Day 52: Smithsonian Art and Natural History Museums

I didn't set my alarm last night so that means I got up really late today. Andrea recommended a great lunch place near the mall called Teaism which I was going to visit between museums but since I started so late I went there first. I got a grilled chicken and quinoa salad that had a fried squash blossom on top. There was a farmers market outside the restaurant that I enjoyed perusing before heading over to the first museum that I stumbled across which was the National Gallery of Art.

I liked this random courtyard inside the museum. I saw a few of the temporary exhibitions: Italian Master Drawings from the Wolfgang Ratjen Collection: 1525–1835, The Gothic Spirit of John Taylor Arms, and From Impressionism to Modernism: The Chester Dale Collection. Those were all on the ground floor. I didn't realize there was a second floor with twice as much stuff right away so I sailed through that just before the place closed.

The Natural History Museum was open later so I went there and started on the top floor. I didn't even see the whole top floor before it closed. I first saw some amazing nature photographs from an international photo contest. Then I saw some animal skeletons like this Spider Monkey.


Then I checked out the minerals and gem collection. There was some magnificent jewelry on display (most of which has been donated over the years). What I loved about a lot of it was the list of owners over the year. A couple of pieces were gift from Napoleon to his wife and all of the massive emeralds had belonged to at least one Raja.

The mineral collection was equally exciting, lots of the specimens were just plain cool looking.


It poured while I was at the museum but luckily avoided getting caught in it. I have a better photo of myself in front of the Capital but this is funnier and does a better job showing the building. I took the Metro back to Andrea's neighborhood and we picked up a pizza from what she assures me is the best place it town.

Tomorrow: Back to the Museum to see the rest of it and a night on the town.