It is late on Tuesday night and it has been a day. We were out of our room by 9:30 and returned at 8 pm. (Don’t feel too bad for us- we returned with full tummies from an incredible meal!)
We started our day with a first- we decided to take the Metro for our first outing. FYI- the Metro is Washington’s underground subway. It’s really a great concept- no stop signs, no honking horns, no idiot drivers- it just takes some getting used to. Of course, all of the natives are in a hurry to get where they are going and it seems like all I kept doing was getting in their path. But by the end of the day it had become a challenge to me- at one point Dean told me, “Even if we don’t know where we are going, just walk with a purpose”- if there is one thing I can do, it is to walk with a purpose, so that is what we did. I am ready for our next Metro encounter. Our last subway experience was in Chicago on the ‘el’ with pregnant Kecia on the way to a Cubs game at Wrigley Field- an uncomfortable experience that none of us will ever forget. The Metro is a much more positive means of transportation.
We first visited the National Archives. We were both very excited about this stop because this is where the “Documents of Freedom” are kept. We got to see the original Magna Carta, Declaration of Independence, Constitution, Bill of Rights and the Louisiana Purchase documents. I had goose bumps throughout. The museum was very busy with lots of school tours. At one point while I was marveling over the signatures on the Declaration, I heard a 7th grader tell his mom, “Yeah, I know, I’m standing exactly where Nicholas Cage stood!” (Nicholas Cage recently made a movie (National Treasure) where the documents are stolen)- I guess everyone has their reasons for being there. Regardless, the Rotunda where the documents are housed is incredible. We left feeling very patriotic.
We then headed to the National Portrait Museum. What an incredible display of art. We spent several hours wandering through the three floors of what is displayed there. We especially enjoyed the display of Presidential Portraits. The neatest thing about this place is that the art is just there- it’s not behind glass or cases, it’s there for you to nose right up to it to inspect all of it. There are great classic portraits, but also examples of modern art. A few of which wigged me out- there was this one work that was a life size model of a woman in a house coat eating at a diner table- she looked so real- I couldn’t get close, it gave me the heebee geebees.
After the portrait hours, we sat for a bit to enjoy Starbucks and a cookie. The weather is still very cold. The wind was still kicking today; the only good news was that the drizzle was gone. It was mostly partly cloudy and windy, very windy.
We then jumped back on the Metro and made our way to the Museum of Natural History. The people in the museum was incredible. We both believe that there should be times of the day that are just for adults- it was very busy. We saw the Hope diamond and the Tiffany diamond as well. There are exhibits about mammals, bugs, sea life, etc in this museum. Lost of stuffed animals to look at.
We noticed it was 4:30 when we were done and talked about how we wanted to also see the Air & Space Museum. Dean said that while we are here, let’s go. Okay- sounds easy enough. However, these two museums are a great distance apart, although only separated by the National Mall. We stepped it up and sped-walked to Air & Space. We got there with 45 minutes to get through two floors of endless exhibits. We chose a few we definitely wanted to see and began. Lots of true scale planes, satellites, etc. Also, the American History Museum is closed for renovations so a small portion of their exhibits are temporarily housed in the Air & Space. We made it through by closing. Headed to the Metro and made our way to dinner before calling it a night.
It is late right now (11 our time) and I am so dragging right now. I will try to post some pictures tomorrow morning. However, the weather is supposed to be a little better so we are hoping to make it to Mount Vernon early- we’ll keep everyone posted.
Hope all is well with everyone- Nick