See you back in central time! Bye, DC!
It was pretty entertaining, although not as fun as the farmer's market in Madison.On our last night in DC, we went down and saw the major monuments (Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson, and World War II) at night. We've been meaning to do this all summer, but usually after a day of museums, we were too tired to hang around until dark. We both loved these monuments when we saw them in the daytime, but they were absolutely amazing at night. The video above is taken at the fountain in the World War II memorial. Directly west is the Lincoln memorial where you can see him all lit-up, and directly east is the Washington monument bathed in large flood lights. It was very beautiful. The Jefferson (which isn't shown) was great too; he doesn't have a wall behind him like Lincoln does, so despite being aglow with lights, he's silhouetted by the night sky. It was a fantastic way to spend our last night.
Looking at the relationship of new and old.
The courtyard really took on new life when the sun came out, casting a sharp diagrid pattern of shadows over everything.
These "water scrims" were designed by landscape architect Kathryn Gustafson. Just a small thickness of water cascading maybe a one or two inch drop in the floor. Little kids just loved playing in these water fixtures.
After I left the Kogod courtyard, I thought I'd wander around a little bit. I decided to walk around the block and found myself smack dab in the middle of Chinatown.
Everything in Chinatown is written in both English and Chinese letters, as you can see from the Subway and Starbucks.
Some more wandering led me to this burnt out church, which from afar looked like a ruin, but when I got closer, I realized it was still a functioning church. I guess they haven't got around to fixing it yet.
I don't know what it is, but I really like the way this building bridges out over the street.
I was really drawn in by these white disc shading devices which stand in interesting contrast to the square windows.
I have no idea what this building is, but it really fascinated me.
I thought it had something to do with the rail lines, but the tracks seem to be abandoned in this area.
I really like the muscular use of steel and prefab concrete. If it is a railroad building, the materials express its function well.
The most interesting aspect of this building were the translucent plastic panels on the steel part. The steel had rusted and then streaked down the panels. The effects make it look almost intentional.
Another government building designed by Breuer, the Dept of Health and Human Services.
The Smithsonian National Museum for the American Indian designed by Jones and Jones Architects - I was always attracted to the curvy, stone clad form of this museum on the National Mall, but Kinsey and I never got around to going in.
The building cantilevering out over the main entrance.
The form and materials really evoke the prairie and are a good choice for an American Indian museum.
Day two of my self-led architecture tour was what I like to call "Embassy day," because all I saw were embassies. The German embassy, designed by O.M. Ungers, was only a few blocks from our apartment, and when you think about it, it really does look German, doesn't it?
I really like the depth of the facade, especially that wire screen thats catching the sunlight.
This building has the full Steven Holl checklist. Clear, geometric form; check. Hints of phenomenology; check. Channel glass; check. I do like the mixture of openings punching through and behind the channel glass.
I need more zoom on my camera.
The last stop for my solo weekend was the Embassy of Sweden, designed by Swedish architects Gert Wingardh and Tomas Hansen.
The House of Sweden, as it is called, sits right on the banks of the Potomac River and responds to it with multiple layers of transparency.
I really like these types of connections.
A look at apparently the wood-themed transparent panels.
This is the C & O Canal, which is right next to where I worked in DC. As I was walking back to the apartment, I thought I'd snap a picture of where I got to eat lunch everyday. Just a really peaceful place.
The Portrait Gallery is exactly what you think it is: lots of portraits of famous people. One of the cool things about the gallery was that each portrait had a lot of information about the subject. So we learned a lot. This is a self-portrait of Kurt Vonnegut.
A large portrait of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, aka Mark Twain.
This portrait of Mary Cassatt is done by Edgar Degas, which means we've gotten a lifetime's worth of Degas on this trip.
The one picture from the American Art Museum, Thomas Hart Benton's Achelous and Hercules. I'm not really familiar with Benton other than Jackson Pollock studied under him for a time. His works are very interesting and stylized and very large. This one must have been about 20 feet long.
A shot inside the Portrait Gallery. Pretty cool building.
We made a second trip to the zoo to get some souvenirs and to see the animals that we didn't get to see the first time.
We were also lucky enough to see a training demonstration with the elephants. This video shows the elephant practicing their balance.
A video of the elephants getting a dental exam. I know they are trained elephants and all but I still would be a little leery on sticking my head and hand into an elephant's mouth.
The elephant on the left is 60 years old. I had no idea that elephants get that old. The elephant on the right is actually the mother of the male calf we saw getting a bath. He's still considered a calf even though he weighs almost 5000 pounds (we saw him weighed right after his bath). Of course he's still much smaller than mom; she is 9000 pounds.
This isn't the Library of Congress (I'm going to call it the LOC from now on), its the Supreme Court, which is right next door to the LOC. Just thought I'd throw that in there.
Here's the LOC! As you can see, it is a very grand building. Definitely trying to make a statement.
A fountain depicting the Roman god Neptune and his son Triton stand guard at the front of the building.
"Library of Congress" in gold-leaf lettering greets you as you enter the Great Hall.
Just an example of the ornate quality of the LOC. As I said earlier, the early Americans wanted to use this building to make a statement asserting the United States intelligence and sophistication.
More ornateness.
When I said that Kinsey loved libraries, I meant that she loved books, not the library building's architectural details. So we were both pretty bummed when we learned that we had to register to get into the main reading room, the one you see in movies like National Treasure. We plan on getting in there sometime before we leave DC. Here's a picture looking through the door into the reading room. Apparently they had some window damage from a storm, which accounts for the scaffolding and tarp.
Kinsey and I always multitask on our tourist excursions, so we dropped in on the Botanical Gardens while we were in the area.
As you can see, there is a lot of foliage in there. Although Kinsey and I both agreed that the botanical gardens at Como Zoo in St. Paul were better. Score one for Minnesota.
Some cute little orchids growing on a tree. I must say, everything was well labeled. It was pretty steamy in the gardens so Kinsey and I didn't stick around for very long.
