Galleries Inside and Out

Sunday, First Full Day DC. Taking the metro in--our first destination is "The Castle"--the Smithsonian Welcome Center. It faces a dry, dry mall. (The weather here has been so dry that even the crab grass on the mall is dead.) Still the plantings and the gardens have been watered. Every backpack and bag carried into a building is checked by security. Mike worries about the two bottles of wine he is packing--gifts for high-school friend Dennis and his wife Vera who have invited us to dinner this evening.

The Haupt gardens in the rear of The Castle frame the entrances to the Sackler and the African American Gallery. They are both underground and connected at one of the lower levels. We're on our way to the National Gallery of Art, but take an hour (at least) to see the Asian art in the Sackler. When we leave I can tell you the difference between earthenware and stoneware, describe some Indian statuary, and some beautiful Japanese ceramics. On the way to the National Gallery of Art we toddle around the Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden. I remember on our last trip to this outdoor experience with the kids over 15 years ago. Daniel had a laugh over the naked women statues. You know that little boy giggle. Great memory. What a treasure is the National Gallery of Art. Renoir, Manet, Monet, Degas, and more. We know many of these images as reproductions...but it is really something to see them and to see them in actual scale. It's Sunday so we enjoy the buffet in the cafe in the West building. Mike was wishing that they left the menu so we would know what we were eating. I did recognize the winter squash, the smoked salmon and the bean soup...hey, they said it was their harvest menu. Mike said that the price was worth the roasted pears and whipped cream that we ate for dessert.

We had to leave before we saw all that we wanted. Dinner at D and V's means a trip to the end of the Blue Line Metro for a pickup and a car trip to our destination. Good food and great conversation. A lot of catching up. Mike makes a date for a early morning photoshoot some day this week.

All in all a great day.