exhibit!

 

The Egyptian room was really interesting, and we loved these mummified cats (and parts of cats!).  Poor things!

 Next we went to the NMAH and saw fun things like these guitars.  I can't remember who owned them all, but I'm pretty sure one was from Jimi Hendrix and one from Eddy Van Halen.

While we were there, the NMAH was showcasing an exhibit of about 100 dresses owned  by the First Ladies.  Del was very bored there, but I had a great time!  

This was my favorite.  It was worn by Julia Grant in the 1870's, and it is midnight blue with black lace overlay.  It looked about my size, but unfortunately it was behind glass so I couldn't try it on to see.

 I couldn't resist snapping a picture of my favorite U.S. President! I still remember voting for him in a mock election in the 5th grade.  We had to research our candidate and cast our vote.  I remember feeling that I was doing something very important even though I was only 11!

We really wanted to see the ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz, but they were on tour. We did get to see these precursors to the Muppets, though, that were made by Jim Henson.  Some of them look just a little creepy!

We saved 2 hours to spend in the National Art Gallery, but we soon found that it wasn't nearly enough time. I couldn't seem to cruise through the 90+ gallery rooms.  The building itself is beautiful, with flowers and famous statues around each corner.

 Everywhere we turned there were beautiful paintings to drool over!  We started out in the rooms with the oldest art, so most of it was religious in nature.  It was fun to see works from the 1300's, but if I had realized how many exhibits were in the building, I would have gone very quickly through those rooms. I was mostly interested in seeing the mid-century masters, especially the Dutch and Italian. I had just gotten to these exhibits when it was announced that they were closing in 15 minutes! At this point, we had only made it through half of the art gallery!  I tried to hurry through, but it is an absolute thrill to see Rembrandts, Monets, Vermeers, and so many other masters up close. The details are amazing, and each of them is brilliant for different things.  I could not get over the richness of the colors Rembrandt used, and I loved the subject matter and interpretation of Monet.  It was so exciting to stand in front of pictures I've seen in art books all of my life. For instance, I always felt a kinship with this young girl with her nose stuck in a book.

 

We got kicked out of the building long before I was ready. We hadn't even seen da Vinci yet!

 Here I am sitting on the steps.  I just didn't want to leave.

We had spent hours and hours walking during the day and the day before.  By the time we got back to our hotel our feet were exhausted, and we both had shin splints.  It was worth it, though!

D.C., Day 2-the rest

While I was in my Senate training, Del spent the day wandering around D.C., especially enjoying the war memorials.  This statue is one of 18 in the Korean War Memorial.  They represent each of the four branches of the military who served in the war and are larger than life.  The detail is incredible.

The soldiers reflect in a granite wall etched with pictures of more people, and the effect is impressive.

The city is full of amazing views, but many of the monuments were in the process of getting facelifts.  The reflecting pool across from the Lincoln Memorial was empty and under construction, so we didn't get to see that beautiful sight as we sat on the stairs.

After I joined him, we went back to wander through the monuments and memorials again.  Del had already explored all day long (plus the day before), but he was a good sport and we had a great time.  We decided to take the metro out to Arlington National Cemetery so we could get there before it closes.  Arlington is a pretty long walk from the Capitol, and the metro makes stops at all of the major sites and gets you there quickly.  Unfortunately, the tour manual we were using was for their peak season, which didn't start for a few more weeks, so when we got all the way out to Arlington we found that it had closed 15 minutes earlier.  We were really disappointed, but we found that you can see a lot of the cemetery and feel the peaceful atmosphere just by walking around it, outside the fence.  

Arlington is so beautiful and peaceful; it definitely felt like hallowed ground. I was surprised at how large the cemetery is.  Sadly, it seems to go on forever.

After visiting Arlington, we decided to spend a few hours walking back to the hotel, touring as we went.  We knew the metro was closing early, so once we started, we had to finish even if we were tired. Our first stop was the Iwo Jima Memorial.  I had no idea how large it was.  Around the memorial is a list of every war the Marines have fought in, from 1775 to Persian Gulf.  It was sad to see that we have fought in so many wars, which have cost so many lives.

The memorial has the phrase, "Uncommon valor was a common virtue" at the top.  It was very inspiring.

From the Iwo Jima Memorial, we needed to cross the Potomac River to see the rest of the monuments.  The Washington Monument was a beautiful sight that you could see from most places in the city.  There is a law that no building in the city can be built higher than the top of the Statue of Freedom on the Capitol building.  The Washington Monument is the only exception.

The monuments are very beautiful at night when all of the marble and granite is lit up.  The Lincoln Memorial is very impressive, sitting there like a silent observer of our society.

The biggest surprise as you visit D.C. is how huge and impressive everything is.  The buildings are enormous and grand, and the statues are so detailed. 

By the time we got to the Washington Monument it was dark outside, and the view was amazing.

The World War II Memorial was also beautiful all lit up at night.

We had a beautiful view of the Jefferson Monument reflecting in the Potomac.

As we walked to the Jefferson Monument, we passed two men fishing off of the bridge.  It seemed so funny because it was right in the middle of the city, not like fishing in Idaho at all!  I took this picture of Del so I could remember the fisherman in the background.  We asked him if the fishing was good, and he said he hadn't caught anything yet, but he'd had some nibbles.  I was surprised that there was anything in the river, but as we walked around the side we was several big splashes.  Some big fish must be living well in that river.

After visiting the Jefferson Monument, we had to make the long hike up to the Capitol.  It took over 45 minutes, and we were exhausted by the time we made it to the hotel at 10:30.  Long day, but very impressive!