Cherry Blossom Time

On Friday 26th Sheelagh and Janelle and the girls went down to the Smithsonian Art Gallery and the girls took an art class. It was a great hit and in ideal circumstances. There was a small group of kids with plenty of help. The projects were beautiful and the setting grand. Sheelagh came back raving about the gallery so she and I went back to have another look and we enjoyed a long slow stroll and still didn't see all there was. Along with a wonderful portrait section, there were sculptures and modern art to stretch our preconceptions. On Saturday we visited another branch of the same gallery that had a most amazing sculpture of a clock with a sheet over it. We were standing 2 feet from it and still thought that the sheet was cloth when in fact the whole thing had been carved from a single piece of mahogany.
Saturday was sunny and a bit breezy, a perfect day for a kite festival. We decided that we needed to get pictures of the famous monuments. We took the bus down 16th to the White House and walked from there to the Washington Monument where the kites were flying. The girls were given little paper kites and we did our best to get them into the air.
Next we went around to the tidal basin and Janelle and I and the girls rented a paddle boat and puffed around for about 40 minutes. We had a great view of the Jefferson Monument and the trees along the shore. Try as we could we couldn't catch up with those sea gulls. Grandad's legs were wore away by the time we could get those little navigators to steer us back to the dock.
After some pizza that Liam declared to be terrible, we took the Metro to Foggy Bottom and walked over to the Lincoln Memorial. The view from the memorial down the reflecting pool to the Washington Monument is probably one of the most famous in the world, but it is beautiful.
The trees are magnificent. There is a mixture of cherry and magnolia. The people came out in droves to enjoy their capital and she put on quite a show. The number of tour groups from all over the country was impressive. We had a fun day and came home sunburned and tired.