Part Two: DC Museums

Let’s pick up where we left off: Lizi's 2024 Christmas trip: Part One, LAX-DCA.

2024.12.23

National Gallery of Art

I got up early and had breakfast in Hyatt's lounge. It was pretty good.

After breakfast at the hotel, we headed to the National Gallery. The museum requires no reservation, so we just walked straight in.

It wasn’t busy in the morning, so we first lined up for this Paris 1874 special exhibition.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s The Dancer.

Manet’s The Railway. The haze in the background is steam from a steam locomotive.

The painting I saw while lining up at the entrance: The Theater Box — a Renoir.

I saw one of Lizi's favorite things—wouldn’t this be a rabbit?

The proportions are a bit off—an enormous giant rabbit!

Museum-hopping takes a lot of time, so by noon we went to the café next door to get something to eat.

The thinking rabbit in the sculpture garden.

Bought a cake. Heehee, I like things that are extra sweet (doge face).

Back in the afternoon to check again.

Renoir’s hula-hoop little girl.

A work by the same artist: the little girl carrying a watering can.

We went to the modern art museum through this tunnel.

The blue giant rooster on the roof—this is a famous sculpture here.

Time was about right, so we left. We still needed to visit the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

A distant view of the Washington Monument and Capitol Hill.

We walked all the way to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum; the destination was right in front of us.

Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum

One of the most important exhibits at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum is this—the Wright Flyer.

Eastern—not China Eastern (code MU), but Eastern Air Lines in the U.S. (code EA). This was one of the original operators of the 757. Does anyone in this forum still remember it?

Cockpit of a Boeing 747.

This 747 once belonged to Northwest Airlines (code NW); everyone knows what happened to that airline later—it merged into Delta.

That TWA in the distance is, of course, Trans World Airlines (code TW), which was later merged into AA.

Another key attraction—the Apollo 11 command module.

After finishing the visit, we headed back.

The Washington Monument and the Smithsonian Castle at dusk.

On the way home, we found a restaurant for dinner.

Jaleo’s Spanish paella is good.

The day’s itinerary ended here.

December 24, 2024

Ford's Theatre

In the morning, we first went to Ford's Theatre and the Lincoln Memorial.

Lincoln’s story is already well known, so I won’t repeat it here.

Petersen House

Petersen House is directly across from Ford's Theatre, so the two can be visited together.

Afterward, we continued toward the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, and on the way we spotted these little things.

Can anyone tell what they were?

If you can’t make them out, zoom in a bit—they’re a group of sparrows!

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

The iconic elephant right after entering.

We checked out the minerals and gems section first.

As a chemistry person, this one looked familiar—an enormous whole chunk of calcium fluoride crystal!

Marie Antoinette's earrings.

One classmate looked at the photos and said, "The two seem a little different in size," and then laughed. That’s right—that means they’re real.

Various butterflies.

Butterfly chrysalises and butterflies that just emerged.

Ammonites—one of the best-looking fossil types in my opinion.

The world’s largest rodent—the meme-worthy capybara.

Kangaroo.

My favorite little animal—this tiny rabbit (an Australian rabbit).

Another adorable creature—the dik-dik, a small antelope and one of the daintiest little antelopes in the world.

Cotton-tailed rabbit.

Jackrabbit—big-eared wild rabbit.

After finishing, we went to the Hirshhorn Museum to check out the famous exhibit.

This was the giant pumpkin.

Bonus side note: fun translations from DC Chinatown!

Capital One Arena—no translation needed.

Capital One Cafe—the literal "First Capital Bank Coffee Shop," which works perfectly.

The grass shop near me.

Two bulls.

A Qibotelei Mexican barbecue restaurant.

Finally, in the evening we returned to Hyatt Club for dinner.

Summary

Our DC trip is coming to an end.

The next day is Christmas, and as a train enthusiast, Lizi will be taking the most important leg of the Christmas journey—the Amtrak Acela Express from Washington Union Station to Boston Backbay. Stay tuned!