Eye Candy: Another Visit to DC and the National Gallery of Art

The National Gallery of Art has to be one of my favorite places in the world... because of this I recently made yet another trip there, to procure some small prints and frames :)   (you should really go see their shop, because some of the frames are exquisite and elegant. If anyone knows where else such frames may be had short of custom framing, I will be very happy... as I don't feel like spending money for custom framing on things that don't need it)

As usual, I took the metro :)

On the left are the National Archives, and I believe on the right is a building that has to do with the Navy

National Archives

National Archives, Mall Entrance

And another of the Mall Entrance of the National Archives

Now for the NGA goodies... we'll start with pictures of the entryway (lower level) :)

Right behind the entrance is the pathway to the gift shop that also happens to have a French Cafe in it :)

Here are some pictures from the entrance by the end of the building near the modern art wing, across the street.

Back upstairs there are two lovely garden rooms, here are some shots of one of them:

Click on the panorama to see it bigger... (fullest size is not available for any of the panoramas on this post at this time)

I took this one by putting my camera on the ground :)

I really like this painting... and oh while I'm at it, here's a self-portrait of me too :)

More Panoramas:

I really like this one, I took it while bent down at the level of the seats, so as to capture the couch and the easel, and give a different view of the room than might be had standing up.

I love this picture... exquisite painting and very flattering attire too :)

Lower entrance to National Gallery of Art at night

And in panoramic form :)

Here's a panorama of the intersection between the National Gallery of Art and the National Archives as seen at night.

Some of the things that don't go as planned...

I love taking pictures of stuff, and especially making panoramas, but sometimes things don't go quite right... enjoy some of these oddities:

My panoramic program didn't quite want to blend in a circular motion...

Here's a worse example!

In low light, I may be a ghost in a sea of lights...

And this panoramic image, looks almost right except... wait a moment:

somehow... this just isn't right... I think that black region is a skirt... :P

And this is like the arm and hammer logo! lol

The last couple are what result when I try to blend pictures that include people moving in them, sometimes the results are a bit off... :)

Trip to Union Station

I love Union Station and rail transportation... so when I needed something at a shop that just happened to be open at Union Station, I made a trip about 10 days ago... :)

The metro is a great (but sometimes pricey and unreliable) way of getting around the DC area... 

I love this architecture... I think it would be great fun to eat in the restaurant in the middle of this room :)

Outside there was a huge ad campaign for a credit card that included a giant pump. 

If there weren't security guards protecting this like hawks, someone would try to use this as a slide!

Notice the size of the person who is walking past the above picture of the shoe... that's how big it is!

These open air walkways in front of the station are rather impressive as well

And as you can see the credit card company wasn't satisfied to have their ads above in the form of the shoe... they bought out most of the ads in the station too... here are some examples...

Union Station, Metrorail

And of course, me riding the metro... for those who wonder what that could possibly look like, lol :)