Smithsonian's Museums - the WOW Factor

Day 11 – Moored, Washington, DC

Each day that we've gone out exploring, we've been visiting one of the Smithsonian's museums. According to the Smithsonian Survival Guide (free/$1 donation), the Smithsonian Institution includes 19 museums, the National Zoo, 9 research centers and 12 public gardens. Seven of the museums plus the National Gallery of Art and several public gardens surround the National Mall. We decided which ones held mutual interest and visited those first. As with most national sights in Washington, DC, entrance to all the museums is free.

The Smithsonian Castle seemed the logical place to start, but we didn't start there. (Logic...schmogic!) That said, it's where my blog post starts. The building was completed in 1855, and the museum's entire collection was originally housed here. The Castle is now the Visitor's Center and the Smithsonian icon. An interesting note … James Smithson (1765-1829) was a very wealthy English scientist. He bequeathed his entire fortune to his nephew with the provision that if his nephew died without heirs, his fortune would go to the United States “for the creation of an institution dedicated to the increase and diffusion of knowledge” in Washington, DC. More interesting? Smithson never set foot in the USA. He is buried in a crypt in the Castle...the only person to be interred on the National Mall.

Now … on to the museums …

The Air & Space Museum was highest on both David and Paul's list, so we visited there first. This museum details the history of flight. The museum boasts more than 50,000 artifacts, plus a planetarium and an IMAX theater.  We tagged along on a guided tour of the highlights of the museum which took us from Icarus to space travel and everything in between. Talk about mind-boggling! The highlights were Wilbur & Orville Wright's 1903 Flyer, Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis, lunar space landing vehicles, rockets, jets … if it flew or flies, it's probably here.

Lucky for us, the Wright Brothers were home and consented to having their picture taken with us. Timing's everything.

I had voted for the Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden and since it was just across the street from Air & Space, we headed there next. The Hirshhorn is a circular, drum-shaped building with an outdoor plaza and a sunken sculpture garden. It concentrates on international modern and contemporary art and reminded us very much of Tasmania's MONA.

We convinced David to pose next to Big Man (artist: Ron Mueck) to give some perspective to the sculpture's size.

Moving right along, we visited the Natural History museum on two consecutive days and still didn't see it all. The museum houses the largest natural history collection in the world and we were once again overwhelmed by all we saw. Henry, the elephant, greeted us in the main hall on arrival. His ivory tusks were too heavy to mount (80# each), so he's had to manage with fiberglass tusks all these years.

Like every other museum at the Smithsonian, the exhibits were informative, provocative and fascinating. We saw a T-Rex skull and a triceratops skeleton, cave paintings, a giant squid, mummies, hordes of animals and marine life and a whole gallery dedicated to our prehistoric ancestors.  And, the Hope Diamond was on display … all 45.52 carats of it.

The American History Museum contains three floors of all that's American. We were particularly enthralled with a gallery entitled American Stories. Dorothy's ruby slippers were on display, as were first ladies' gowns, Mohammed Ali's gloves, Bert & Ernie, Edison's light bulb, Lincoln's top hat, the golden spike for the completion of the Transcontinental railroad, the Star-Spangled Banner and Ben Franklin's walking stick, among other memorabilia.

With so many galleries and exhibits to choose from, we had to choose carefully which to visit. We had finally come to the conclusion, we couldn't see everything … not enough time and not enough brain cells to digest it all. We chose two more galleries, On the Water (of course) and America on the Move, a history of transportation in the USA.  David was particularly interested in the Gunboat Philadelphia, a Revolutionary War era gunboat, that was sunk early in the war and only recently discovered, recovered and brought to the Smithsonian. All three were excellent choices and we learned a lot, but our minds were full to the brim when we left.

The African American History and Culture Museum opened with great celebration while we were in DC. The lines were long and we opted to wait until our next visit to check out this museum. Good thing, because we couldn't take in many more museums.

We were so impressed with all we saw, we became members of the Smithsonian. What better way to show our gratitude for such a stupendous institution.

There's still more DC to share. David's Blue View will take precedence tomorrow, then on Sunday we'll report about our visit to the Money Factory and the National Gallery of Art. Check it out.

A Capitol Tour and Library of Congress

Day 10 – Moored, Washington, DC

We were up early and ready to tackle another day of being tourists in Washington, DC. I was able to book a free tour of the Capitol Building on line and we headed there first. There's no lack of information nor brochures available about the Capitol and I took advantage of them all.

Situated on nearly 60 acres of winding paths, trees and flowers at the east end of the National Mall, the Capitol Building grounds “reflect a plan completed in 1892 by renowned landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted”.

The Capitol Visitor's Center was completed in 2008 and it's absolutely grand. It's wide and expansive, with marble floors and pillars. We passed through Security, picked up our passes and spent some time in the informative Emancipation Hall exhibit area while waiting for the tour to begin.

A full-size plaster model of the Statue of Freedom dominates the entrance to the Exhibition Hall. The American sculptor, Thomas Crawford, designed it as the topper for the US Capitol Building. Its 20', 15,000 pound, bronze counterpart has stood atop the cast-iron Capitol dome since 1863. The plaster model has been shuffled around from the National Statuary Hall, to the Smithsonian, to storage and then here when the Visitor's Center opened in 2008.

We watched a 15-minute introductory video and then met our well-rehearsed tour guide. Our group of about 25 people followed like sheep as the guide pointed out key statues and architectural features, showed us the old Supreme Court headquarters, the Senate chamber and narrated the history of the Capitol building. In the Hall of Statuary and throughout the building, statues of famous men and women were on display. Each state is allowed two statues and all are displayed somewhere within the Capitol Building.

The pièce de resistance, however, was the Capitol Rotunda, the eye of the Capitol dome. Italian immigrant, Constantino Brumidi , was responsible for most of the murals and wall paintings within the Rotunda, including his exquisite masterpiece, The Apotheosis of Washington, which adorns the ceiling of the Rotunda.

A frieze encircles the base of the dome and depicts significant events in American history including the landing of Columbus, Cornwallis' surrender to Washington, the discovery of gold in California and the Wright Brothers. The fresco technique used was “grisaille, a monochrome of whites and browns to give the effect of sculpture”.

When the tour had ended, the guide suggested we take the underground tunnel from the Capitol to the Library of Congress, a building, he said, was the most beautiful in Washington. How could we resist? “The Library of Congress [established in 1800] is the world's largest repository of knowledge and creativity with a collection of more than 162 million items.” We entered the Great Hall, the centerpiece of the building, and gasped in wonder at its incredible beauty. Wow!

In a Beaux Arts tradition, the heavily ornamented ceiling and walls were exquisite. Stained-glass skylights cast a warm glow on the two marble staircases that flanked the hall and led to the second floor at mezzanine level. There was too much for the eye to see and the mind to contemplate in one session.

We climbed another marble staircase to a special gallery that overlooks the Reading Room, a center for research and study.

We wandered through the Great Hall and exhibits and side corridors and rooms taking in everything from Bob Hope's funniest jokes, to Marvin Hamlisch's Oscar for Best Score in The Way We Were to the Gutenberg Bible.

Once again, we were awed and overwhelmed by what we had seen and experienced. These are not places that can be viewed once and checked off as “been there, done that”. These are incredible places that might take a lifetime to totally take in and comprehend and beckon visitors to return over and over again. For us, we needed time to digest and appreciate. We caught a late lunch at one of the food trucks that line the National Mall, wandered around town some more and by late afternoon, tuckered out in body and mind, headed back to Cups.

A Monumental Day in Washington, DC

Day 9 – Moored, Washington, DC

We didn't waste a minute of our time in D.C. As soon as Cups was secured on her mooring and tidied up, we headed ashore to check in with the Gangplank Marina, get the lay of the land and begin exploring. The day was glorious … warm and sunny. Washington's many monuments were first on our list of must-sees. We were only a 15-minute walk from the National Mall and headed first to the Washington Monument. Though the monument was closed for maintenance, we weren't phased in the least. Just standing at its base and looking up was a thrill.

We continued along the National Mall to the World War II Memorial, a war in which our fathers fought.

We'd seen the Vietnam Memorial before, but Paul hadn't. The Vietnam Women's Memorial had been added since our last visit. Over 265,000 American women served during the Vietnam War era, 11,000 of whom were in Vietnam, mostly as nurses.

Then we moved on to The Wall. This was “our” war. David served during this war, as did many of our friends and relatives. We used the reference book to find the name of Jimmy Tazelaar, a close family friend of the Lynn family. Though many people were viewing the monument, the tenor was quiet and somber. Wreaths and bouquets, photographs and letters all lay in memory of the thousands who died in this war.

We followed the Mall to its end at the Lincoln Memorial and climbed the steep steps to pay tribute to our 16th President. It's an inspiring, grand monument to a great man.

On the south side of the Mall, we came across the Korean War Monument, very different and almost unnerving.

The Martin Luther King, Jr. Monument was next on our path. Another inspiring memorial to a great man.

We crossed the Kutz Bridge over the Tidal Basin for great views of the Jefferson Memorial. During cherry blossom time, this must be an exquisite view.

In our wanderings, we also managed to take in the U S Navy Memorial.

There is no dearth of memorials, monuments, statues and public artwork in Washington, DC and though we didn't see them all, we were invigorated and enthused by what we did manage to see. They are somber and thought-provoking, but elicit a pride in our country that is heartening.

We walked over seven miles during the course of the day and when we returned to Nine of Cups, our dogs were definitely tired and we were “memorial-ed” out. A glass of wine, dinner, a movie and a good night's sleep. We recouped for another day in the capital city. Tomorrow, a tour of the Capitol.