Saturday, October 5, 2013

Washington DC, Part 2

1, 2 September 2013

Fortunately there is Latin Mass in the heart of Washington DC at St. Mary Mother of God Church. We came on the subway Sunday morning and then walked from there to do more touring.
  • National Gallery of Art, East and West Buildings   Take me back here—I need more time! Delightful, and they let you take pictures! The modern half of the National Gallery (East building) was disappointing, however. I did enjoy seeing gigantic portraits by Chuck Close. Chuck has Facial Recognition Disorder (Prosopagnosia) so he divides his source photo into squares and paints enormous portraits one square at a time.
  • Museum of Air and Space   My feet and legs ached so much from all the previous day's walking that all I could really do was sit and rest. Whistling Son joined me while Great Husband and Tall Son enjoyed the museum.
National Museum of Air and Space

Supper was from one of the many food trucks that serve the National Mall. We had Greek food, did people-watching on the Mall, and then went to a great Labor Day symphony concert on the West Lawn of the Capitol. It was the National Symphony joined by three string musicians called Time for Three.


The Capitol seen from the West Lawn at concert time

After the concert, Great Husband realized he had lost his glasses out of his shirt pocket. We returned to the West Lawn in total darkness and got the assistance of the Capitol Police with their flashlights in searching for the glasses, but without any luck. The rest of the story happened the next morning.

First thing on Monday we returned to the West Lawn and got permission to do more searching for the glasses. The four us formed a search party at arms length from each other so that we could cover the ground in an organized fashion. It looked like the grass had been freshly mown, so were we ever surprised to successfully find those glasses! They looked terrible! One lens was popped out of the frames and mashed into the dirt. The ear pieces were splayed out, and overall the glasses really looked beyond hope. But once back at the camper at the end of the day, Great Husband was able to bend them back into shape and we all rejoiced that they were wearable!

Monday's activities:
  • Tour of the Capitol Building   This tour starts by entering the visitors' center under the plaza on the east side of the Capitol. It is a very nice visitor's center but it would have been nicer to be able to enter by climbing the original steps, thus getting oriented to the layout of the building by relating it to the outside. For the tour we were given headsets so we could hear the guide easily. Unfortunately we did not get to see either the House chamber or the Senate chamber since they were not in session. 
  • Tour of the Library of Congress     This building is stunning inside! (Admittedly, all the decor is devoted to the secular.) I thought the impact of entering the Library of Congress was much greater than the impact of the Capitol Rotunda. We took a great tour and got to see the Gutenburg Bible and the hand-made Giant Bible of Mainz, the big reading room where the public can request materials to study, and the Thomas Jefferson library, moved here from Monticello. 
  • We walked to Union Station and took the Metro to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception    This is just an enormous place, with many niches and sculptures devoted to Mary, but mostly too edgy to satisfy me.
Plaza on the east side of the Capitol

Every inch of the Library of Congress is decorated.

Reading room in the Library of Congress

A small portion of a triptych -- I liked these ladies at the
National Gallery of Art

from the National Gallery of Art



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