Flag Day - Washington D.C.

Recommended Reading: The Madonnas of Leningrad

I have a long list of books to read.  I doubt that I will ever read them all.  Each week I read the book review in the Sunday paper and check the best-seller lists.  I add anything interesting to my list.  My library is also a great resource for suggestions which is how I heard about 'The Madonnas of Leningrad' by Debra Dean.

In short, the book is about a young woman who was a docent at the State Hermitage Museum in Leningrad during the 900-day siege that began in 1941.  Now elderly and living in the United States, she has Alzheimer's and the story goes from present day to the past and her memories of the paintings in the museum.

I was fascinated.  The descriptions of the halls and paintings were so real it was as though I was walking through the museum all over again.  But I did learn something that had not been told to us when we were in the museum on our trip.  It seems our guide forgot to mention that many of the paintings were sold off by Stalin in 1930-31 to finance the Soviet government.  An elderly docent at the museum tells our young woman about the paintings and describes them in great detail to her, telling her to build a 'memory palace'.

Since I knew that Faberge eggs had been sold, I guess I should have realized they might have sold paintings too.  With further research I learned that Andrew Mellon bought several paintings to establish the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.  I am sure I have seen these paintings and never realized how they came to be there.

I went through my photos from the Hermitage and Winter Palace.  I do have some photos of paintings though it is difficult with lighting and so many people around to get a good shot.  Here are a few for your enjoyment.

Leonardo da Vinci 'Benois Madonna'

Raphael's 'The Holy Family'

Rembrandt's 'The Holy Family with Angels'

Gallery with malachite urns

Traveling Tuesday - Visiting our Nation's Capitol

Washington,  D.C.  I think I've visited about eight times over the last 40 years.  I still have places to see there.  And many of my pictures were slides that faded before I ever got around to digitizing them.  Plus, on several of these trips, I never thought to bring my camera.  Well, I never thought I'd be blogging about my travels.  So, I don't have a lot of photos to share, but here goes.

Where the President lives from the front and then the back, the White House:

The official guest house for the President since the main house is so small?  This is Blair House.

The Eisenhower Executive Office Building is across the street:

And Lafayette Square is around the corner with a statue of Lafayette (duh!)

Two doors down from Blair House in the Renwick Gallery where I spent a wonderful afternoon admiring the art, not having been invited to anyone's house for tea.

Also on Pennsylvania Avenue is the Willard Hotel which looks like an exquisite place to hold a wedding if you have 100 friends and $30,000.

I have no pictures of the Mall, museums on the mall or the Vietnam Memorial, which I first saw at night and which brought me to tears.  I do have photos of one of my favorite buildings, the Library of Congress.  Check out their site for some great photos.

It is one of the most incredible buildings I have ever seen and is probably not looked at by most tourists who are thinking of their library back home.

Being a finance person I also strolled past the Treasury Building.  My six year appointment to a committee for the Government Finance Officers Association is the reason I made several of those trips to D.C.

I had a wonderful tour of Arlington House, the home of Robert E. Lee and his wife, Mary Custis, a descendant of George Washington, until he joined the Confederacy and the Union took their home and lands away.  I was the only tourist there that morning and spent a considerable amount of time speaking with a park ranger on duty.

Here is the United States Capitol Building:

And a view of the entire mall area as seen from the rise at Arlington:

BTW, all of these photos were taken in January.  A few days later a huge storm hit the area and we were lucky to get on an earlier flight and get out before the airport was shut down.  As it was, we ended up getting home later than our original flight was supposed to get us here.

If you have never been to D.C., do consider it.  There is so much to see, be sure to plan your days out before you go, if you do.

I have now decided that I need to start digitizing all of my photos.  It is so much easier to find pics that are stored on my computer.  I know that I have more shots of D.C. around her someplace, but if we wait for me to find them I'll never blog again.  Hope you enjoyed this snapshot of our nation's capitol.

W is for Washington D.C.

Washington, D. C. is another city where I have spent a lot of time.  Yet, I still have not seen everything there is to see there. 

While the '501 Must-visit Destinations' lists the National Air and Space Museum and the Vietnam Veterans War Memorial as the two places to see, there are, of course, many more.  Everything there is a must-visit in my estimation.  And, believe me, it will take more than one-week of your time.

One of my favorite places is the Library of Congress.  I don't go there to read, I go to marvel at the architecture.  Of course, you will spend a lot of time 'looking up' and may have a stiff neck when you are done. 

There are so many Smithsonian Museums to see on the National Mall, you just can't visit everything in a week.  And then there is the National Zoo. 

One of my favorite places is the Freer Gallery and the installation of the Peacock Room.  This room, originally installed in London, was dismantled and moved to the Freer home in Detroit and subsequently to the Freer Gallery in D.C. 

The official website for touring the city lists almost 200 attractions and I can't possibly cover them all.   Tour the Capitol Building and the White House.  Arlington Cemetery is another stop on your tour.  Be sure to view the former home of Robert E. Lee on the grounds.  The property was taken by the government when Lee chose to fight for the Confederacy during the Civil War.

Take a train over to Alexandria or drive to Mount Vernon.  Or just walk through Georgetown.  For an afternoon of fun, pretend to be a spy at the International Spy Museum.   Visit the National Cathedral or just wander around in Union Station.

And eat.  So many restaurants, so little time to visit all of them.

Here is one of my favorite views:

W is also for Wyoming, Whistler, Wawa, Washington, West Virginia, Williamsburg, VA, Wisconsin, Winterthur Museum