Week 4 in DC

This week the weather was AMAZING! Glad to be out and about all day!

Monday
I started at the Mexican Cultural Institue. It is host to beautiful murals, art, and crafts from Mexico.

 

I then heard that history was in the making at the Botanical Garden. I had already been there but I did not get to see the "Corpse Flower". It is actually known as Titan Arum. It is a huge flower that blooms every decade or two. There is no knowing when it will bloom and when it does, it only stays open for 24-48 hours. It also gives off a deadly smell...literally. It smells like a dead corpse.

 

Neil, my sister and I immediately thought of Denice the Menage. Remember that?

Tuesday
I started by visiting the National Museum of Women in Art. This was only my TO DO list from the very beginning because it houses an original Frida Kahlo. I avoided going for awhile because unlike most of the museums here, there was a fee. I finally decided to splurge and not only did I get to see her, but many many other beautifully powerful works of art by some courageous talented women.

 Love the colors and random pattern. I could never be so random...

This was a picture book page by page...

 This artist did a lot of work during the 60s and focused on women's rights and anit-slavery movements.

 This map of hers showed various riots during the 60s.

 The Frida Kahlo. 

I remember the first time I disagreed with a teacher. I was in the 2nd grade and our Art teacher had us studying Diego Rivera. During my presentation, I mostly talked about his wife, Frida Kahlo and how her art was a reflection of their relationship and my teacher made me do the assignment again. I tried to explain that all 25 students in the class were doing a presentation on his art and how I thought it would be interesting to hear about her. She promised that if I did the correct assignment on him, we would cover Frida Kahlo's art. We never did. I asked her about it about 5 years later and she just thought it was too graphic and complex to study in the 2nd grade. I agree now but she should not have promised...anyways....

 

She painted this for a friend Leon Trotsky and included that in the painting.

From there, I picked up the postcard invitations I made for my sisters shower! They are adorable but I have to wait to show you until she gets hers in the mail :)

Wednesday
Thanks to Facebook, I found out that a good Baylor friend of mine just moved to DC! We immediately set up a lunch date.

I spent the rest of the day shopping in Georgetown :)

Thrusday
I headed to Eastern Market and the Shakespeare Library. Eastern Market has a great indoor and outdoor food market and some local artist booths. Just near by was the Folger's Shakespeare Library. Some of it was under renovation, but I got to see the stage, some 1st edition books and an interesting exhibit on Nelson Mandela. How is he realted to Shakespeare? It a stretch but, when he was a prisoner, they were each allowed one book to read, not including Bibles. One of his fellow prisoners chose The Complete Works of Shakespeare and covered it in a Biblical cover so that he could share it with his inmates. Inmates were to choose a line or phrase, underline it, and sign their names. Well, Nelson Mandela was one of those prisoners. The original book with his signature was being displayed. I think its a stretch but with all the construction, they were probably needing some material...

The stage.

 The book used in the prison, with Mandela's signature.

 Some art by Mandela.

Friday
I took it easy. After yoga, breakfast, and a trip to the post office, I decided to try my hand at Watercolors.

Saturday
We decided to take tour of the Capitol.

 The inside of the dome.

 The statue room. Each state has two statues of their choosing in the Capitol

 Where Lincoln's desk used to sit.

Then we took the tunnel to the Library of Congress because I had to show it to Neil. We headed down to find a place to eat and ended up at We, the Pizza! I love the name but as we were in line, the credit card machine broke so we headed up the street and found ourselves at Hakw n' Dove. It. was. delicious! I had a flat bread pizza and Neil had a sandwich called The Dip. It was the best pizza I have ever had!

Sunday
We had heard that the National Building Museum was a hidden find so we stopped by. The building was beautiful and the exhibits were more interesting that I thought they would be. They also had a few play spaces, mini golf and a cafe. It seems like a good place to take little kids.