Thursday, June 9

Thursday – Free Day!!

(I am going to post all of Thursday in one post instead of one for each place we visit. I apologize if I get to wordy, but I am trying to catch up!)

When we arrived last night, I was sure Jeff Probst, the host of Survivor, would be there to hold a tribal council and vote some of us off, specifically me!! He wasn't thank goodness, because I was not ready to go home yet. I still believe we are more in an Amazing Race than Survivor, but ask me at the end of the trip! 

After yesterday, it was nice to know that we could sleep in a little bit. Our schedule generally has us getting to the hotel every night between 9:30 and 10:00 pm. Then we have breakfast from 6:00 – 7:00 depending on what time our bus leaves in the morning, which is usually somewhere around 6:45 – 7:00. The days are very interesting, but very tiring so we are happy to be on a more relaxed schedule and stay in the hotel more than 1 night!

Picture created entirely
from fingerprints

Thursday was Free Day!! We could explore D.C. all we wanted,  so I will post the places I went. I know others that rented a car and went to the Dupont estates, some took the tour buses, and others just went places within walking distance. We did the latter. We started off at the National Gallery of Art! I made it through here before my camera died, so I have lots of pictures from here and few from the other places. There was a special display of etchings that was absolutely amazing! The artist was John Taylor Arms, and I could not even begin to imagine the hours spent etching the design into a copper plate to make prints off of. The detail was intricate and just awe inspiring!  Then we got to my favorite paintings. I say favorite because I was familiar with the artists and their work – Picasso, Renoir, Remington, and others. They were   like old friends. After coaching U.I.L. art (picture memory), these artists were all too familiar! If you don’t know about this U.I.L. event, it is very hard and students have to be devoted to studying for it. They have to learn the name of a piece of art, spell it correctly, know  the artist, and sometimes they have to know the history and the elements of the art. It was exciting to see the actual art we had studied hanging in the gallery! In the gift shop we saw items with Andy Warhol art and found out it was in another building, so we headed that way to find it. In years past, I have had students create Andy Warhol type photos using free software. Of course we discuss the art and the artist. It has always been a favorite project, so I wanted to take some pictures of his work. After dragging my two partners across kingdom come, we get there to discover that they don’t have any Warhol on display at this time. VERY SAD about this!! Anyway, while there we looked around – this section was the more contemporary, modern art section. We could only look at some and think…… hmmmm….!

Next we headed to the Smithsonian Museum of American History. Of course the entertainment section was one of my favorites. I have several favorites by the way! From Dorothy’s ruby slippers, Fonzie’s jacket, and the original Sesame street puppets, there was lots to pique your interest! One of the most “chill bumps” moment was seeing Abraham Lincoln’s top hat he wore, and was wearing the night he was shot. It amazes me at how they can preserve items like that. I was really surprised they allowed us to take photos of it, and of course I did. There was also a flag that adorned his coffin that had been saved. Finally, another favorite, and the last I will share on here, was the flag that inspired the Star-Spangled Banner. It has now become so frail, they cannot hang it anymore, it is in a very large glass encasement (photos not allowed). I was curious about the end of the flag, because in spots it varies in length. After the war, pieces were cut off and given away as souvenirs.  There was much more, but not enough time to write about all the wonderful things they have on display – a must see if you are in D.C.

Julia Child's Kitchen

Hope Diamond

Our next stop was at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. It also was quite an exciting place, especially if you teach Science (as well as Social Studies) like one of my partners for the day does. In the science section was Julia Child’s kitchen, if you have seen the movie "Julie & Julia", the kitchen looks just like that.  Then of course, the big display was the Hope Diamond. Absolutely stunning! I have never seen a collection of gems and stones in one place as there was here. 

We had walked a lot that day, so took a cab back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. This also was on our own, so when in China Town . . . . we ate Mongolian at Tony Chengs. It was quite good. Just remember, if you order tea in China Town, you have to specify “iced”! When we got back to the table there was a cute little pot of “hot” tea!! J Fun times!