Gettin’ some culture

We took a break from house hunting today and went into the city. A friend recommended the Newseum so we drove in to check that out. Traffic wasn’t bad and we actually found a street with plenty of parking just one street over from the museum.

We ended up across the street at the National Gallery of Art though because $36 for two adults + just a little over an hour to see it all ≠ a good time. Du is a “reader”. By that I mean he will read every plaque and piece of paraphernalia that is put out to read. That’s normally great because I can zoom through a museum, gather the gist of everything, and then sit on a bench to rest and relax. Later Du can fill me in on all the juicy little details. That’s just how we roll people.

So, not wanting to waste $36 we headed across the street for the free culture. And I am so glad we did. I was thoroughly amazed at the paintings we were able to see, and I can’t wait to take the girls back here for “Art Appreciation” or “Drawing”  or any other number of homeschooling classes we could do.

In just one small wing of the gallery we saw paintings by:

• Manet
• Monet
• Renoir
• Cassat
• Degas
• Toulouse-Lautrec
• Gauguin
• Van Gogh
• Cezanne

I think I was more in awe here than in The Louvre. Well, probably not, because how can you be more in awe than being in an art gallery in Paris? But, that’s been over ten years! Can you guess the painters who painted the following?:

#1  

#2  

#3  

#4  

#5  

Uh, I might have to go back to look at the artist of #3…I didn’t take a picture of the plaque…uh oh. Anyone?

I wish I would have taken more pictures now. I’m no art critic but it was fascinating to “study” the different painting techniques, different subjects, different use of materials (Toulouse-Lautrec seemed to like to paint on cardboard. And judging from his subjects I’m guessing his lifestyle didn’t lend itself to having a lot of money for canvases).

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Later in the day we ate lunch at an Italian café where a parrot was sitting on a chair as free as, well, a regular bird.

Was it an escapee from the zoo, which was just down the road? No. Her owner was dining and apparently the two go everywhere together.

Not a great picture, but she is nibbling her owner’s ear. Later one of the waitresses got her to climb on her arm. The bird immediately started picking at one of the buttons on her sleeve or collar. She thought they were nuts and pulled one off!

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We then headed to Rosslyn to one of the many Starbucks featured in the Arlington Rap video I posted earlier this week. Later we went out to dinner with friends and then took a tour through north Arlington and got to see where most of the video was shot. Cool area with great shops and I can’t wait to go back, especially to The Container Store to figure out how to stylishly store all of the crap toys and other stuff we’ll have to hide once we have a house.

All in all it was a great day with many different cultural attractions…