I’ve been in Washington, DC a few days for work. It is rather different after nearly 13 years of living in the suburbs of DC (first Maryland and then Virginia) to be staying right downtown, walking distance to so much.
There are many wonderful places in the city; and many of the ones that immediately come to mind as interesting or unique are actually places best reached by car. These include the view from the Frederick Douglass House, the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens, the many county owned historic properties in Prince George’s County . . .
This past weekend, I did visit a favorite place on the National Mall – the Freer and Sackler Galleries of the Smithsonian Institution. These museums of asian art are often less crowded, quiet, and always with interesting and calming exhibits. The exhibit ‘Nomads and Networks: the Ancient Art and Culture of Kazakhstan’ displayed beautiful and refined ornaments from horse tack (and other cultural relics) dating to the hundreds of years BCE. I’m looking forward to an upcoming exhibit entitled: ‘Roads of Arabia: Archaeology and History of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’ which opens November 17th. The photo above is of one of the lifesize Japanese wood statues gracing opposing ends of a main hallway in the Freer Gallery – now if only they had replicas of those in the gift shop . . . I would definitely want to take one of him home in my suitcase!
a middling life 