My aching feet
Jul. 17th, 2004 07:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
yendiSo, the training went well. Since I was the only person in the class (and they comped my class due to a previous screw-up, so they lost bucks on this day), we got through a two-day agenda in way less time (and that included the instructor and I heading out to grab some Starbucks this morning). So, after lunch today, I headed to The Mall.
Have I mentioned how much I love James Smithson and everything done in his name?
As always, my first stop was The Freer Gallery, my absolute favorite of the Smithsonian museums. Charles Freer was obsessed with Asian (and Egyptian) art, and was one of the primary patrons of Whistler. As a result, the Freer Gallery is delightfully schizophrenic. There are great Korean ceramics, Japanese screens, Chinese sculptures, Bible and Koran manuscripts, etc. And tons of Whistler. Including The Peacock Room, one of those unique pieces of art that can never truly be conveyed in pictures.
The Freer has a tunnel that heads right to The Sackler, aka The Other Asian Gallery at the Smithsonian. They tend to do the special exhibits, which included a nice one on Japanese calligraphy, the Qingzhou Buddha statues, and a nifty exhibit on Islamic art in Spain. That killed a couple of hours.
I followed that with a nice walk around The Mall (including the sculpture garden in front of the National Archives). I then spent the rest of the afternoon in the Museum of American History. Unlike the Freer and Sackler, I hadn't been to this one in nearly twenty years, so it was, for all intents and purposes, a new experience. I've got to admit, I enjoyed it quite a bit. History museums don't rank as high on my list as art or science ones (although I did like City Museum and The New York Experience when I was growing up), but the exhibits covered a nice range, with a solid one on all the First Ladies, a very nice computer exhibition (with an Apple 1!), and other nifty things. There's also a Paul McCartney exhibit, because Britain is apparently a part of America now. That was nicely balanced by the other exhibit dedicated to an alien, the Superman room. Lots of Supes memorabilia, along with a computer guide to the entire Superman collection.
I took lots of pictures yesterday, so expect a long photo post later this week when I can upload 'em.
The end result of the day, however, is that my feet hurt. A lot. I always forget how big those museums (and The Mall itself) are. Not helped by walking around Dupont Circle for half an hour or so trying to figure out what I wanted to do for dinner (I ended up just buying a sandwich and eating it while watching TV).
So yeah, legs in lots of pain, but so totally worth it. Next trip, the National Gallery and maybe Air and Space again.
Have I mentioned how much I love James Smithson and everything done in his name?
As always, my first stop was The Freer Gallery, my absolute favorite of the Smithsonian museums. Charles Freer was obsessed with Asian (and Egyptian) art, and was one of the primary patrons of Whistler. As a result, the Freer Gallery is delightfully schizophrenic. There are great Korean ceramics, Japanese screens, Chinese sculptures, Bible and Koran manuscripts, etc. And tons of Whistler. Including The Peacock Room, one of those unique pieces of art that can never truly be conveyed in pictures.
The Freer has a tunnel that heads right to The Sackler, aka The Other Asian Gallery at the Smithsonian. They tend to do the special exhibits, which included a nice one on Japanese calligraphy, the Qingzhou Buddha statues, and a nifty exhibit on Islamic art in Spain. That killed a couple of hours.
I followed that with a nice walk around The Mall (including the sculpture garden in front of the National Archives). I then spent the rest of the afternoon in the Museum of American History. Unlike the Freer and Sackler, I hadn't been to this one in nearly twenty years, so it was, for all intents and purposes, a new experience. I've got to admit, I enjoyed it quite a bit. History museums don't rank as high on my list as art or science ones (although I did like City Museum and The New York Experience when I was growing up), but the exhibits covered a nice range, with a solid one on all the First Ladies, a very nice computer exhibition (with an Apple 1!), and other nifty things. There's also a Paul McCartney exhibit, because Britain is apparently a part of America now. That was nicely balanced by the other exhibit dedicated to an alien, the Superman room. Lots of Supes memorabilia, along with a computer guide to the entire Superman collection.
I took lots of pictures yesterday, so expect a long photo post later this week when I can upload 'em.
The end result of the day, however, is that my feet hurt. A lot. I always forget how big those museums (and The Mall itself) are. Not helped by walking around Dupont Circle for half an hour or so trying to figure out what I wanted to do for dinner (I ended up just buying a sandwich and eating it while watching TV).
So yeah, legs in lots of pain, but so totally worth it. Next trip, the National Gallery and maybe Air and Space again.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2004-07-17 09:30 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-07-17 10:00 am (UTC)Thanks for posting this, it made me happy (and might also make my mom happy, because now I want to go visit her...I usually avoid DC during the summer months ;-)
(no subject)
Date: 2004-07-17 06:06 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-07-19 10:28 am (UTC)