A weekend in Washington DC Day 2  | - Click on the image above to view gallery
|
|
 National Museum of the American Indian building
Our plan was to get to the National Air and Space Museum as it opened, when it might not be too busy. As we queued outside the doors with several other people that morning we could feel the cool air-conditioned air coming out through the cracks in the door and couldn’t wait to be inside. The National Air and Space Museum is the most visited museum in the world and with the exhibits on show it’s easy to see why. Housed in the 23 galleries are exhibits from the entire history of flying from the Wright Brothers’ first lift across a meadow in 1903 to the first successful landing on the moon and many modern day aeroplanes that can only be flown using computer controls.
In the main entrance atrium is housed something everyone wants to see: the Apollo 11 command module that we had watched on television in 1969 as it splashed down after carrying the astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins safely back to earth after the first landing on the moon. There is also a display of a piece of moon rock which you are allowed to touch; I wondered just how many millions of hands had done just that before me.
Then we found a gallery of pictures taken from satellites that orbit the earth; I have to say we treated ourselves to a book with some stunning photography of many planets and moons. Other things to see included the rockets and missiles in the “space race” gallery which combine to tell the story of rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union. Also there was the spacecraft of the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz test project.
We could have spent so much longer in just this museum but we also were keen to visit the Museum of the Native American. The building itself is so different than any other its curving architecture is clad in a golden-coloured Kasota Limestone designed to evoke natural rock formations shaped by wind and water over thousands of years. The exhibits are all designed in collaboration with tribes and communities from across the hemisphere.
 Me touching moon rock  Apollo 11 Command Module  Native crafts
We started our visit by watching a short film called “who we are” which celebrates the vitality and diversity of native life. Then we visited the various galleries taking in all the beautiful artefacts and artwork. I must have been very involved looking at everything because I took very few pictures, plus it sometimes wasn’t easy to take pictures because of the low light levels. We treated ourselves in the shop to an arpillera, a beautiful appliqué collage produced by native communities in South America.
We had our lunch in the Mitsitam (lets eat) Native Foods Café. I really enjoyed my buffalo chilli and Nigel his buffalo burger. Following lunch we caught a bus as far as the Lincoln Memorial once more and spent the afternoon slowly walking back along the mall before making sure we left plenty of time to get back to Union Station to catch the train back to Wilmington.
It had been a really enjoyable couple of days in the capital city and we were buzzing with all the things we had seen and done. But we just scratched the surface of all there is to see there; I would happily return anytime.
 |
What a lot you managed to fit into your weekend! The Natural History Museum looked interesting, what beautiful butterflies. I like the idea of the evening bus tour too. 'Thinker on a rock' from day 1 is very much like a couple of the sculptures in the gardens at Chatsworth House. I've enjoyed all the photos, everywhere looked so quiet, spacious & clean! Angela x