d.c.: day 3
Today was our monuments day, where we spent most of the time walking around the west mall trying to see all of the major monuments. Yet before we did all of that, I couldn't resist stopping by the Freer Gallery, a small Smithsonian museum dedicated to Asian art and 19c-American paintings, especially the work of James McNeil Whistler. It wasn't too large or overwhelming, and each item we saw was a real gem. It was also really cool to see the Asian influences upon the American paintings.
view of the courtyard (Byron said it reminded him of Gears of War)
There was an awesome Japanese collection, with lots of silk screens and scrolls...
...yet the highlight for me by far was seeing Whistler's Peacock Room, a dining room he designed for the display of his patron's Asian ceramics collection. This (illicito) picture can't do it justice; it's magnificent, with dark greenish-blue and gold paint:
After the Freer Gallery, we started making our way to the monuments. First stop, the Washington monument:
Next, the White House (front and back):
Next, we took a quick peek into the Renwick Gallery, which is just down the street from the White House. It has a very nice collection of 19c American art...
...the highlight of which was the George Gatlin room, which contained 500 paintings of Native Americans filling the entire four walls. Gatlin was the first who really tried to paint Native Americans in their natural surroundings:
Next, we headed to the Lincoln monument, stopping by the WWII memorial on the way:
Finally made it to the Lincoln memorial, which was swarmed with tons of school children:
(this tall Asian guy in the beige jacket kept getting in the way of my pictures, grrrr)
We walked past the Vietnam war memorial, which made both of us very solemn...
...same with the FDR memorial, which I thought was very well-done, covering all four terms of his presidency and filled with many of his famous quotes:
Finally, we walked around the tidal basin to the Jefferson memorial, which I had never visited before:
After another long day of walking, we had a big meal at Lauriol Plaza, this really cool, two-story Mexican-Cuban restaurant a few blocks from where we lived:
view of the courtyard (Byron said it reminded him of Gears of War)
There was an awesome Japanese collection, with lots of silk screens and scrolls...
...yet the highlight for me by far was seeing Whistler's Peacock Room, a dining room he designed for the display of his patron's Asian ceramics collection. This (illicito) picture can't do it justice; it's magnificent, with dark greenish-blue and gold paint:
After the Freer Gallery, we started making our way to the monuments. First stop, the Washington monument:
Next, the White House (front and back):
Next, we took a quick peek into the Renwick Gallery, which is just down the street from the White House. It has a very nice collection of 19c American art...
...the highlight of which was the George Gatlin room, which contained 500 paintings of Native Americans filling the entire four walls. Gatlin was the first who really tried to paint Native Americans in their natural surroundings:
Next, we headed to the Lincoln monument, stopping by the WWII memorial on the way:
Finally made it to the Lincoln memorial, which was swarmed with tons of school children:
(this tall Asian guy in the beige jacket kept getting in the way of my pictures, grrrr)
We walked past the Vietnam war memorial, which made both of us very solemn...
...same with the FDR memorial, which I thought was very well-done, covering all four terms of his presidency and filled with many of his famous quotes:
Finally, we walked around the tidal basin to the Jefferson memorial, which I had never visited before:
After another long day of walking, we had a big meal at Lauriol Plaza, this really cool, two-story Mexican-Cuban restaurant a few blocks from where we lived:
posted by mariyaya | 12:15 PM
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