The Library of Congress: A Renaissance Surprise

Let me just say, I loved the Library of Congress. The tour I took was fantastic. Rather than a young tour guide who was dead in the eyes, had no inflection in her voice, and clearly hated her job, I spent an hour at the Library with a jolly, delightful and informative older woman who was so eager to tell us every little tidbit she knew about what we were seeing that our tour was in danger of running longer than the allotted hour.

From the outside, the Library of Congress is by no means overwhelming in its stateliness...
But inside, it is pure Renaissance splendor!

Every angle was a treat to behold.

Looking up to the second floor from the first floor.

The grand and colorful ceiling.

The missioin of the Library of Congress is, basically, to preseve everything. Books, periodicals, doctoral dissertations; publishers are mandated to send the Library two copies of everything they print. There is so much material the library actually consists of three buildings and other storage areas around the city. The grand reading room (no photography allowed) is gorgeous. Almost everywhere you turn there is a statue with a special meaning. In the dome above the reading room are a bunch of different statues that represent the different arts and sciences: philosophy, history, etc. We were also shown one of the first books printed on the Gutenberg printing press. I was stunned by the interiors of the building. The outer structures don't prepare you for the grandiosity and vivid color inside.

Probably my favorite part was the special exhibitions on the second floor. The first one I saw was the Exploring the Americas exhibit, which is perhaps my favorite period in history. The exhibit displayed many early maps of the Americas, emerging European-American towns and ancient cities like Cuzco and the Aztec capital in current Mexico city. Old maps are one of my favorite things to look at. I love everything about them: how their coastlines seem familiar but misshapen, the strange creatures drawn in deep waters, the ancient writing, the contrasting colors of land and water. The exhibit also revealed artifacts from the time, some taken from the indigenous people and some belonging to the settlers. My favorite artifacts were the old books, some of which explained the flora and fauna of the new, strange lands. Other books were histories of exploration or informative works of political and military conquest sent back to the Spanish Crown. Many contained brightly-colored drawings.

I spent nearly too long in this exhibit and had to rush through the other exhibit I was especially interested in seeing, which was photographs of Civil War soldiers. Why didn't anyone smile in photographs back then? It's quite fitting, I suppose, the grim stares before going off to war. I was haunted by how young many of the soldiers were; far younger than me. I left the Library of Congress inspired to read more works of history from both the Age of Exploration and the Civil War.

Touring the Capitol Building

I continued my beautiful walk purposefully to the Capitol.

After waiting in a series of lines (security line to enter the Visitor Center, which is underneath the flat expanse of concrete in front of the Capitol Building, a line to pick up my ticket, and then a line to go on the tour). The tour itself was a little disappointing in that you are shuttled between several points of interest inside the building without much historical context or interesting annecdotes. There are multiple tours happening at the same time and groups are nesteled into every space possible, crossing in front of your camera angles and making noise. I knew I was in trouble when I found out 15 minutes of my tour would be spent watching a historical video. It was informative, but I was hoping for more time inside. Incidentally, I think I took a similar tour when I was here a decade ago with the diabetic teen lobbying group I was a part of. When I got inside the dome, I remembered being up there with my dear friend Andrea.

A replica of the Statue of Freedom that sits atop the Capitol Dome. It was cast from the mold that formed her and currently resides in the Visitors Center.

First we went into some sort of basement room called the Crypt, I think because the original plan was to burry people there? I can't really remember.

The dome is really gorgeous, and its splendor is difficult to capture on film.

Huge paintings adorn the walls inside the dome. This one is of Pocahontas being baptized so she could marry John Rolfe.

Then we went into the original Senate chamber. As the United States grew and added more states and senators, the Senate was moved. We saw the place where John Quincy Adams' desk and chair were, commemorated by a plaque.

Another view of the original Senate chamber. You can see many of the 100 different statues that are on display throughout the building. Each state has two. I never found either of Washington's.

Being inside the Capitol Building was cool, but I definitely wanted a little more. I guess not every touristic experience can be stirring.

I hurried out of the building and crossed the street to the Library of Congress so I could make a 10:30 tour over there.

Another view of the dome on my way across the street.

Early Saturday Morning at Union Station

The week Chris left town, I realized that my time in DC was about halfway done and if I wanted to see everything that was left on my "To Do" list, I would have to be strategic. My frist step in strategic sight-seeing planning was to make a reservation for a tour of the Capitol Building. For 9:10 on a Saturday morning! As it turns out, I tend to wake up at 6:30 or 7 without even trying on the weekends, so in the extra time I had, I decided to go to Union Station, check it out, then walk over to the Capitol Building.

I had accidentally gone to Union Station once before when I wasn't paying attention on the Metro and missed my stop, but I stayed underground and missed all the grandiose architecture. Since I was there so early on a Saturday, all of the shops and stands inside the station were closed. I also met a down-on-his-luck character who saw me taking pictures and offered to take my picture; my instincts told me he was going to steal my camera so I politely thanked him and walked away. I am glad I got to see the station on such a beautiful Saturday morning! Sometimes, there is nothing more enlivening than being up early on a beautiful day. I couldn't resist taking a bunch of pictures when the sky looked like it did!

Inside the ceilings were stately white and gold.

I never tire of taking pictures of American flags against the beautiful DC skies.

Christopher Columbus statue.

Looking toward the Columbus statue with Union Station in the background.

Then, it was on to the Capitol Building!

American Modern Art, in All its Glory!

The National Museum of American Art and the National Portrait Gallery are housed in a building in Chinatown that is just a quick metro ride from my office, so I've spent a couple evenings after work browsing their collections.

The collections seem a little schitzophrenic because they have some amazing modern art and then some incredibly dull portraits of historical folks. The portraits are detailed with dense historical panels and in order to maintain my sanity, I gave up on reading all of them fairly early on in my visit. I began reading random panels and let go of the fact that it would not be possible for me to learn every single fact that was available to me. Sometimes it's hard for me to do that.

I really like the building's interior. Check out that floor tile!The top floor had some random but more contemporary portraits and this is a Warhol of MJ!

I love her.

Lovely ceiling.

So, the reason I love the American Art Gallery is their awesome, AWESOME modern art collection! My first experience of the collection was sitting in this dark room with a piece of abstract art covering the floor and the wall in front of me. Over something like 10 minutes, some installed lights moved and changed color in different paterns, in effect basically bringing the painting to life. At different stages, it seemed to depict fields of verdant pastureland, the fiery depths of hell, the tranquility and shades of the ocean and clouds...the experience was magical! From there, I wandered from room to room and reveled in the work. There was a display of George Ault's paintings, and the exhibit referred to him as a "poet of empty spaces." I liked that. His paintings are often of spaces like a barn at night lit by the moon or a single street lamp, or the beach, and rarely are there people in his paintings. He uses the most vivd colors and contrasts so that even the emptiness feels vital and alive, almost crackling with urgency. I really loved that exhibit; unfortuantely, I couldn't take pictures of my favorites of his work because the museum doesn't own any of it.

Here are a few of my favorites that they did own:

This one was so awesome. Each state was filled with small tvs playing videos of images and media that reminded the artist of that state; for example, a clip of the Wizard of Oz was playing in Kansas. (Alaska and Hawaii were on the opposite wall and impossible to fit in my frame.)

The galleries are located in Chinatown; here is the friendship arch.

According to Georgia O'Keeffe, "One can't paint New York as it is, but rather as it is felt."

Even the courtyard is modern and awesome!

You Know It's Too Hot When the Ducks Start to Pant

Chris and I very slowly made our way to the Capitol so he could get a good look at it. The brain damange inflicted on me by the sun that weekend is making it difficult to recall details about this adventure but at least we got some good pictures!
Chris and the Capitol.

These ducklings were hiding from the sun in the shadow cast by their mother. The mom kept getting annoyed and moving and then they would practically dive under her belly again. There were four other ducklings laid out next to these ones and one was actually panting. I have never seen ducks pant before but this sighting confirms that not all birds are intelligent.

The Capitol Building is impressive from every angle.

Here I am with a couple other people ruining my picture.

Chris and I eventually gave up on being tourists and did what we do best: find the bars! After a snaffu with the Red Line Metro, which was under construction and caused a lengthy delay (our destination was only two stops away but I refused to walk any farther), we found Thai food in Dupont Circle. We then found a delightful little sports bar and finally a gay club (it was karaoke night). I was in a delightful mood thanks to the two glasses of wine I'd had with my curry and in the mood to be festive, and I also felt like I should make it up to Chris for being such a crabby bitch the night before and basically refusing to leave the house. We met some very nice men and had some giggles and sang along to some karaoke numbers which were heavy on the Amy Winehouse selections. I was happy to end the last night of our weekend together on such a high note.

Museum Fatigue

Sunday morning, I left Chris at my apartment to do some writing and made plans to meet up in the afternoon on the Mall. I spent the morning in a couple museums, starting with the National Archives. I was still a little tired from our travels the day before, so I went straight for the gold: the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence. The documents are really faded in places, but on the declaration, you can definitely see the familiar names, John Hancock (obviously), John Adams (a personal fave), TJ, Benny Franklin, etc. I'm glad I got to take a peep at them and read some of the familiar lines from the actual text. I wouldl like to say I felt reverent as I observed some of the most important political documents in the world, but it's not true. I feel that by now I am a little desensitized because it seems like every part of this city is tinged with the past.

Next, I went to the National Gallery of Art and looked at mostly old (and I mean old) religious paintings. I can only take so much of that before I get bored, but it was also kind of neat because I was reading a historical fiction novel about Greenland set in the end of the 14th and beginning of the 15th century. The Gallery features many European works of art from this period, so it lent a bit of visual context to the fascinating book I've immersed myself in (Jane Smiley's The Greenlanders if you're curious).

I did find some amusements; my favorite was a ghastly little painting by Bosch of skeleton-creatures peering at a (dead, I assume) man laid out on a bed. I guess I prefer modern art, but there were a lot of lovely portraits, many painted by all those famous Europeans. I can remember Hillary's mom coming to our 5th grade class as an art docent and teaching us about them all so it was cool to see them in real life. I prefer portraits of women because they're prettier, but I also like to play a game with the portraits of men: I imagine seeing the man in real life today and deciding if I would find him attractive.

Art:

There are a lot of sculptures in this museum.

After I burnt out at the museum, I sat out by the fountain in the sculpture garden next door and got a bit of a sunburn waiting for Chris.

Fountain with the National Archives in the background.

There is a ledge in the fountain so you can dangle your feet and cool off, which would be brilliant if you weren't sitting on a slab of granite has been baking in the sun all day and that must be about 120 degrees. It would also be very peaceful except there is a man who blows a very obnoxious whistle whenever anyone tries to wade in the fountain, which happens frequently because tourists are oblivious to signs and rules.

When Chris arrived, we lounged for about an hour more then wandered over to the Museum of Natural History, which I was looking forward to until the minute I stepped in and found it swarming with children and families. I am not sure what I was expecting, but it was crazier than the Air and Space Museum (or at least I was crankier and more tired). I couldn't even enter the dinosuar exhibit, normally my favorite, because of the mob and the chaos, so I parted ways with Chris and went to the deep sea exhibit and somehow spent two hours there learning about sea life. It was less crowded, but not by much.

I learned some neat things: there was a preserved giant squid on display (giant squids always remind me of reading Michael Criton's book Sphere in the 6th grade and how terrified I was): panels taught me how whales evolved first from water to land and then back to water, alligator and crocodile skelentons dangled menacingly from the ceiling, and there were videos of octopus camoflauging themselves and deep sea critters displaying their bioluninescence. I definitely missed all the other exhibits, but hopefully I can go back before I leave this city.

A scary fish fossil that is certain to give a few children (and this blogger) nightmares.

This fish is cool because scientists thought it went extinct with the dinosaurs until someone discovered one off the coast of South Africa in the 90s. Since then, another of the same species was found in Indonesia. COOL!

This is a replica but a very pretty one.

Great white jaws; I waited very patiently to take this photo while a mother took about 80 pictures of her little boy in front of this display. He was hamming it up and the mom wanted him to "give her a nice smile."

So, the greatest part of my day (sorry, art, science, and the talented curators at the Smithsonians) was when I discovered the ice cream stand in the basement of the museum. I don't actually love ice cream, and I rarely keep some in my freezer, but I like to have it as a treat sometimes when I'm out, and I was so exhausted at this point I needed a snack. I almost cried when I discovered the cafeteria was closed, but this tiny little ice cream stand probably saved my life (as well as the lives of some innocent bystanders). I ordered a scoop of peanut butter ice cream with fudge ribbons and chunks of peanut butter cups embedded in the ice cream and as the first bite began to refresh and revive me, I immediately wished I had gotten two scoops. The consumption of such decadence put me into some sort of stupor, and I remained at the table staring at my shoes until Chris phoned and suggested we move on.

In front of the museum, there is a petrified tree on display that is over 200 million years old and comes from the petrified forest in Arizona. I must go there.