A Laid Back Visit to the National Mall; Washington, D.C.

Over the weekend, Michelle and I went into D.C., likely our last time downtown before we move overseas. We did not plan anything in particular. Instead we decided to take a leisurely stroll along the National Mall, stop at any points that interested us or we have not seen yet, and mess around with the new digital camera.

We stopped for a bit to eat on the National Mall and sat under the shade of the trees. This little guy took a keen interest in us, and our hot pretzels. In general, over the years we have noticed that the squirrels in D.C. are braver than their suburban cousins.

 

We stopped at the S. Dillon Ripley Center, connected to the Freer Gallery of Art. This sculpture that rises three levels high. Each symbol is a letter in 21 different languages representing a monkey. The monkeys are based on an old Chinese folk tale about a group of monkeys that work together to grab the moon's shadow in a pond below the tree canopy. It symbolizes the pursuit of illusory or goals come to naught.

A view of the sculpture from the 3rd level.

This is one of many display cases featuring centuries old Japanese picture books and poetry. The content ranged from everything from children's folk tales to criticism of ruling regimes of the period in which they were created. Every one of them shared the characteristics of meticulous attention to detail, precision, and artistic mastery.

In the Freer Gallery on the main level, the ancient Indian art room featured many sculptures and art pieces from different eras of India's history. This particular piece depicts the Hindu god Ganesha, widely revered as the "remover of obstacles,", luck and success. I don't recall the exact date that it was made, but it is at least 400 years old.

Beautiful ancient Parthian (Iran) drinking vessels over crafted over 2,000 years ago. It was common to serve wine in vessels such as these.

This stone piece was used as the top piece of a two-pane window in a building in ancient Persepolis.

After leaving the S. Dillon Ripley Center and Freer Gallery of Art, we headed over to the Capital building so I could take pictures with the new camera before going to dinner. I took many pictures and was not disappointed with the results. I look forward to using the camera on future outings and trips.

I took this shot of the portico above the main entrance of the Capital. For the first time I noticed the inscriptions written on it. The inscriptions include the date the American colonies declared independence from Great Britain, the date of the adoption of the current U.S. Constitution, and the initials of the United States of America.