Day 15 - Botanicus perfectus

Our last full day in Washingtown DC (dirty clothes), and I have to say that we started the day with all of our clothes clean - Rhonda excelled.  The plan for today was the National Botanic Garden, some more museums, and a stroll to Georgetown.  The Botanic Gardens were beautiful.  They are not large, but are filled with small sections on themes, such as: Hawaii, deserts, jungle, medicinal plants, endangered plants, and other stuff (or, to give it its correct Latin name, otherus stufii).  A series of shots of the outside and inside are shown below.



I'd hate to have to clean the windows

Orchids

A steaming pile of jungle

I never knew cactus could be so pretty

A king-sized planter

After the Botanic Gardens,  we strolled up the National Mall and visited the Hirshhorn Museum (also called the donut - since it's a circular shape with a hollow centre.  The building is great and there was an amazing piece of sculpture outside - a column built from tubes of steel and wires that just seems to float in the air.

The outside of the Hirshhorn Museum

Inside the donut



You can't see too many Henry Moores 

The amazing column

Then it was on to the Smithsonian Castle and a couple more art galleries.  The Castle is not a museum, but is an interesting building. 

The Smithsonian Castle

It is, however, sadly devoid of punctuation. 

Apparently you can enter staff as long as you enter other people as well

The other art galleries, the Sackler and Freer Galleries featured Asian art and the work of James McNeill Whistler.  Fabulous collections and beautiful buildings, most of the galleries are actually under ground.  Below is a photo of the staircase in the Sackler Gallery.

After that it was back to the hotel for a short rest, before walking to Georgetown and having a final dinner in Washington.  On our way we saw the Mexican Embassy, which features a couple of preserved houses.

The plaque shown below was fixed to the front of the Embassy.

Georgetown is a beautiful, older area of Washington, full of interesting eateries and shops. 

The "Old Stone House", the oldest house and property in Washington

We had dinner at an interesting restaurant called "Thunder Burger Bar".  It was yummy, and, to be completely honest, probably did not provide a balanced diet.

Anyway, that's enough for today's blog.  Rhonda raised a martini to you all during our Thunder Burger Bar dinner.