The Exploration Continues

The Museum of the American Indian is next to the Botanical Gardens, so I decided to go in and enjoy the air conditioning and do some learning. I really enjoyed parts of the museum, especially the beadwork artifacts and the exhibit on the conquest. They had some spectacular swords and guns on display. I found the swords particularly chilling, and kept imagining someone coming at me with one and stabbing me to death. The mueseum also had some panels devoted to chronicling the diseases that destroyed the American Indian communities.

Swords and other artifacts.
Old-timey guns. Some were incredibly ornate.

A neat light trick listing the tribes of the Americas.

Next I wandered over to the sculpture garden, because I love a good sculpture park! I liked the Hirshorn Sculpture Garden more than the National Sculpture Garden. It has more traditional statues while the National Sculpture Garden is a bit more abstract.

Some shots of the Hirshorn Sculpture Graden.

This one was my favorite.

A view down the Mall as I crossed to the National Sculpture Garden.

We have one of these in Seattle!

By this time, my bloodsugar was low and I was exhausted. I spent about an hour just sitting at this fountain and on various nearby benches. It seemed like a huge undertaking to get back on the metro and go pick up Bella, but somehow I made it. I was so tired, though, that when I sat at the fountain, I sat in a giant puddle!