Gallivanting Grandma

Monday – May 12, 2014

The time had come to leave Washington and return home.  We checked out of our comfortable room in the Willard and drove through Arlington on our way to Chantilly, Virginia.  Our destination was the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum – the Udvar-Hazy Center which is located near Dulles International Airport.

Udvar-Hazy Center of the Air & Space Museum

The center was a modern space-age building which was opened in 2003 and named for Steven F. Udvar-Hazy the wealthy Hungarian-born man who financed this annex to the National Air & Space Museum.  The original Air and Space Museum is still located on the mall in downtown Washington, DC.  

The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird

The museum was huge and was a living history of flight from early aviation to space exploration.  One of the highlights was seeing an SR-71 Blackbird.  It was a supersonic reconnaissance aircraft made of titanium in 1964.  On its last flight in 1990, the pilot set a speed record by flying from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C. in 1 hour and 4 minutes.  On that flight, the Blackbird flew 2,124 miles per hour.

A Hangar and a Flying Plane

We had fun walking among some of the most famous airplanes in the history of aviation.  The air craft were organized in categories, for example Aerobatic, Cold War Aviation, Human Spaceflight, Pre-1920 Aviation, Korea and Vietnam, Ultralight, etc. etc.  The museum was large with several connected hangars.  There were multi-level stairways in the hangars which led  to higher observation platforms.  A visitor could spend an entire day at this museum.

Flight Simulator

We saw several different flight simulators.  Several people were inside getting shaken up as we watched the pods rotate and move up and down.  I passed up this stomach-churning activity!

Front View of the Space Shuttle – Discovery

The Space Shuttle Discovery was located in the James S. McDonnell Space Hangar.  It was considered a “national treasure” by the national Air and Space Museum.  According to historic records, Discovery flew 39 times from 1984 through 2011 which was more missions than any other shuttle.

Side View of the Discovery Space Shuttle

We did not have enough time to see everything in this amazing museum.  However before we left we visited the hangar with several important airplanes.  One of these was the Boeing B-29 Superfortress,the Enola Gay.  This was the propeller driven bomber of World War II which dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.

Specialized Hangar

A variety of smaller planes were suspended from the ceiling which gave the illusion of airplanes flying in the sky.  Below these were several noteworthy commercial airplanes.  There was a Boeing 367-80 jet Transport which revolutionized commercial air transportation it was developed and became the Boeing 707, America’s first jet airliner.  Nearby was a real Air France Concorde, the first supersonic airliner which flew passengers across the Atlantic for 25 years.

A Wing in the Sky

Sunday, May 11, 2014

Le Cafe du Parc

Today is the centennial celebration of Mother’s Day. This morning, the hotel had a wax figure of Woodrow Wilson in the lobby to greet everyone.  He had issued a proclamation which established the first Mother’s Day.  There were groups of people in 1914 costumes milling about the lobby and a couple of musicians played period tunes.

The weather was sunny and warm with a cloudless bright blue sky. We had a leisurely Illy coffee and pain au chocolat outside at the sidewalk cafe, then took a taxi to the National Gallery of Art.

Rotunda of the National Gallery

It was strange to enter a museum and not be expected to pay an admission fee, but we probably do support the museum through our taxes.  The National Gallery has an excellent collection of art from around the world in an austere building.

Taking a Break in the East Garden

We saw works of art by some of our favorite artists: Renoir, Rembrandt, Monet, Matisse, Botticelli, Sergeant, Cassatt, Degas, etc.  There were three Vermeer paintings and the only Da Vinci painting in North America.  After several hours, we had a light lunch at the Cascade Cafeteria.  We splurged on some excellent gelato for dessert, then passed through the tunnel to the contemporary art building.

Tunnel Connecting the Buildings

Contemporary Art of the National Gallery

Unfortunately the exhibit galleries were undergoing renovation, so we just walked around the huge atrium, took  photographs of the space, and then left the gallery.  We walked to Pennsylvania Avenue and took a taxi back to the Willard.  After resting for a few hours, we went to the historic Ebbets Grill for dinner and I had my last crab cake for this trip.  I eat crab cakes only in this part of the world, within a few miles of the Chesapeake Bay.  Crab cakes from Maryland are definitely worth the trip.

The Atrium