Washington, D.C.

May 2011

 
 

We enjoyed our visit with Jane and Bob in Alexandria and spent the day at several exhibits in D.C. including Gauguin, Caneletto, and Metsu at the National Gallery; the Craft Invitational at the Renwick Gallery (with silver by Ubaldo Vitali, ceramics by Cliff Lee, glass by Judith Schaechter, and curved furniture by Matthias Pliessnig); and Calder’s wire portraits at the National Portrait Gallery. The next day, on our way home, we stopped to see Mona and then drove to Abraham Lincoln’s Cottage at the Armed Forces Retirement Home campus in northwest D.C. Lincoln used this residence, on a hill about three miles from the White House, to enjoy peace and cooler breezes during the Civil War years. Unable to join a tour, we walked around the house and had a lunch of excellent Southern fried chicken across the street from the Soldiers’ Home gate at the Hitching Post Restaurant. On the drive home, we stopped at the National Security Agency’s National Cryptologic Museum in Fort Meade, Maryland, where a wealth of information is available, including information about the history of cryptology in the U.S. and actual Enigma machines on which to practice.