Memorial Day Weekend - Part Four
Sunday was gallery day, but not the ones you might imagine. With the big PBS-sponsored concert being set up at the Capitol, we spent the afternoon away from the Mall in the Corcoran at the Modernism show, which was one of the coolest art museum shows I've seen (and apparently the largest exhibit of Modernism ever staged in the US). I've been a big fan of Paul Klee (much moreso than Kandinsky) and Mies van der Rohe for a long time and more recently Le Corbusier, so I was blown away.
After a late lunch it was off to the Renwick, another gallery that I'd never visited before. No photography was allowed downstairs which was a shame as there were some dynamite works from a number of young female artists (JennySlash has some links at her blog, so I won't repeat them). We also got to visit with one of our favorite pieces, Game Fish.
Game Fish, by Larry Fuente
Game Fish detail
Game Fish detaiLabels: Stuff
Memorial Day Weekend - Part Three
Saturday we did the touristy thing and took the trolley tour - I mostly shot film during the tour so I don't have those back yet. But one of the main reasons for doing the trolley thing was to get us up to the National Cathedral, where we spent about 3 or 4 hours looking around and taking many, many pictures. J had been there before and has been anxious to get me up there ever since, for good reason. It is an amazing combination of European cathedral styles coupled with some bits that are uniquely American.
I did not use flash with the film camera so I'm not sure that I'll get much - what you don't see here are the unbelievable stained glass windows, including the "Space" window containing a piece of moonrock (didn't I say it was uniquely American?) and many, many others. Despite J's descriptions I really didn't know what to expect and I have to admit that I was blown away.
Labels: Stuff
Memorial Day Weekend - Part Two
I've mentioned before that I actually have an office in DC (it's freaking huge and I use it about 1 day every couple of weeks). In the picture above, the buidling on the right is the US Treasury and the building on the left is Metropolitan Square with a blue circle roughly where my office is, overlooking G Street. On the side of the building facing the Treasury is Old Ebbit Grill - a Washington landmark known for its oysters.
I mentioned Rolling Thunder - there were at least a bazillion bikes in town for the weekend. 99.8% of them were Harleys of all shapes and sizes although I did see one (and only one) crotch rocket.
While we were eating dinner Friday night, the White House helicopter was practicing touch-and-go landings - over and over and over. We didn't know that what was going on at first - J was convinced that Jenna was having a party while the 'rents were at Camp David for the weekend and was having kegs flown in, while I thought the family had just left and they were coming back because Laura thought she'd left the iron on.Labels: Stuff
Memorial Day Weekend - Part One
Since we knew everyone that actually lives and/or works in DC would be heading to Ocean City or Virginia Beach for the weekend, we decided to go up and do some sightseeing. While I'm in DC every couple of weeks, my visits are pretty much confined to about a 4 block area, so I was looking forward to doing some different things.
The view up Pennsylvania actually IS one that I get every time I come up and I never get tired of it. I know it's not a cool thing to say, but the concept of the Congress is still one of the best things about this country and occasionally the reality at least still visits the neighborhood of that concept. A little more often now than in the past few years.
We had dinner Friday night just to the left of where this picture was taken - on the sidewalk near the Willard International Hotel at the Occidental Grill. Great weather, great food, great night!
Our house - and I'm looking forward to getting rid of the dumbass that's living there now and getting it back.
Something I'd never seen (or at least hadn't noticed) before - the memorial to the 1st Infantry Division (the "Big Red One") on top of a tall column near the White House and Old Executive Office Building. Shiny.
Labels: Stuff
Soon...
Been too busy living life to blog about it but I'm planning on taking a break by Sunday to post some pictures from our Memorial Day trip to DC (no, we were not part of Rolling Thunder, but we did see about 47,000 Harley Davidsons). Back in a couple!
Labels: Blogging, Stuff
Sunday was gallery day, but not the ones you might imagine. With the big PBS-sponsored concert being set up at the Capitol, we spent the afternoon away from the Mall in the Corcoran at the Modernism show, which was one of the coolest art museum shows I've seen (and apparently the largest exhibit of Modernism ever staged in the US). I've been a big fan of Paul Klee (much moreso than Kandinsky) and Mies van der Rohe for a long time and more recently Le Corbusier, so I was blown away.
After a late lunch it was off to the Renwick, another gallery that I'd never visited before. No photography was allowed downstairs which was a shame as there were some dynamite works from a number of young female artists (JennySlash has some links at her blog, so I won't repeat them). We also got to visit with one of our favorite pieces, Game Fish.
Game Fish, by Larry Fuente
Game Fish detail
Game Fish detai
