A weekend in Washington

We took the metro 3 stops into the city and walked the short distance to the Mall and all the Smithsonian museums.  First stop was Air and Space.  It seemed a lot bigger than on our last visit, with Imax theatre definitely a new attraction, but the space capsules still look small and flimsey.

We're suckers for Imax and saw a film about the International Space Station which we both enjoyed.  The museum was absolutely heaving as we left and moved on to the Museum of the American Indians.  This is housed in a new and beautiful building- perhaps more impressive than the exhibits.  We thought the museum in Santa Fe had more to see.


We ended the day with a stop at the Botanic Gardens and greenhouses right next to the Capitol building.  The latter is covered with scaffolding as the dome is disintegrating so not looking its best.

Saturday we decided the National Art Gallery might be a little less crowded, at least attracting fewer kids.  We concentrated on the Impressionists and 19 th century and there are many famous paintings on show.  As in NY photos are allowed so I snapped a couple as examples.  We were also impressed by the new sparkley walkway between the 2 buildings and its wall of water.

We walked through the Sculpture Garden and up the Mall to the Washington Monument and then headed back to get changed and wait for Janice de Couto -as was- to arrive.  This she did, very promptly having driven from the other side of the metropolitan area, and we went to Legal Seafood for supper.

3and a half hours passed by catching up with her news and gossip about her old school mates and their life-paths......all most enjoyable.

Sunday was pretty taxing-at least for me.  By now the temperature was in the 80's.  We started the day  at the Natural History museum where we enjoyed another Imax film and were amazed at the miles of galleries of minerals and gems let alone the exhibits of animals, insects, birds etc etc.  next we walked up the Mall to meet our guide for a 4 hour walking tour around the monuments of the Mall .......I was pretty tired by the end but we did see everything up close and learned a lot.  At the end we still had a good walk to the metro stop.

Supper was in Bob and Edie's Diner as we wanted to end with an authentic American experience!

Today witll be the inevitable transition, packing, hanging about, hoping for no delayed flights, staggering through security ( twice) and a night on the redeye before normal life and responsibilities start on Tuesday.