Daily Archives: July 10, 2009
Night (or Day) at the Museums…
We have really been enjoying the unseasonable cool temperatures here in Washington. Normally, it would be in the mid 90’s here in the day time and in the 70’s at night.
Instead, it has been in the low 80’s in the day time and the low 60’s at night. I just read that New York City had its coolest June since 1958.
So much for Global Warming.
We took the Metro into DC again this morning, but only the Orange line. We didn’t have to change trains this time since the Orange goes right past the main Smithsonian museums, the Museum of American History, and the Museum of Natural History.
We started out with the American History Museum in the Contemorary Culture area.
Besides Archie Bunker’s chair, they also had Jerry Seinfeld’s infamous “Puffy Shirt”.
Puffy Shirt
And, of course, Judy Garland’s Ruby Slippers from the “Wizard of Oz”.
Ruby Slippers
They also had a entire Lincoln exhibit, including the derringer that John Wilkes Booth used to kill him, and the top hat Lincoln was wearing when he was shot.
Lincoln's Hat
They also had a large piece of the Berlin Wall, complete with graffiti.
Berlin Wall
In the Transportation exhibit, they had a Travel Trailer from the 1930’s that it looks like we could be right at home in.
A little cramped, maybe, but right at home.
Travel Trailer
In the History section they had the gunboat “Philadelphia” that was built and sunk in 1776. The “Philadelphia” is the only surviving gunboat built and manned by American Forces during the Revolutionary War. Salvaged from Lake Champlain in 1935, hundreds of items were recovered from the vessel. These relics included shot, cooking utensils, tools, buttons, buckles and human bones.
Gunboat
But Jan and I both agree that the most impressive exhibit was the actual flag that flew over Fort McHenry in 1814 during the British attack that inspired Francis Scott Key to write the “Star Spangled Banner”.
This is a picture from the Internet since they don’t allow photographs any longer.
Fort McHenry Flag
The original flag was 30 by 42 feet with 15 stars and 15 stripes. At the time it was the practice to add a star and a stripe for each new state.
I guess they didn’t anticipate 50 states some day. It was 1818 before the flag was standardized at 13 strips
The flag is now about 30 x 38 feet and has a star missing due to souvenirs being cut off before the 1880’s.
It’s hard to look at this flag and not get a catch in your throat.
After lunch at the Museum Cafeteria, we headed down the street to the Museum of Natural History.
Maybe the most impressive thing we saw was the Hope Diamond.
Hope Diamond
The deep blue Hope Diamond is presently 45.52 carats, but its first known precursor was the 115 carat Tavernier Blue that was sold to Louis XIV of France in 1669. It was apparently brought back from India by a French merchant-traveler named Jean-Baptiste Tavernier.
It was later cut down to a 67-1/8 carat stone called the French Blue.
It is not known when the French Blue was cut down to the Hope Diamond, but the first time it was seen in its present form was in 1812.
After wandering thru more exhibits than I can remember, we headed back to the Metro station to catch a train home before the going-home rush hit.
We got on the first train and headed out…for one stop.
Then our train broke down. And we all had to get off the train.
Luckily, we were at a station when it died. It was a half hour before they got our broke train out of the way. And then it was another 15 minutes before another train pulled in. And it was full. And so were the next 3 or 4.
So an hour later, we were finally on our way. So much for getting an early start.
Tomorrow, we plan to see George Washington’s home, Mount Vernon.
More later…
