I've finally made the effort to do a long distance.
Washington
D.C., particularly, the Smithsonian Mall, which is said to have 19
museums, of which I only visited not more than 6.
I didn't regret
not visiting the Air Space museum. First, it was too crowded with lines.
No museum should be that crowded, unless it's a theme park.
I
departed at 11PM from NYC, arriving 10th Street and H Avenue at 3:20 AM.
I
then tried to look for a late night cafe to do type some church
document but couldn't find one until 7 AM, when Starbucks opened. Until
then, I decided to tour around the tall War monument, walking along the
reflecting pool towards the Lincoln statue. I was too tired to have much
thought other than taking a few photos. The whole place was incredibly
quiet, for a capital, until daybreak.
After walking around the
Whitehouse, I worked on the addresses of STEMI past choir members
(transfer from paper to digital) at Starbucks until almost 11 AM.
After
that, I visited the Mall clock wise starting with the West Building art
gallery, of which I found a few paintings intriguing, such as Peter
Paul Reubens' Daniel in Lions' Den. I like the body of Reubens' young
Daniel but I prefer the settings and expression of Briton's Daniel. I
do not think Daniel should be portrayed as having a hint of fear.
I
then headed towards the Capitol building. Unlike others, I've tried not
to take too much vain photos. One thing brought to my attention was the
reflecting pool in front of the Capitol building was surrounded by
plenty of pineapple weeds. I wonder if that's deliberate.
Next was
the Native American Museum, the latest installment. Very artistic
architecture, mimicking the wavy canyons and caves. I realized that
using large space is key to architectural beauty. The more beauty, the
more space. Or rather, the more space needs to be sacrificed, although,
such use of space is not necessarily a waste, unless it is a neighbor's
complaint.
Then the Smithsonian Instutute, which is also the
information center. My last building was American History Museum, after I
quickly browsed through the natural History Museum, which is the
largest research insitute in the world.
Since the whole theme of
this trip is Washington D.C., and not "Museums", I took a quick stroll
through Chinatown, which isn't much. I measured only about 2 block
radius, around 7th Street and H Ave. And I don't see any small local
food stands other than more expensive restaurants.
And now I'm on
my way home, on the Megabus, which departed at 5:30 PM. Of the journey,
I paid $2.50 round trip.
It is 9:15 PM now, and the bus should
arrive in Manhattan at 10 PM.
After thought: Smithsonian Mall, worth revisiting. It is definitely more than an enlargement of NYC's Metropolitan & Natural History Museums.