A couple weeks ago I posted photos from my adventures in Virginia with Shae. I didn't include photos we took in DC because the Virginia post was already really long; we took so many pictures that week that cutting down the amount of photos to include in two posts was very difficult.
Anyways, our DC adventures took us to many museums, monuments, and food. Going to museums is one of our favorite things to do. We spent many afternoons in museums in NYC last year, so when we were both in DC, home to many free museums, our planning revolved around visiting them. We started off our first day in DC by immediately going to the National Gallery of Art, one of my favorite museums in DC and in general.
Anyways, our DC adventures took us to many museums, monuments, and food. Going to museums is one of our favorite things to do. We spent many afternoons in museums in NYC last year, so when we were both in DC, home to many free museums, our planning revolved around visiting them. We started off our first day in DC by immediately going to the National Gallery of Art, one of my favorite museums in DC and in general.
I didn't realize until later, when I was uploading the photos to my laptop, that I hadn't taken any other photos in the National Gallery, other than some quick photos on my phone.
I mostly took photos downstairs at the concourse that connects the west building to the east building. The walkway has been turned into a tunnel of light by the light installation, Multiverse. The lights move and change in patterns, so it's fun to watch it go through the cycle. We went back and forth on the walkway at least five times in order to take a bunch of photos.
After leaving the National Gallery, we went to the next stop on our list: the Air and Space Museum. We weren't there for too long; the museum was packed, I had been there many times before, and both of us wanted to go to another art museum. We had decided to go to the Hirshhorn next. I had actually never been there, so it was nice to go to one that was new to me as well.
When we went downstairs, we found that the walls and floors were covered with phrases in huge lettering, like "FORGET EVERYTHING" and "BELIEF + DOUBT = SANITY."
The next room contained only a light installation, made of fluorescent lights that bathed the room in blue. It was very blue, an intense kind of light and color that kind of hurt my eyes but was fun to photograph.
After going upstairs to an exhibit and the set of lights below, we finished up at the Hirshhorn and crossed the Mall to the Museum of Natural History. I've always loved the natural history museum, ever since I started going to DC with my mom and for school trips, so I've been to this museum too many times to count. I haven't gotten too sick of it yet. Shae hadn't gone since a school trip years ago, so it was fun to explore the museum again for a little while. There is a new wildlife photography exhibit that I really enjoyed, and the gemstones and minerals and oceans exhibits are always good spots to check out.
We had been on our feet and walking around for hours at this point, so my feet were already aching, but that didn't stop us from continuing on for a couple of more hours. I had made a list of monuments to visit, and we made it to each of them except the Jefferson Memorial and the Tidal Basin. I love the Jefferson, especially at sunset and at night, and although we could have made it there around that time, we were very tired from the long day of touring. But we did make it to the rest of the monuments I had put on our list!
We headed down the Mall to the Washington Monument, where Shae decided that "the hills are alive with the sound of freedom." We proceeded to take advantage of the light from the setting sun and take some portraits (as well as 1000 iPhone photos). We also spun in circles until we were dizzy, because why not?
Our next stop was the World War II Memorial. We didn't stop by after sunset when the memorial is lit up, making the states pillars stand out from the surrounding darkness, but the memorial was bathed in soft, golden light from the setting sun.
The Lincoln Memorial was next on the list. We walked alongside the reflecting pool, which I was happy to see was filled (it had been drained for the winter the last time I went there), to the Lincoln, swamped by tourists. The reflection of the Washington Monument and the sky, whether it is bright out with blue sky or lit up in the darkness, is one of my favorite sights in DC.
While Shae climbed up all the stairs to visit Abe ("he's very honest"), I people-watched and took some more photos of the memorial. I have been to the Lincoln Memorial many times, and I have taken many photos of it at all times of the day and year, but it is one of those places in DC that, despite being a tourist attraction, I still enjoy taking photos of and visiting, even when there are crowds of people there.
On our way back to the metro, we passed by the Korean War Veterans Memorial and the DC War Memorial. We then trekked back past our other stops until we got to the Smithsonian stop. The day was basically a huge loop around the length of the National Mall between our museum visits and monuments tour. I was exhausted but it was really fun to go back again and take hundreds of photos with Shae.
The next day, we took the train to Rosslyn and walked over the Key Bridge into Georgetown. Our first stop was Baked & Wired, a bakery by the canal that has great cupcakes (or cakecups, as they call them) with great names. After eating a healthy lunch of cupcakes, we walked along the river and around the cute streets of Georgetown.
After walking back over the bridge into Rosslyn, we took the train to McPherson Square and walked a few blocks to the White House. We took photos and stood amongst the crowd of people for a few minutes, but I always feel underwhelmed by the White House; you are standing at a barricade feet from the fence, just looking across the lawn at it. Maybe it's because I've spent my whole life in the DC area, but it isn't the same as going inside, I'm sure, and it isn't the same as visiting some other spots in the city, at least not to me.
Whatever the reason, it wasn't one of the places we most wanted to go, so we took photos and said "hey" to Obama from afar and walked a couple blocks to get to the important thing: food. Donuts and fried chicken, to be specific, at Astro on G Street. I really liked their donuts when I last went there, so we switched up the order this time and got creme brulee and maple bacon donuts, along with fried chicken. I definitely recommending stopping by there.
Our last stop was the National Portrait Gallery & American Art Museum, two museums that I love. There are in the same building, and I've spent a few nice afternoons wandering around exhibits. The Eye Pop and Watch This exhibits are recent ones I really enjoyed this summer.
"Electronic Superhighway."
My obsession with subway (and, in this case, metro) photos continue.
It was so much fun exploring DC and Virginia and being a personal tour guide for Shae while she visited. There is something special about showing someone around your hometown, and I'm glad we have hundreds and hundreds of photos to document it as well. Here's to our next adventure of cities, food, and photos.