After spending a couple of hours at the National Gallery, we walk around the National Mall. Well, everything is National here so I may just as well skip the adjective. The only thing local is the city's local government and if you ever thought that the Feds are not running things to your liking, then you should acquaint yourself with local DC politics. It will cheer you up! At some point Washington boasted to be "
the worst city government in America”. That's quite a statement to make, the competition is fierce for the title. However, that was a while back and things supposedly improved. We didn't come here for the politics so as long as we don't get mugged, I don't give a hoot.
The weather is sunny and beautiful. The kids are not with us so we skip the Air and Space Museum, although I am inclined to go in. We walk across the Mall, peek inside the Smithsonian, check out a weird statue garden, and proceed to The Sackler and Freer Gallery of Art which is the National Museum of Asian Art.
This is where memories of our journey through Japan return. We spend the next couple of hours looking at every single Japanese painting, folding screen, woodblock-printed books, and lacquerware the museum has on display. There is a special exhibition of Tawaraya Sotatsu of the Rinpa school. However, what I was looking for, Hiroshige's woodblock prints are not on display. Apparently, the museum has a much larger collection than what's on display.
Waves at Matsushima by Sotatsu
5PM
As if we were the teenagers, we stop at the Washington Monument to take some selfies and send them to our teens. We receive a not very verbose thumps up sign as a response.
We walk around World War II Memorial, then to the Lincoln Memorial.
