Day-12 .. DC - Navy Yard, Building Museum, ARTS

Only my 7th day here?  No, really?  It feels like 2-weeks.  Maybe if I hadn't tried to see all 200 sights in a few days ...   I had more modest goals TODAY!  But first, another yummy and super breakfast featuring an omelette :

How can you NOT have a super day after starting with these goodies!

Thank You!   Vania & Bruce !!

OK friends and relatives, .. you do NOT have to try and prepare food like this when I visit you in several days on my return journey. (maybe .. a little?)

The Navy Yard, located on the Anacostia River (flows into the Potomac) is still an active base which was started in, get this, 1798 !   It's quite a bike hike from the airbnb, so I'm glad I reconnoitered the area the day before.  I checked in at the main gate and had to fill-out what I thought was an application form to join the Navy!   No, no, I just wanted to visit the museum.  Whew!  After 15-minutes of waiting and a personal interview I was granted access.

The National Museum of the U.S. Navy

It's huge.   ALL these DC museums are huge!   They've displayed the 'fighting top' of the USS Constitution and re-created the gun deck.  Here's a couple pic's :

they used 10-14 yr.old boys as 'powder monkeys' because of their size

This is another museum I could spend ALL day in. Charlie, next few - for you:

Hang in there ladies, there's some interesting stuff .. later on.   

I always pictured myself as an underwater salvage diver ..   (not!)

(although my waist could probably fit.. :)

On my way back north towards .. Chinatown, I find this beautiful park with a famous fountain :

It's the Bartholdi Park & Fountain across the street from the U.S. Botanic Garden!   Frederic Auguste Bartholdi (1834-1904) is best known for creating the Statue of Liberty!   Bartholdi created this cast-iron (30,440 lbs.) fountain for the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia.   (my bike's well known, also)

The National Building Museum

I love these out-of-the-way non-mainstream museums.  Only one bus was out front.  It was a church bus from Annapolis.   It's not a free museum, but it's pretty reasonable, $7 for old geezers like me.

and the INSIDE ... are you READY ???  :

wow'zr's !!!    From the booklet guide :  "This magnificent brick structure was constructed between 1882 and 1887 to house the U.S. Pension Bureau and as a national memorial to the Union forces who fought in the Civil War."   It's been used for quite a few inaugural balls.  The 75-foot corinthian columns are among the tallest in the world and their design  was inspired by similar columns in the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Rome.

One of the exhibits that fascinated me was "Secret Cities: The Architecture and Planning of the Manhattan Project".   The building of Oak Ridge (Tenn.), Hanford/Richland (Wash.), and Los Alamos (New Mex.) research and production facilities and housing/neighborhoods for the workers.  At the time, this production facility building (Oak Ridge) was the largest in the world :

(remember - they were building the atomic bomb..)

Smithsonian American Art Museum  &  National Portrait Gallery

There's a gorgeous courtyard between the galleries, the Kogod Courtyard.

you'll see more of it .. in a pic -or- two

General William T. Sherman,  Civil War  ..  'Total War' strategy

After almost 3-hours of 'appreciating' .. my eyes were getting tired.   To my surprise I finished just in time for a jazz concert in the courtyard.  Singer was Cecily Bumbray, a 'sweet soprano' who's sound is rooted in a deep appreciation for mid-century soul and jazz, especially the sound of Nancy Wilson.

shadows from the honeycomb-like ceiling and afternoon low sun 

A relaxing way to end a day!  Now for a couple-mile bike ride 'home'.   Stopped and ate some Indian food for dinner.    Started a load of laundry and arranged my notes for this evening's post creation.   One more museum and several memorials tomorrow, ... and one more load of laundry.   It's Friday already!