Day 2 – Museums & Seafood in D.C.

We started our day with breakfast at a cafe nearby, Emissary before lyfting to National Gallery of Art.

I got the smashed avocado toast with a fried egg. Mint mojito coffee not pictured.

The last time we were in D.C. we didn’t get the chance to go to the East building of the National Gallery of Art so that was the first first stop. I absolutely LOVE the lobby of the building.

I probably spent more time taking pictures of the lobby than looking at art in the gallery. Here’s the rest of pictures I took before we walked over to United States Botanic Garden.

Jacqueline looking at two Georgia O’Keefe paintings.

Art on the roof

The tunnel that connects the east and west wing.

It was around 1ish when we got to the Botanic Garden and boy was it hot. The walk took around 10 minutes but the sun was scorching hot. We didn’t stop sweating when we got there – it was a greenhouse so it felt extra humid! The flowers and plants were worth sweating for though!

Love the hidden dinosaurs in the primal plant section!

A room full of art in the Botanic Garden!

We wanted to visit the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, but the long was too long. We didn’t want to spend time waiting in the scorching heat, especially since it’s our only full day in D.C. and there’s still so much for us to see! We ended up stopping by the Hirshhorn Museum cause we saw a Yayoi Kusama’s pumpkin right outside of it.

Yayoi Kusama’s pumpkin

I’m glad I got to see it since we didn’t get the chance in Tokyo and I missed the exhibit when it was in New York. The Hirishhorn Museum was relatively small so we breezed through it pretty quick.

The original plan was visiting the ARTECHOUSE, but we kept getting sidetracked. We passed by the Smithsonian Institution and I had to stop to get a picture of the garden. It was just too photogenic to pass on.

Smithsonian Institution and the Enid A. Haupt Garden

We stopped by one of the galleries (Arthur M. Sackler Gallery) nearby to escape from humidity and we got lucky with this work of art.

Terminal by Subodh Gupta

Right after we left this gallery, we heard roaring thunder and saw dark clouds coming our way so we decided to go somewhere closer instead – the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.

We ran into these two cuties before we got to the museum!

The Smithsonian National Museum of American History was massive. We only went to a couple of exhibits and decided to get late lunch/early dinner since we haven’t eaten since breakfast. It’s been 6 hours!

We took a Lyft to Navy Yards to grab dinner at Whaley’s and wow. Navy Yards reminds me of a mix Seaport and Dumbo In New York. I could see myself living in Navy Yards if I had to move to D.C.

Whaley’s when you walk in!

We started with raw oysters and drinks and finished off with a light entree.

We wanted to explore more of Navy Yard before heading back but unfortunately, it started pouring. We took cover at a Philz Coffee, got mint mojitos and spent a hour relaxing after being on our feet for most of the day.

The last time I got this was in San Francisco!

After feeling well rested, we took a Lyft back to the hotel. Once we got in the car, the storm caught up and it was raining hard. Not only did we get lucky escaping the heavy rain, our Lyft driver was great and since it was a Lyft line we got to “tour” around Georgetown before getting off.

I’m glad we got to do almost everything we wanted to do before it started raining. Overall a successful short trip and we still have two stops before the drive back to NYC tomorrow!