was on stage. Unlike 40 years ago, Lincoln’s box is now off limits. A picture hangs in from of the bunting where Boothe caught his spur and thereby broke his leg. The museum downstairs and the house across the street, where Lincoln died are closed for renovation,
On the way to the department of the Interior, we passed by the Willard Hotel, a strikingly beautiful edifice, where final negotiations were held to keep the Union united in 1861. We passed by the White House. Guess what—under construction—many blockages. The closest anyone can see of the White House these days is by watching West Wing. Another beautiful building is the Old Executive Office Building (one of the largest in Washington), next to the White House. This is also closed to the public. Interesting is that on the other side of the White House is the Treasury, close enough for the President to keep an eye on the money.
Finally we made it to the Department of the Interior. The building is more than two blocks long. Anne James gave us a wonderful tour of the facility. There is a large museum in the building depicting the history and various aspects of the department. The Interior was formed in 1849. The primary foci of it today are Land management and Indian Affairs. On the seventh floor is the old cafeteria with murals painted by artists from various Native American tribes. The windows give a beautiful view of the city.
All of the government buildings are closed on Saturday. Off to the Smithsonian we went. Everything is free. The first museum we wanted to see was the National Air and Space Museum. Get there early to avoid the long lines. The museum is two floors tracing the history of flight and space exploration. Some of the original aircraft include Lindbergh’s Spirit of St Louis, Yeager’s Bell-1, Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo capsules, V-1 rockets, Steve Fossett’s balloon capsule, and many others. The Enola Gay is in storage. Later this year the museum will open an addition near Dulles International Airport and display much more of its collection.
We had a short time to visit one of the lesser museums of the Smithsonian. Next door is the Hirshhorn Museum specializing in modern sculpture and paintings. The museum, itself is a work of art, circular in design with a beautiful center atrium with a fountain and surrounded on the outside with elegant sculptures. They had an exhibit of Gerhard Richter, an East German escapee. His paintings depict either a bad case of myopia or an unwillingness to say openly what he wanted to say. Many of his paintings are blurred, but photographic in nature. He loved the use of the color gray.
Today we planned as a day off. I had wanted to do a little genealogical research. So I figured that today would be a good one to find out information about my relatives. The National Archives are located in Washington DC and they have a branch in College Park, MD. Arriving at the Archives, NARA, I registered and received a photo ID to do research. Sadly, all of the records I was seeking were at the downtown office. The gentleman said that there was a free shuttle bus, which runs every hour on the hour between the two facilities. I scarcely believed my ears. Noon came and I hopped on the promised shuttle. I thought that this would take some time due to the horror stories of Washington DC traffic and the blockades everywhere. Taking the main roads, we passed through Hayettsville, Catholic University with the Basilica, many ethnic neighborhoods. Within thirty-five minutes, we were at NARA, on Pennsylvania Avenue, in the heart of downtown DC. We had hit the mother lode again. Free transportation without the hassle of finding a parking space at the METRO and the same travel time from College Park to DC proper.
NARA is the repository of federal records more than thirty years old (72 for census). The exhibition hall, closed for renovations, has the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution on display. Showing my registration card I was allowed complete access to the microfilm sections and later to the main reading room, where original records are pulled for the researcher by a very helpful staff. One note of caution: be sure you leave enough time for the record pulling. It takes some time to retrieve them. I took the four o’clock shuttle back to College Park.
We took the NARA shuttle downtown and went to the National Gallery of Art, a mere two blocks away. This is an incredible series of beautiful buildings with two main structures: East Wing and West Wing. Inside are fountains, gardens with live flowers, and, of course art. Their collection of Impressionists is not as extensive as other museums, but they do have something special: the only Leonardo Da Vinci in the US, Ginevra de’Benci. We spent the entire day immersed in the beauty provided by the great master artists and sculpturers. There were special exhibits by Gainsborough, Kirchner, Vuillard, and Matisse. Next week begins an exhibit of Remington’s Night paintings. We want to go back.
At the entrances of many of the exhibit rooms, there are boxes with information cards in different languages about the works in the specific hall. The visitor reads the card and then replaces it in the box for others to use. I have not seen that type of information at other galleries.
We finally got through to Andy Wilson, the intern for Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. and had a tour of the Capital. His staff was happy to see us again. A staff led tour opens doors for the tourist not available to the ordinary gallery viewer. We were able to go through hidden stairwells and go into the rotunda with a magnificent view of the capital dome. Today the Senate was discussing the Budget, which it later passed. The House was discussing natural gas drilling. We were on the way back to the Rayburn building, when the House called for a vote. Bells kept ringing in the corridors, and the Representatives we hurrying to the House chambers. It was exciting to see our government in action.
Because it was lunchtime, we were shown where the cafeteria was in the House complex. If you are ever in the area, I recommend eating lunch there. The cafeteria resembles a food court. The prices are reasonable and the portions ample.
Our next stop was the Library of Congress, the Jefferson Building. Self-guided tours are offered, but the docent guided ones are better. The paintings and statuary in the great hall are allegorical. Everywhere you look, you see the thought that went into the construction to one of the greatest libraries in the world. On display are one of the three complete Gutenberg Printed Bibles in the world and the last hand illustrated written Bible. The main reading room is dedicated to the different subjects of knowledge. The Library of Congress has its own web site, www.loc.gov. Here you have access to their card catalogue and to other information offered by the library.
Today we journeyed to The Holy Lands, a.k.a., The Franciscan Monastery. The facility was built so that people could visit the Holy Land Shrines, without having to spend all of their money to go to the Middle East. The shrines are replicas of Golgatha, the sepulcher, the manger at Bethlehem, etc. There are also replicas of the catacombs. Tour guides give insights into how the sites were authenticated. Even being a skeptic, I was impressed by their knowledge and the significance of the shrine. This is a highly recommended stop for any Christian visiting Washington.
A few blocks away rises the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception. The church dedicated to Mary, the Mother of Jesus Christ, was started in 1920s and is still under construction. The architecture is a combination of Byzantine and Roman: the dome fashioned after the Capital dome and the Campanile after the Washington Monument. Besides the main upper Nave and the Crypt nave, there are numerous side chapels and oratories sponsored by different groups of people in the world. Each one is dedicated to Mary. The predominant manner of expressing the artwork is via mosaics. The sheer amount and quality of the mosaics ranks it among the top cities of the world.
On to the Natural History Museum. What we liked about the museum was the use of skeletons to classify the various species of animals, from prehistoric times to the present era. Some areas are under construction: namely the mammals Hall and the Native American exhibits. The geological collection of stones, especially the Hope Diamond, salivates any woman who loves to wear beautiful gems. The myriad colors of the different types of geological formations are a delight to the eyes.
The staff at the museum do a lot of things right. Comparing this museum is like comparing apples and oranges with the Chicago Natural History Museum. Each one has its strengths. Overall, I would have to rate the Field Museum in Chicago a higher grade for extensiveness of its collection, except for the geology department.
Visited the Holocaust Museum in DC. This is a moving experience. I have done extensive research on this black spot in World history. I was impressed by the lack of bias in the exhibits. The self-guided tour takes you up to the fourth floor, where the history of the rise of Hitler and Nazism is told in visual pictures and short videos. The lesson learned on this floor is that much of the prejudices, feeding upon ordinary people’s fears, and the manipulation of the media are still with us even seventy years after the events leading to this tragedy. Moving to the third floor, one encounters the solution to the Jewish Problem: the ghettoes, slave camps, death compounds, etc. Not only were Jews hunted down, but also Jehovah Witnesses, gypsies, Polish and Russian Intelligentia, and anyone deemed inferior to the Aryan ideals. On display are
