I saw some memorable things on my most recent trip to Washington DC, and it really underscored for me just how much the city has to offer. There are the patriotic sites that all Americans should visit (and it’s interesting how people from other countries also seem drawn to them) ….. but beyond that are the museums that represent a dazzling array of potential experiences. And by the way, it’s these museums that probably offer the most to people from all over the world. I was really touched to see currency from a wide array of countries in the “thank you” boxes at the Smithsonian. It says a lot about the place.
This was my first time exploring the Smithsonian Institute – and I actually took the time to visit but a tiny fraction of what is there. I poked around that iconic-looking “Castle” – the earliest of the many Smithsonian structures – and even a brief of its offerings was enough to excite me for a more thorough, leisurely future visit. I especially liked an eye-catching collection of vintage seed catalogs – just the sort of thing that takes one back not into the momentous events of our history, but rather into the equally interesting history of everyday life for everyday Americans.
Maestro Garcia-Novelli and I took in some of the Smithsonian’s Air & Space Museum, and I soon understood why this is such a “Must-See” destination for so many people. One of my favorite things about it was that they gave equal exhibition space to the Wright Brothers and their invention of flight ….. and to the Apollo flights that took us to the moon.
How cool that within the walls of the very same museum, one could see a meticulously crafted model of the Wright Brothers’s first plane- one of the bicycles they helped design and build- the letter they sent to the Library of Congress, requesting copies of any and all books related to the theories of flight (this was just as they began work in earnest on the development of the first airplane) …….
and also see the flight suits worn by Neal Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin for their historic trip to the moon in 1969 plus other fascinating items from the Apollo flights (including the special pens that they had to use in the weightless environment of their space vehicle.)
I was also bound and determined this time around to see something that I had never managed to see in my three previous trips to Washington DC- namely, the famous Star Spangled Banner, the flag that bravely flew over Ft. McHenry which inspired Francis Scott Key to pen the words of what became our national anthem. With the 200th anniversary of the anthem having been celebrated back in the fall of 2014, I was even more anxious to not let this trip go by without finally seeing that beautiful if battered flag for myself. It meant standing in quite a long line outside of the Museum of American History, but it was well worth the wait. And in the museum there were also such treasures as Dorothy’s ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz, Julia Child’s kitchen, and two tuxedos worn by the great Ray Charles, just to name a few. It’s a museum that really gives one a solid sense of just how wondrously varied a nation we are.
I was also so glad to have had the chance to take in something that I knew absolutely nothing about before heading to DC- and still would have known nothing about had I not eavesdropped on a clerk at the White House History Store. I overheard him telling another customer that “the best thing in DC right now” was a sculpture exhibition at an art museum right around the corner from where we were. With not much else to see right around the White House itself – and with the temperatures still a bit chilly (the afternoon was forecast to be much warmer and sunnier) I decided that a visit to this “unknown” art museum might not be a bad way to kill some time before heading over to the Mall. Little did I realize that I was actually going to experience something quite amazing …. and as far as I know, I am the only person in our entire group who got to see it. The Renwick Gallery is part of the Smithsonian organization but is located quite a distance from the rest of the complex, and probably does not see nearly as much tourist traffic as it otherwise might. But it’s actually the oldest structure in America constructed to be an art gallery, so it’s worth seeing simply for the building itself.
But it’s what one sees once you’ve walked through the doors that is truly astounding. I’ve never been a huge fan of sculpture, and modern sculpture tends to leave me a bit bewildered- and often irritated. But these nine exhibits were a visual feast like nothing else I’d ever seen. The first room you walked into looked like some sort of strange extraterrestrial landscape- but it turned out that this odd-shaped mountains were actually constructed from tens of thousands of small note cards. It was incredible how such captivating structures could be made from such mundane materials.
The second room featured more large structures, but these were fashioned from twigs and branches of a particular kind of tree where the branches could be bent and shaped to the artist’s desire. They were both ordinary and extraordinary-looking.
Another sculpture had been created with the Renwick’s 150th anniversary in mind. The artist found a tree that was determined to be 150 years old, and he created some sort of cast of it that served as the essential framework of the sculpture. But for the substance of the tree, the artist utilized small bits of cedar, meticulously joined together. It was beautiful.
Another exhibition was a 3-dimensional sculpture designed after the radar image of the earthquake and tsunami that caused such massive destruction in Japan several years ago. It was amazing (if also a bit bewildering) to see such a beautiful work of art created out of something so terrible.
There was another exhibit that was a fascinating case of something being not at all what it initially seemed to be. The walls of this particular room were festooned with strange symbols that one assumed were painted, against an odd pink background. In the middle of the room was a very intriguing sculpture that was a set of drawers, each of which contained various objects- including bugs and other insects. 
At some point I took a little closer look at the walls and suddenly realized that the designs were not from paint but from the bodies of insects!
Perhaps my favorite exhibit of them all was one comprised of beautifully colored, thin filaments of fabric, shaped and twisted to form a shimmering, magical cloud of color that I couldn’t stop looking at! I wish these photographs did it true justice.
And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the lovely handmade bow ties that were on sale in the gift shop. Each was a unique creation, fashioned from actual bird feathers. The price of each: $200. I was tempted- but resisted. 🙂
I walked into the Renwick rather skeptical – but that clerk in the White Hour Tour Shop had not understated the astonishing beauty of this exhibit – and it made me so glad that I had allowed myself to deviate from what had been a fairly set itinerary of “must-see” sights. It was a healthy reminder that it is sometimes off the beaten path of our own set expectations where we sometimes get to experience some truly amazing delights that are all the more delightful because they are also a complete surprise.