Philadelphia & Washington, DC

 

I’m currently on day 10 of social distancing, reminiscing on my trip to Philly and DC pre-pandemic pandemonium. We came home on Tuesday, and by Thursday the NBA, NHL, MLB, and MLS announced the postponement of the upcoming season, the borders were closed, museums closed and public tours were discontinued for the time being, so our timing could not have been more perfect.

The highlight of the trip (for me, at least): the whole 10 minutes I spent in the National Gallery juuusst before it closed!

Independence Hall

Picturesque doorways in Philadelphia

Christ Church, where George Washington and Betsy Ross worshipped. Benjamin Franklin is buried in the adjacent cemetery.

Ran up the Rocky steps! (Fun fact: Justin Bieber was at this exact spot minutes before we got there. We barely missed him. One more lonely girl.)

Still swooning over the train station in DC

Pro tip: Don’t get the orange blossom flavor, it tastes like sunscreen.

Paid tribute to MY queens, Jackie O. and Nancy Reagan at the Museum of American History

The views from the Lincoln Memorial cannot be beat.

Vietnam Memorial. Though it may just look like a wall, every aspect of it has purpose and symbolism.

George and Martha Washington’s Mount Vernon. The key to Bastille (the French prison that was stormed, sparking the French Revolution) hangs in the home as a gift from Lafayette to Washington.

Arlington National Cemetery

View from the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Long live American Camelot

The cherry blossom trees were just starting to bloom at Arlington. They are so beautiful!

We got a tour of the Capitol Building and saw the hallway the presidents walk through on their way to their inauguration. Maybe I’ll be there one day.

The Apotheosis of Washington in the Capitol rotunda. Read up on the meaning and symbolism!

In my element at the National Gallery of Art and trying to take in everything before they kicked me out for closing

I came specifically to see this, Thomas Cole’s Voyage of Life.

Touring The White House (which has a red room, a green room, a blue room, a china room and, most importantly, a soccer field.)

 

The MET

 

Egyptian Wing

The American Wing

European Paintings

European Sculpture & Decorative Arts

Fire, ca. 1750-40

by Jean-Pierre Defrance

Boiserie from the Hôtel de Cabris, Grasse, ca. 1774

The Virgin from an Annunciation, ca. 1390

Amor Caritas, 1880-98

by Augustus Saint-Gaudens

Diana, 1893-94

by Augustus Saint-Gaudens

Basket of Flowers, 1848-49

by Eugène Delacroix

The Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer, 1922

by Edgar Degas

The Dance Class, 1874

by Edgar Degas

Chrysanthemums in the Garden at Petit-Gennevilliers, 1893

by Gustave Caillebotte

Water Lilies, 1919

by Claude Monet

The Daughters of Catulle Mendès, Huguette, Claudine, Helyonne, 1888

by Auguste Renoir

The Manneporte (Ètretat), 1883

by Claude Monet

Washington Crossing the Delaware, 1851

by Emanuel Leutze

Ernesta (Child with Nurse), 1894

by Cecilia Beaux