Fun in DC

Bryan and I decided to spend a day in DC and it ended up being an absolutely gorgeous day for us to explore our nation's capital!

Last year when Bryan was here we visited a bunch of the memorials at the National Mall. This year we both picked a museum we most wanted to see and started with Bryan's choice in the morning: The National Museum of the American Indian.

They had some really neat exhibits, my favorite being the animal statues and masks from the various tribes and groups of people throughout the Americas.

Very cool!

The Mayan calendar.

I loved these gorgeous masks!

Although there were some really wonderful displays, I was left wanting more. I would really love to see more information displayed regarding all the tribes in North America; maybe a huge map showing who lived where, what they were like, etc. Anyway, we had lunch there and then headed across the lawn toward the National Gallery of Art, my pick for the afternoon.  As we walked there we checked out the Capitol which is obviously getting a facelift.

We also spent some time chatting with the friendly seagulls. We always need to make animal friends when we are in DC.

The National Gallery of Art was also under renovation and all of the artwork had been removed from the east building and was being showcased in the west building (or vice versa, I can't remember specifically). So, we headed to the west building via this cool underground walkway.

Wow! What an amazing place to spend an afternoon! Such beautiful statues from Degas...

and Rodin.

We spent a long time really analyzing each one carefully, ha ha!

"We're here to view the tapestries!"  And they were magnificent!

And the paintings...oh, the paintings!! I could not believe I was able to walk through these rooms, viewing so many paintings by the masters. It was awesome!
Some of my favorites included Toulouse Lautrec;

Degas;

Van Gogh;

(definitely not a favorite by Van Gogh but had to include this painting of this ugly little baby...if I were the parent I would not have been pleased!)

Monet;

my favorite, Vermeer;

We both had such a wonderful time at the National Gallery and I can't wait to go back!