Washington D.C. Day Three

I need to finish telling my account of our D.C. trip! Where was I? Oh yes...

My legs were tired from running up and down the escalator so I didn't go for a morning run. I knew I would get a lot more walking and stairs this day so I decided to save my energy. Plus we had gone to bed late the night before so I slept in :)

After checking out of our room and stashing our suitcases, I headed back into town. I was getting good at taking the metro by this point! Did I mention how HOT it was?? Hotter than Florida!

There were more gardens to explore. First stop: Enid A Haupt, a Smithsonian garden which is actually a rooftop garden! I admit, I didn't see the museum beneath, but I really enjoyed the garden!

 This was a skylight to the museum beneath.  

 A sign that explains this is a rooftop garden. You can see me reflected in the sign :)

 I learned what a parterre is.

I want an urn like this in my yard. Wouldn't it look nice?

 Ahhh...the reality of beautiful gardens. Lots of weeding! (A full time staff?)

 I loved this. One side weeded. One side not. (and another glimpse of me) Remind me not to plant a parterre .

 I took this picture for Michael. This was inspired by the Alhambra. Cascading water.

 This is the look I love. Lots of flowers crammed together with a focal point of garden art.

 Close up of the flowers. Mostly coneflowers or echinacea. Gotta try some of these! Hope they grow in FL!

 Isn't this amazing?! Polka dotted leaves!

After the garden, I was sufficiently warmed and in need of cooling off. I headed towards the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Gardens. Having had multiple art history courses in college, I was familiar enough with modern art to be able to appreciate it. I had not been to this museum before and was surprised at how much fun it was.

This was painted directly on the wall. It's entitled Cube without a cube by Sol LeWitt. If you stare at it at times the cube seems to be a cut out and at other times it seems to protrude. Very tricky!

 This one was on the opposite wall, by the same artist.

This untitled piece by Mark Grotjahn was oil paint (and lots of it!) on cardboard on linen. It was so thick! I even took a picture of the side.

 You can see how much paint was used. 

 Here's a close-up.

 This neon piece by Lucio Fontana was hanging over the top of the escalators.

 Ahhh. Piet Mondrian. Composition with Blue and Yellow (1935).

 Imagine my surprise and delight when I saw these Calder mobiles. 

 I love Calder!

 I thought this was so fun! Lucas Samaras Book No. 6. A book made of stickpins. 

 I want to make this same untitled piece by David Hammons. It's made out of glass wine bottles and silicone glue. The bottles are still dirty. One even had a bug in it! Some had caps and some didn't.

 They had one painting by Andy Warhol.

 I can so make this. Paint a canvas a color then slash it.

 This was so cool! More of an experience. A dark room with spotlights, a wall of mirrors and small mirrored metal plates that hung freely and fans to make them move.

This was a really neat experience! We had to put on white "shower caps" over our shoes so as not to mar the pristine floor. The walk into the space which was divided into "rooms" lit by neon colored lights.

 Moving from the blue room, to the red/pink room, to the green room.

 My feet covered with the caps.

 This was taken from outside looking in through a window.

 This explains the next piece. Sooooooo cool! Penetrable art.

 This is what it looks like.

 About to enter the art.

 This is the structure.

 Inside the art piece.

 This was made out of a frame, like a window, and neon tubes of light. Lots of them lined up.

After the museum, my phone was getting low so I had to go plug in somewhere. The guards in the Hirshhorn wouldn't let me use the wall plug so off I went to the Museum of Natural History to rest my weary feet and juice up my phone. After hanging out there a bit, I went off in search of the Old Post Office and some grub. My friend had recommended it to me. I rode the elevator to the top for some great views of the city.

 I didn't feel like any of the food in the food court so I decided to eat at the Pavilion Cafe at the Sculpture Garden. Another rest and then off to another museum. It was so hot that I decided to take a shortcut through the West building of the National Art Gallery over to the East building to see more modern art. Imagine my surprise when I encountered this on the bottom floor as I was passing through!

 Degas sculptures.

 More Degas.

 Mary Cassatt.

 Degas

 Rodin

Rodin The Kiss

I made it to the tunnel that connects the two buildings, started browsing the gift shop and then noticed the time. I had to RUN to the airport! I put everything back and took off for the metro to make it back to the hotel in time to meet Michael. I just made it but he was running a bit late. We decided to take a cab rather than the metro during rush hour. We made it in plenty of time to deal with the fact that my flight was at 7:59 a.m. not p.m.! We were able to fix it and make it back in time for a beach day in Flagler and lunch at 

where we had celebrated after we had gotten engaged over 20 years ago! Then it was time to pick the kids up from camp. We made it just in time!