Instead of taking the difficult way in by driving, we did our trip on the Metro. DC has a very convenient system of trains and buses (both are called the metro), far more efficient when traveling the capitol than cars. We took the subway, which starts above ground at the East Falls Church Station.
It's very much like the train system in Japan, right down to the way the tickets are purchased, but with less people in the station (especially on the weekend). Above you can see the nearly-empty Falls Church station. Ours is, I believe, the first and only above-ground station. The trip took about 15 minutes of smooth, air-conditioned rumbling, with an influx of passengers as we got closer to Rome.
Last time we went to the Natural History Museum, I mentioned we only explored the first floor. The second floors, with its promises of bones, bugs, and the hope diamond was left for another day. This time we came back there...with a vengeance! Okay, actually just a mild curiosity. Actually I take that back. Did I mention before that I loved dinosaurs? I'm sure I did, so let me go on to say that if there's anything in the world that can make me as happy as dinosaurs, it's insects. There's a big plus to loving insects to, in that they're all still alive, except for those prehistoric four-foot dragonflies.
We started our second-floor observation in the least interesting sector, that of the rocks and minerals collection. It's a long corridor filled with normal rocks, moon rocks, sword rocks, gemstone rocks, those rocks that are really pretty when you split them open, and rocks with really weird names like Augen Gneiss.
The whole place culminates in two rooms; the first is lined with carefully lit glass cases filled with famous gems from all over the world. Of course everybody was steaming the glass with their faces, so I didn't have much chance or motivation to get up close and see what the big deal was. The second room contained the hope diamond, which I had kinda hoped was one of those baseball-sized deals, but it's actually just a little guy on a brooch which probably has some kind of story behind it. I don't know it, so accusations of me being an uncultured philistine are called for. The rest of the museum that wasn't looking at dinosaurs or bugs were all crammed into the hope diamond room, but I don't see see what's so interesting about something that doesn't have fangs or mandibles.
I like to save the best for last, so next we entered the skeleton exhibit. This is a massive show of the bones of animals from all over, basically it's the undead version of the downstairs' mammal area. This one contains fish and birds too, though.
L-R: A group of skeleton mammals; an exemplary sun bear; a whale skeleton; a tree inhabited by bony birds. I was really hoping to find a narwhal skeleton in there somewhere, because Narwhals are amazing. No narwhals were to be found, but animal skeletons are nearly as interesting as the animals themselves, which is very interesting, so we enjoyed this exhibit.
After passing by some reptiles and other things which some people think are gross, we reached the insects.
Evidently the insect exhibit was celebrating its 30th anniversary. As such,
Everyone was there. Perhaps because it was all I could do to squeeze my way in just to see various (living) insect exhibits, it seems I only took one picture of anything in the whole place, that being one of some particularly huge grasshoppers. Throughout the first hall there was this girl, probably age 14 or 15, who would add facts to my expressions of wonder as I gazed at chinese stick insects or praying mantises. Actually I think she knew more about bugs than I do, which I think is saying quite a bit, especially for a 15-year-old girl. Anyway she disappeared into the shifting crowds by the time I reached that termite skyscraper you see in the above picture.
I guess there isn't much else to say about the bug exhibit. The last time we were there (ten years ago or so), there was a bug-exhibit-worker-guy who inviting people to let tarantulas and giant cockroaches crawl on them. I was hoping to see him again, to prove I have a DC golden age square jaw when it comes to insects, but sadly he was gone, probably out making himself a bee beard or something.
We had planned to make a goodly visit to the Air and Space Museum after that, but unfortunately it was 30 minutes until it closed, so we were only able to give it a general surface scan before they kicked everyone out. We used the rest of the time to explore the Hersshorn's totally bizarre sculpture garden!
Now, let me clarify to you that even having two years worth of art education doesn't give me the kind of clairvoyance necessary to understand modern art. As such, here is my take on only four of the garden's many extravagent members:
I believe this man's name seemed to indicate that he was a clam farmer. What that has to do with his hamburger meat-like appearance, I do not know. What I do know is that if I met this guy while I was out clamming, I'd probably quit clamming for the rest of my life. Is that a word? Clamming?
Now, witness the power of this fully operational battle station!
This is a lesson for all you time travelers: RESEARCH. If a window is going to be in the place where you jump 500 years into the past, you better know that ahead of time. A word of note: This man's left hand doesn't match up with the rest of his body on the other side of the window. As a matter of fact, there's a dog's head coming out of where his arm should be, and the arm is flailing out in the opposite direction.
If Peter Paul Rubens' paintings came to life, they would probably look like this. I'm very glad it's only a sculpture.
Before leaving DC again, we walked past the magnificent Smithsonian Castle and the closeby gardens. I took a couple more pictures of those:
DC still has a ton more to offer that I haven't visited or covered, and probably won't have a chance to before going back to school. But, I shall return!
1 comment:
The artist who made that battle station also made one for the Pope. It's in one of the Vatican courtyards.
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