Thoughts

I am not sure I would ever care to live there, due to real estate prices and heavy traffic, but Washington, D.C. is a great place to visit. I have a close friend who lives just outside the Capitol in Bethesda, Maryland. I make the trip out to see him every few months, well I try to anyway. My most recent trip was just this past weekend. This was the first trip on which he has taken me around to experience some of the "touristy" activities.

On Friday he took me to the area he referred to as "The Mall." For those of us out of the loop, we would have just called it "that place with all of the museums." To see them all is a more-than-one-day project; the buildings are all large and the area is rather spread out. If you take the Metro, get off at the Smithsonian Station. It is a beautiful piece of land between the Capitol Building and the Washington Monument. Since we had not allotted the entire day, or even a significant portion of it, to museums, we chose only a few to visit. For a complete listing of the museums, see here.

The first was The National Museum of American History. We walked through a few of the exhibits and the one I found most interesting was The Price of Freedom: Americans at War. The part of the museum that blew me away most was right when you walk in the door. Hanging from the wall opposite the front doors is the enormous American Flag that was used in 2001 to cover the damage to the Pentagon following the terrorist attacks.

Next we visited The National Museum of Natural History. We saw the Family Hall of Mammals which was pretty cool. It is hard to imagine how many species of animals that I had never heard of, let alone seen. We also went into the Dinosaur exhibit, though I think everyone who goes into the Museum of Natural History sees the dinosaurs, so it is no surprise that I went.

We sat for a short while on some freezing cold benches watching families skate on the ice rink located in the sculpture garden. It was a nice break from the walking. Doesn't hurt to get to see a few kids fall on the ice either! Well, it didn't hurt me, anyway. I can't say the same for the kids who fell...

The final stop on our brief tour of the Smithsonian Museums was the National Gallery of Art. We did not stay long as time ran short on our afternoon, but we did get to see some fantastic paintings. The picture is of one of my particular favorites. We also had the privilege of seeing a work done by Vincent van Gogh where he actually painted on both sides of whatever surface he used. We happened upon that at the same time as a pair of women who looked at it and talked about it like there was nothing in life that gave them more pleasure. It is always nice to see passionate people.

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Another item on our tourist agenda was a visit to the Washington National Cathedral. I had been to the Cathedral once before on a school trip some 10 years ago, so it did look familiar, but I was still amazed by the architecture. It was built on the highest elevation in Washington, D.C. so I recommend the obvservation galleries. You can take one of two elevators up to the 7th level and look out on the entire surrounding area. I hope you have a clearer day than I had, however. It was foggy and overcast so visibility was very limited.

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I wish I had taken my camera with me. I did not expect to do any sight seeing, so I left it at home. I had to dig up the pictures you see from other sources on the internet, though I would have much preferred to show you what I saw as I saw it. All I can say is next time, I'll have it with me.

Each of the museums we saw was worth the trip and there were many more I would like to go to when I get another chance. I also recommend a trip to the Cathedral if you have time while you are in Washington, D.C.