Today consisted of walking my feet off. My goal in life today was to see the old masters. They had to be somewhere in DC. Turns out they are in DC, at the National Gallery of Art. 

Now, the Gallery opens at 11:00am, so I figured I’d head to the Smithsonian Natural History Mussum first, because it opened an hour earlier. 

I was at the Metro and headed into the city at 9:15am. The weekend work crews were no more, so I was on the Metro at the hotel drop off point and headed for the center of liberty.  

I have had a prime complaint since I have been in DC. I can’t find a Metro map that has the Metro lines and the street names where the stops are. It’s super aggravating. This being said, I overshot by two stops and had to walk back down the Mall to the Natural History Museum. 

The Smithsonian NHM is a great place. The collections are well presented and very neatly put together. My one complaint would be, with such a vast collection I would have thought they’d have more comprehensive exhibits. Nevertheless, it was a good experience. 

After a picture of the Hope Diamond, I was on my way down the street to the National Gallery of Art. This place is impressive! Impressive! I love the Old Masters, and the have the Old Masters. The have the only Da Vinci in the Western Hemisphere. The have a good amount of Rubens, Van Dyck, Botticelli, and Titian. They have two rooms of Rembrandt. Absolutely a fabulous collection. 

Not having walked enough, I decided to walk back across the Mall to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. I am happy I made the effort. The displays at the Museum are absolutely worth your time. They’re collections goes from The Spirit of ST Louis to Space Ship One. They have good WW II collections and good Rocket exhibits. The Apollo Gallery is outstanding. 

I took in the Dark Universe showing at the Einstein Planetarium. It was great. I enjoyed a presentation that wasn’t strictly constellations and planets. 

Leaving the Air and Space Museum right at closing time, I headed back to the Metro. The Metro, even st 5:30pm rush hour, was easily navigatable. I made my way back to Bethesda with little issue. 

Dinner and a few drinks at the hotel, and it was feet up. I’m done, son! 

More tomorrow. 

The largest nut on earth. From a coconut tree, somewhere.

The Hope Diamond. 

A Rembrandt self portrait.

The Spirit of ST Louis.