Day Eight I Washington DC

Wednesday the 29th

Since the weather forecast for today is rain showers mixed with thunder storms we decided to take a day off and just do nothing.

Thursday the 30th

We decided last night on what we wanted to see and do on our last foray into Washington DC so it was easy to get up, do our morning routine, grab the map and metro cards and drive to the parking garage.

Taking the metro into town we got off at the Gallery Place Station and took the escalators to the station exit on 7th Street. We set out along F Street and passed the National Portrait Gallery, continued on past several interesting buildings including the National Spy Museum and the National Union Building. Our first stop was Ford's Theater (http://www.fords.org/) where President Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865 just five days after the surrender of General Lee at Appomattox Courthouse.

After being shot, the President Lincoln was carried across the street to the Petersen House, where he died the next morning. The theatre was later used as a warehouse and office building. It was renovated and re-opened as a theater during the 1960's. During the 2000's it was renovated again, opening on February 12, 2009, in commemoration of Lincoln's bicentenary with President Barack Obama in attendance. The photo at left is the Petersen House.

The theater didn't open until 11:30 AM and the first available tour wasn't until 3:30 PM so we decided to forgo further investigation of Ford's Theater and walk around the area some more.

So we headed back down F Street past the National Museum of American Art (the other half of the National Portrait Gallery) and down to the National Building Museum (http://www.nbm.org/) which is a museum of architecture, design, engineering, construction and urban planning.

The Museum was created by an act of Congress in 1980 is housed in the former Pension Bureau building, a brick structure completed in 1887 and designed by Gen. Montgomery C Meigs, the US Army Quartermaster General. The building is notable for several architectural features, including the spectacular interior columns and a frieze stretching around the exterior of the building depicting Civil War soldiers in scenes somewhat reminiscent of those on Trajan's Column as well as the Horsemen Frieze of the Parthenon. This is another beautiful building with a huge interior space which has been used for inauguration balls. There are several gallery floors where special exhibits are displayed. I specially wanted to see two exhibits, "Cityscapes Revealed" and "Green Community".

Cityscapes explores quintessentially American, 20th-century buildings from center-city mansions to main street storefronts and sleek downtown skyscrapers. Included are close-up views of building details not otherwise seen such as the terra-cotta rosettes originally installed as part of the Museum’s cornice.

Green Community explores the origins of our precarious ecological situation and introduces communities large and small where citizens, political leaders, planning and design professionals, developers, and government agencies are working together for a more sustainable future. Before leaving the museum we stopped by the museum store where I found several books on Urban Planning and Green Design for livable and sustainable small towns.

After leaving the National Building Museum we walked along G Street through part of Chinatown before heading back to 8th and F Street where we wanted to stop at a small shop called "L'Occitane Boutique" where Tina bought some Lavender and Shea Butter body lotions.

From there we walked to a small specialty cheese shop called "Cowgirls Creamery" where we stopped for lunch. We both had artisan sandwiches with a root beer for Tina and a sparkling blackberry for me.

After lunch we walked back down F Street to the National Portrait Gallery (http://www.npg.si.edu/). We knew that we'd be in there for a couple of hours so we saved it for last. The Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery tells the story of America through the individuals who have shaped U.S. culture. Through the visual arts, performing arts, and new media, the Portrait Gallery portrays poets and presidents, visionaries and villains, actors and activists who speak American history. As in all Smithsonian museums the exhibits are really well done with small rooms linked together showing portraits, photographs with sculptures in marble and bronze grouped in ways that connected the materials in each room.

By the time we visited the Presidential Portrait Gallery on the second floor we figured we had seen all that we could enjoy so rather than force ourselves to finish everything we decided to call it a day and head home. We made it down to the subway station, caught the train and drove home getting there in time to take the kids for an afternoon walk and then allow ourselves a short snooze.

It stayed dry all day with the temperature hovering around sixty degrees, thirty degrees cooler than the last two days. The rest of the day we relaxed, had dinner and watched some TV.

To see all of today's photos click on the following link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/mjdolanski