Art Escape - Washington DC

This trip was a great experience. The last time I rode a train in the US, I was nine and rode from Atlanta to Chicago, but the year I worked in Italy I rode the train often, and it was one of my favorite parts of being there. What I liked about it in Europe was the built in down time to think, and watching the scenery. What I looked forward to most about this trip was another chance to get to know the other teachers.

It has worked out for me in the Cohort that I’ve spent most of my time with the string group, which in a lot of ways has been great. They’re fun to be around, and it gives me a different perspective. The person I sat with on the train was also an orchestra person, and had never been to DC before. I’ve been several times, but always with either a school group or with someone who knows their way around, so this was a chance for me to really get my bearings. We decided to focus on the Museum of American Art and the Hirshhorn Museum, but to also at least walk through the other major museums on the mall so she would get a taste of what is there.

When we went to the dining car Friday night, there was one seat in a booth with three other APS teachers, and just across from that was one seat with a couple and a single woman, not with the group. I took that seat and had an interesting conversation with the lady I sat beside. She was taking the train from Tuscaloosa, AL to Greenville, SC. I never thought about being able to do that. I knew you could take the train from New Orleans to Atlanta, then up to DC and NY, but I never thought about using it for the intermediate stops. She had been to visit friends and was on her way home. She seemed like maybe she had had a hard life, but also an interesting one, including some time living in Panama. When the couple across the table left, two other teachers from the Cohort sat down. They both teach in a school near one of mine, and it was another chance to have a conversation outside of a meeting or concert.

I didn’t feel as bad as I thought I would Saturday morning. All in all, a berth would probably have been more comfortable, but the seats are pretty spacious. Once we got off at Union Station, the group going to Anacostia took a cab, and everyone else headed out on foot. Being able to walk and use public transportation is one of the many things I love about going to DC. We started out at the Museum of American Art, but found out it didn’t open until 11:30, so we walked back to the Museum of Natural History. That was never one of my favorites when I was younger, but I really enjoyed it this time. I spent most of the time I was there in the area about the very early years of life on earth. A big picture concept I had never really thought about was that the organisms that developed first had to generate and build up oxygen in the air over a long period of time before it would become hospitable to larger organisms. Maybe that wasn’t in my eighth grade earth science book…

Back at the Museum of American Art, we spent time in the gallery where the portraits of the presidents hang. I learned that, by marriage, I share the same last name as the man who painted the famous George Washington portrait (Gilbert Stuart). All of the portraits were traditional except for the one of Bill Clinton. From there we went to the section on civil rights, and then a section with modern-looking sculptures. At that point, hunger set in and we walked to the National Art Gallery for lunch. I know there are probably other good places to eat on the mall, and in fact someone on the train back said the food at the American Indian Museum was great, but I tend to be a creature of habit with things like that. I think the food is really good, and I like to sit next to the glass wall with the water cascading over it. It’s sort of a peaceful break in the middle of the day. We didn’t actually spend any time in the gallery itself, and in looking at the Smithsonian guide discovered it isn’t actually part of the Smithsonian. We wanted to spend time in the Freer and Hirshhorn galleries, so we stopped at the Freer Museum first. I’ve never spent much time looking at Asian art, but my roommate from Italy is an artist (painting, quilting) and recommended that we see the Peacock Room. It was beautiful, and probably not something I would have gone into if she hadn’t recommended it. The Hirshhorn Museum was very spacious, which I liked. I wondered if I would connect with the paintings more if I had at some point made an attempt to develop that skill. It’s not a gift I think I have, but what Daniel Pink was able to do in a week’s class with his before and after self-portraits makes me wonder if I might be able to learn more than I think. I generally connect with music much more easily, but it may be just because it’s something I can relate to creating.

From that point, it was sort of a mission of time and space. We spent about 30 minutes each in the Museum of American History and the Air and Space Museum. Both were more crowded than I remembered from last time I was there. We saw the Star Spangled Banner, which I think used to hang in the entry way. We walked through the instrument section and saw the Stradavari quintet. It’s cool to get to see the instruments, but I really hope someone plays them often. It would seem like a waste not to.

I’m usually really interested in the airplanes, but by the time we got to the Air and Space Museum, we were both tired. I checked the movie times just on the off chance we could see “To Fly”, but it would have been too late. We ran into someone from the group there, then someone else on the way back to the station. Once we boarded the train, everyone seemed to settle in pretty quickly. I was hungry, but didn’t have the energy to go to the dining car and talk, so I settled for a bag of pretzels. Sleeping going back was about like going up. If they could just make the seats lie flat…

I enjoyed being able to look out as we went through north Georgia. I wouldn’t want to travel that way every weekend, but for this kind of experience I thought it was great. It provided three things that are important in getting to know people: time, space, and shared experience. Even if we don’t’ get to see each other again for months, we will have that in common.