Visiting the National Zoo

The National Zoo is a part of the Smithsonian Institution, and as such charges no admission fee. Due to that fact, plus its relatively convenient location near the Woodley Park Metro stop, and its hugely popular pandas, the Zoo is on many tourists' lists as a place that should be visited. On a recent chilly spring Saturday, a friend convinced me to join hordes of tourists for a visit to the Zoo. Because - after all - who can resist the promise of cute animals?

The Zoo's most famous inhabitants are located near the entrance of the zoo, and attract huge crowds. While we did not spot baby Bei Bei, who was born in August 2015, we were treated to the sight of two of the other three pandas spending time outside.

Pandas spend much of their day eating, as they typically consume between twenty and forty pounds of bamboo every day!

Afterward, we stopped and said hello to the elephants.

Then, searching for warmer temperatures, we explored the Small Mammal House, which is actually quite fascinating as one is quite close to the animals, plus many of these creatures are not that well-known. Many of the animals were enjoying a lazy Saturday...

And then my camera's battery died. Love it when that happens! By this time the zoo was overrun by tourists, plus it was time to find lunch....

Updating

Life is what happens while you're making other plans. I can assure my dear readers that I have planned to write a blog post or two since the last one, but somehow that plan has not come to fruition. Due to work, winter, and my commute there isn't even that much to write about, but here are a few updates for you...

Entertaining visitors...A friend from overseas was in DC for a couple of days, so we made sure to enjoy life in the big city -- we ate seafood at Old Ebbitt Grill, we caught the movie "45 Years" at Landmark E Street Theater, and we enjoyed a brunch in Alexandria before she had to fly off again. Another friend from out of town came to stay with me for a few days -- she essentially invited herself for a visit after reading several of my blog posts about museums that she wanted to see. She did a great job of covering a lot of territory. On Friday while I was at work she hit up the Renwick, then the Postal Museum, and after that the National Museum of American History. On Saturday she and I visited the Phillips Collection (inconveniently my camera battery died, but I will write about the museum and its current exhibit another time -- I bought a membership for the year, so plan to return relatively soon) after which we gorged on a three-course bottomless mimosa brunch at Kellari Taverna (courtesy of Groupon). Then she went to do even more museum-exploring while I took care of some other things. On Sunday we did some necessary girlfriend things - a bit of shopping, plus enjoying dinner with great friends..

Working...Yep, not much I can say about that.

Commuting...Metro is terribly infuriating at times. However, I have lots of dedicated reading time!

Enjoying...the fact that the day is slowly becoming longer. Seeing more of the sun is exciting! One gorgeous sunny weekend day a friend and I visited Great Falls Park, which is on the Virginia side of the Potomac (as opposed to the Maryland side about which I write frequently). Instead of entering the area from the NPS site, we hiked there from Riverbend Park. The hike was muddier than expected, but it was very enjoyable to walk right along the river and to once again see the falls from the other side.

The river was very high, and the falls impressive.

Planning...This weekend I will attend the Washington Wizards game -- for the sole purpose of seeing Latvian superstar Kristaps Porzingis play as the Knicks visit DC. A Latvian acquaintance organized a big seating section -- there will be over 100 Latvians and friends-of-Latvians in attendance, all cheering Kristaps on from the nosebleed seats! Next month I will fly to Michigan to visit family, and for the beginning of summer a friend and I just planned an interesting outing to which I am very much looking forward!

Feeling grateful...for the fact that winter was not all that horrible. And - truth be told - once the leaves return, I will miss the unobstructed view of sunsets from my balcony...

Looking Back to 2015, Looking Forward to 2016

2015 will soon be seen only in the rear view mirror, and recalled in memories and via photographs.

Washington Monument at sunset

Highlights from my year include:

- A fantastic long weekend (way back in January!) in Charleston, South Carolina, which you can read about in this post, as well as in this one.
- I love having visitors! In the spring, my blogging (and real-life!) friend Liene and her family were in the Washington area, so we checked out the enormous Udvar-Hazy Center.
- For Easter, family members visited and much fun was had.
- Spring included an amazing several days in New York City, enjoying a variety of culture - such as the State Choir of Latvia and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as exploring Brooklyn in detail.
- Summer's biggest event was Garezers' 50th anniversary, which was so rich and full of experiences, that several posts were necessary to describe it all: intro and art exhibit, an evening movie and nighttime fireworks display, a daylong music festival called Garezers-Palooza (with a second post about that in Latvian), and the closing event, as well as a bit about the church service and market.
- Other summer activities included a wonderful weekend in Boston, visiting Havre de Grace for the first time, checking out the new Japanese Garden at Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids, and celebrating mom's birthday with an outing to Grand Haven.
- A fall visitor for several days meant that there was more time for adventures: a cider brewery, a visit to Mount Vernon, wine, history and autumnal delights in Winchester, as well as a foliage drive and hike in Shenandoah National Park.
- At the beginning of the year I had made the decision to read more, and to make more arts and culture related outings. I did quite well on this resolutions. According to Goodreads, this year I read 39 books, far surpassing my original goal of 21. Honestly, a few them were barely books - more like essays - but given how little the average American (though I certainly never claimed to be an average American, ha!) reads nowadays, 35 or so is still a sizable number. Only one did I write a review about here, and in another post I mentioned a few others I had read. Among books that I enjoyed this fall were Elizabeth Gilbert's "Big Magic" and Moises Velasquez-Manoff's "An Epidemic of Absence: A New Way of Undestanding Allergies and Autoimmune Disorders," as well as Iris Carmon's "Notorious RBG: The Life and Time of Ruth Bader Ginsburg."

Washington Monument after sunset.

While there are many more memories I could mention and blog posts I could link to, I will stop now so that I can devote time to writing new posts, and planning for 2016!

May your New Year be full of love, friendship, successes and many adventures!

Christmas in Washington

Join me on a short photographic journey to see a few Christmas decorations in Washington!

Norwegian Christmas tree at Union Station

The White House, of course!

Later...

A gift shop in the Smithsonian's Museum of American History.

This shop display featured vintage toys.

I loved Raggedy Ann when I was a kid!

A Christmas tree in the Museum of American History.

The National Christmas Tree during daylight.

The National Christmas tree all lit up.

Wonder - Exhibit at Renwick Gallery, Part II

One of the captivating things about the Wonder exhibit was its diversity. Strolling from one room to another, I was continually surprised by the materials used and the end result.

Have you ever considered using shredded tires to create art? I hadn't, yet the artist Chakaia Booker did precisely that.

Another fascinating material used - this by Jennifer Angus - and for an incredibly impressive effect: insects!

Yes, an entire pink room full of bugs!

A simpler material - small wood pieces - was utilized by John Grade to create this enormous tree trunk, which was suspended from the ceiling.

View of the trunk's inside.

The artist Maya Lin, best known for her very early career design of the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial located on the National Mall in Washington, used glass marbles to create the Chesapeake Bay in her piece "Folding the Chesapeake."

The largest gallery holds yet another artwork which mimics nature, yet this in a truly surprising way. Walking into the gallery in which Janet Echelman's "1.8" is suspended from the ceiling, I immediately marveled at the beautiful colors and shape, as well as the fact that a number of gallery visitors were sitting underneath it on the carpet, beanbag chairs, and loveseats. 

My next surprise came when I read the sign describing this piece. Again, best to leave it up to the experts: Echelman’s woven sculpture corresponds to a map of the energy released across the Pacific Ocean during the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, one of the most devastating natural disasters in recorded history. The event was so powerful it shifted the earth on its axis and shortened the day, March 11, 2011, by 1.8 millionths of a second, lending this work its title. Waves taller than the 100-foot length of this gallery ravaged the east coast of Japan, reminding us that what is wondrous can equally be dangerous. (Source: here.)

I lingered for a while, but promised myself I would return in the coming months. On YouTube I discovered a great video - seemingly posted by the artist herself - of the piece and how its colors change.

While walking through the galleries on the museum's second floor, I had also noticed a sizable glass artwork suspended from the ceiling. I took a photo, looked on the walls to find identification, but did not spot any. Later I tweeted the photo at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, asking if it was a Chihuly. Imagine my surprise when a short while later the artist's studio responded that it is indeed a piece by famed glass artist Dale Chihuly, and that it's called "Slate Green & Amber Tipped Chandelier", and was donated to the museum by Barbara Lee Diamonstein-Spielvogel.

Wonder - Exhibit at Renwick Gallery, Part I

With its prime location across the street from the White House, the Renwick Gallery is easy to find. Being a part of the Smithsonian Institution's American Art Museum means it is also free to visit. For whatever reasons, however, in my 16 years in Washington, I had never visited this small museum. For the past two years it had been closed for extensive renovation, and reopened in November with an exhibit titled "Wonder," which I saw referenced on Twitter numerous times. Thus during my staycation I made it a point to finally make my way the Renwick, and am incredibly glad I did. Since then I have been telling all of my local friends they need to see this exhibit! Words do not adequately express how awe-inspiring and amazing it is.

The Renwick itself has a fascinating history -- it was the first American building built specifically to serve as an art museum.  Designed in 1859 by architect James Renwick Jr., who also designed the Smithsonian’s “Castle” and St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City, the museum was initially built to house William Corcoran's private art collection. However, the Civil War - as wars do - disrupted construction, and the building was even used by the Union Army. Finally, in 1874 the building opened to the public as an art gallery, although that did not last particularly long, as from 1899 to 1964 the Renwick was home to the U.S. Court of Claims. In the 1950s Congress even proposed that the building be razed, but in 1962 forward-thinking First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy led a campaign to save the gallery as part of her greater plan to restore Lafayette Square, which is behind the White House. Fortunately in 1965 the Secretary of the Smithsonian S. Dillon Ripley asked President Lyndon B. Johnson that the building be turned over to the Smithsonian Institution. That did occur and the Renwick Gallery was finally returned to its intended purpose as a museum when it opened in 1972 as home of the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s contemporary craft and decorative art program. Now, after a two-year-long renovation, the gallery has re-opened once again.

As explained on Renwick's website, "To celebrate, we're transforming the entire museum into an immersive artwork with our debut exhibition, WONDER. Nine leading contemporary artists—Jennifer Angus, Chakaia Booker, Gabriel Dawe, Tara Donovan, Patrick Dougherty, Janet Echelman, John Grade, Maya Lin, and Leo Villareal—are each taking over different galleries in the building, creating site-specific installations inspired by the Renwick. Together, these installations will turn the building into a larger-than-life work of art." To be honest, I had little idea what to expect -- all I knew was that I'd seen a couple of intriguing and beautiful images on Twitter.

If you live in the Washington area, or will be visiting anytime in the next six months, I highly recommend seeing this amazing exhibit yourself -- as I can assure you that you will enjoy it, and that my snapshots do not do it justice! If you are in a hurry, you'll be able to see it in thirty minutes, but an hour is really all you truly need.

Untitled. Tara Donovan

Main material used here: Index cards!

The piece that has gained the most recognition - at least on social media - is Gabriel Dawe's "Plexus A1." Using only threads and light he created a magical rainbow.

Whether up close or from afar - a beautiful sight!

A ladybug "stuck" in the threads.

The next piece was all natural...

Shindig. Patrick Dougherty

Located above the gallery's stairs, Leo Villareal's "Volume (Renwick)" is best described by the text on Renwick's website: Only part of Villareal’s artwork is visible in the materials suspended above the staircase. This hardware serves primarily as a vehicle for the visual manifestation of code–an artist-written algorithm employing the binary system of 1s and 0s telling each LED when to turn on or off. This simple command creates lighting sequences that will never repeat exactly as before. (Source: here.)

Watching this was mesmerizing!

To be continued...!

Washington Area Christmas Markets

The diversity of ethnics groups and traditions represented in the Washington area is one of the major benefits of living here. Craving Peruvian, Ethiopian, or Korean cuisine for dinner? No problem! Want to be friends with people from diverse backgrounds? No problem!

A Christmas-time tradition for many European groups is the Christmas market. This year was my third time attending the Finnish bazaar, which I described in detail last year. I also swung by the Norwegian bazaar one Saturday; it was smaller than the Finnish one, and photographically not as impressive. The food did smell amazing - I was particularly tempted by the advertised warm rice pudding! 

After many years of hoping to make it to the Christmas market organized by the German School of Washington, this year I was finally able to attend, and I must say it might be my new favorite. Because I speak German and have spent considerable time in Germany, those Christmas customs are near and dear to my heart. 

I arrived at the market at noon, and while bee-lining for the lunch line was able to hear snippets of German Christmas carols sung by the children's choir -- the same songs my German immersion elementary school choir sang years ago. The lunch options were bratwurst or Leberkäse, plus sauerkraut and potato salad. A perfect-looking German roll came with each meal, but you could also purchase a large Bretzel (pretzel) for only $2. My bratwurst, sauerkraut and potato salad came to $10, and my meal was very filling, though next time I would skip the potato salad - it wasn't that exciting.

After lunch I wandered outside, where I was tickled to find a half-dozen traditional market booths -- the type one sees at outdoor European Christmas markets.

The most popular booth was selling glühwein ($3), while others offered crafts, Lebkuchen (gingerbread) or cinnamon nuts. Additional stands outside were selling crepes (also hugely popular), non-alcoholic drinks, and chocolate-covered fruit. The last one was my personal favorite, as one of my recollections from various markets in Germany were the vendors who sold fruit such as strawberries, pineapple or bananas covered in dark or milk chocolate. This stand was a fundraiser for one of the middle school classes, so the confections were not quite that specific, but the kabob stick with fruit pieces drenched in chocolate I chose was absolutely delectable.

Typical middle schoolers, right?

Heading back into the school I swung by the impressive dessert table (which even included a couple of gluten-free options), but I had already used my calorie allotment for mid-day! The school's large multi-purpose room had many tables with various vendors from the Washington area. Additionally, out in the main hallway were two incredibly popular vendors: Binkert's German Meat Products from Baltimore and the Swiss Bakery from Northern Virginia. The sausage scents overpowered the bakery scents, but the variety at both stands was astonishing, and the crowd was snapping up many of the items.

One stand was selling gorgeous wreaths.

Wurst!

Of course, the Latvian congregation's bazaar is an annual tradition, and is always held on the first Sunday in December. My post about last year's can be found here.

I hope you are enjoying plenty of pre-Christmas festivities in your neck of the woods!