National Portrait Gallery/Smithsonian

A customs agent in the Ronald Reagan building urged us to visit the NPG, observing that it was much more than just portraits. Indeed, it was. Although close to Rachel's, it had been closed for renovations for many years, and thus we'd not seen it. We finally made it and enjoyed the NPG greatly, both the great old building (originally the US Patent Office) and the Smithsonian and other collections.

Rosa Parks...

MLK

The last photo of Lincoln

Automotive Industry, Marvin Beerbohm

First great American inventor

Morse, who was originally a portrait painter (seriously)

Among the many Caitlins

Headless horseman

Part of the interior at the NPG

70s art, Nam June Paik's Electronic Superhighway

Grant and His Generals

A gigantic Moran Yellowstone, done originally for a Chicago
world fair

More contemporary video art (gimme that old-time...art)

Thomas Hart Benton, Achelous and Hercules

Edward Shinn...easily mistaken for you know who

Nice stained glass, John Le Farge's Peacocks
and Peonies

GW, before his...

Apotheosis...a study for the Capitol dome

Take a picture of this, she said

First four female Justices

Captain Sam

Hideous portrait of Clinton

Among James Hampton's works at the NPG

I've seen these quite a bit recently

Fellow Miamian Purvis Young's The Struggle

In the gift store, thinking very evil thoughts

Another great place

POTUS!

So there we were, walking up NY Ave., after a visit to the hardware store, minding our own business, when we notice that the place begins crawling with police vehicles and black SUVs, and all the side streets, including I-395, are blocked off, and, quicker than you'd think, NY Ave. is utterly clear as far as the eye can see see, either way, except for the slowly approaching motorcade.

I was this close to LBJ (riding in an open convertible) in 1964, on Biscayne Blvd.,
and actually shook hands and spoke with George H. W. Bush (the Good Bush) in
1992; I was glad for this close encounter with Obama, one of that handful of US
presidents I very much admire

Sic transit, Gloria

We learned later that the POTUS and FLOTUS were going to the veterans' home
in north DC to serve Thanksgiving dinner to the residents there

National Gallery Of Art, 2016

Another day we walked to the National Gallery of Art, visiting a bunch of old friends and making a few new ones.

In the East Building, an exhibit of 20th century art from a
major historic gallery

Aerial view of the spiral jetty

In the tunnel 

We never miss a Penelope, this one by Gari
Melchers

Also never miss books

One of Edward Hick's many Peaceable Kingdoms

Never miss a Turner

Ditto

Nor a Watteau

Nor a Fragonard, reading

Or swinging

Or a Morrissey, reading

Or especially a Van Eyck, reading; we always
wonder what the Queen of Heaven/Mother of
God (to be) was reading; was she into
whodunnits? romances?

Or even a weird Botticelli painting of Giuliano
Medici, a rival for the affections of Simonetta

National Arboretum

One day we walked up New York Avenue to the US Arboretum. Mid-November is perhaps not the best time for looking at trees in the East, so we focused on the bonsai and rock collections, which were by themselves fairly stupendous. Also the Capitol Columns, the Arboretum's folly, as it were.