Smithsonian | National Museum of American History

In continuation of visiting all the Smithsonian museums in DC (first post here). The second Smithsonian museum my bestie and I visited was the National Museum of American History. The exhibits pictures are Food, America on the Move, Stories on Money, Doll's House, A Room of Her Own, American Stories, Star Spangled Banner, The First Ladies, and The American Presidency. In addition to these exhibits we visited Rising Up however photos were not allowed. I've visited The First Ladies exhibition about three times already - those gowns never get old! It was my first time actually going through the entire museum. I had a blast because I'm all about American pop culture and history - I am filled with useless information - therefore it was great going through all the exhibitions. In particular I truly enjoyed the Star Spangled Banner. Photos of the flag are not allowed  however it is definitely worth visiting! The exhibition was stunning and I really enjoyed it. 

Have you been to the National Museum of American History? What is your favorite exhibit?

Smithsonian | National Museum of Natural History

In lieu of the New Year - instead of making a list of New Year Resolutions - I make a list of things I want to do i the coming year. Since I live near DC I want to take full advantage of this opportunity and revisit all the Smithsonian Museums. My bestie and I made a list and have decided to visit the museums one by one - starting with the National Museum of Natural History. I've been to this museum several times! However I always go straight to the second floor and visit the Hope Diamond, glance at the other jewels, and then peace out. This time we went through every exhibition - even the insects (totally cringe worthy) - and saw all the wonderful things the museum has to offer! I'm sharing some photos from my visit which includes Mammals, Human Origins, Ocean Hall, Hope Diamond, and Last American Dinosaurs. My favorite exhibition was the 2013 Nature's Best Photography Awards - which is at the museum until April 20, 2015!

Stay tuned for all the other Smithsonian Museums that will make an appearance on the blog!

Van Gogh Repetitions

I became a huge art history fan after taking Humanities class in high school. I had the most amazing art history teacher who got me hooked on everything and anything art related. Growing up Persian art was not a big subject discussed in our household - math & science were the hot topics. Therefore now as an adult I jump at any opportunity to visit art museums. 

Now on view at The Phillips Collection in DC is the Van Gogh Repetitions exhibit from October 12, 2013 - January 26, 2014. The exhibition features 35 paintings and drawings focusing on Van Gogh's repetitions. Van Gogh was known for his practice of creating more than one version of a particular subject.  

On the first Thursday of the month The Phillips Collections hosts extended hours from 5-8:30pm also knows as Phillips After 5. Last Thursday the museum hosted Seeing Double in honor of the new Van Gogh exhibition. They night included music, food, talks, and even a scavenger hunt! Due to my competitive nature I clearly participated in the scavenger hunt...and won. Prizes included Van Gogh postcards or The Postman beard!

The collection was wonderful and I really enjoyed it the Phillips After 5 program. My favorites were The Bedroom at Arles, The Postman Joseph Roulin, and Madame Roulin Rocking the Cradle! 

Check out the exhibition if you are in the DC area!

Newseum

Here's the thing - I LOVE museums! I'm that person at a dinner party who knows all these random facts because I go to all types of museums and read everything. I enjoy reading and acquiring information on all sorts of topics. Sometimes my family is baffled by the information I possess - and by baffled I mean they question my sanity at times.  I really feel that I would be a great contestant on Jeopardy because I know all these random and non-essential facts. 

All that being said - let's talk about Newseum. What is it? A news museum. Back story - I read/listen/watch the news religiously. I find it upon myself to be fully informed of everything that is happening around the world. Therefore when I discovered that there was a museum dedicated to news history I was all in! I visited the Newseum with a friend last week.

The museum is huge and has a ton of great exhibits. We wanted to get the most of it therefore we got there bright and early at 9:30am! Below are some of the highlights and exhibits I found interesting!

Berlin Wall Gallery: This gallery contains the largest display of unaltered portions of the original wall outside of Germany. 

FBI History & Espionage Journalism Exhibit: This exhibit  is part of the ABC News Changing Exhibits Gallery. This exhibit gives you a glimpse into the relationship of the media & the FBI. On display was very interesting artifacts including the Unabomber’s cabin, Patty Hearst’s coat and gun, and engine parts and landing gear from the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center.

Today's Front Pages: This is a daily exhibit at the Newseum. Every day the Newseum prints and puts up the front page of a newspaper from each state and the District of Columbia. Naturally I got very excited to see Michigan's front page!

News Corporation News History Gallery: The fascinating part of this gallery was all the historic newspapers and magazines! The gallery had on display front page stories from each year since the early 1900s. 

Robert H. and Clarice Smith Big Screen Theater: basically a TV enthusiasts dream! The big screen presents news broadcasts along a 100-foot-long video wall simultaneously! I tried to take a panoramic shot to capture how amazing this screen was! 

Cox Enterprises First Amendment Gallery: this gallery explores the role of our First Amendment rights in the U.S. Constitution. The reason I found this exhibit fascinating was because when I was in law school I had to write a legal research appellate brief. The main issue of the brief was if the plaintiff's first amendment right was violated. All the cases that I cited in my brief were in this exhibit. I was literally running around with glee because I new exactly what all the cases were about! I was probably the only person who found this exhibit fascinating - but oh well. 

Time Warner World News Gallery: this gallery exhibits a large map that illustrates the vast difference in press freedom around the world. As you can see, from the pictures below, not all countries experience freedom of press as we do in the US. 

I got a bit carried away and channeled my inner Christiane Amanpour at the gift shop!

The Newseum is wonderful place to visit for anyone interested in history, news, and the evolution of media! I leave you with these words of wisdom;

Hillwood Estate, Museum and Garden

I discover many things on Pinterest and Instagram. I have no shame in admitting that. I managed to discover Hillwood Estate, Museum and Garden on Instagram. I convinced my sister that we should go check it out and she happily agreed. 

What is Hillwood Estate? As stated on the website of the estate; Marjorie Merriweather Post (founder of Post Cereal Company) bought Hillwood in 1955. Her estate has the most comprehensive collection of Russian imperial art outside of Russia, a distinguished 18th-century French decorative art collection, and twenty-five acres of serene landscaped gardens.

The estate is open Tuesdays-Saturdays from 10am-5pm and on select Sundays. There is a suggested ticket fee - which means they have set recommended prices - however you can pay however much you can afford. 

An interesting fact about Marjorie is that when she passed away one of her requests was that every day there be fresh flowers in each room of her estate. When you visit Hillwood you notice that in every room there are flower arrangements in each and every room. The flowers are picked from her cutting garden and greenhouse. 

Have you head of the Fabergé eggs? Well Miss Marjorie has two on display at her estate. 

In addition to the vast art collection the estate has beautiful gardens. There is a beautiful rose garden, french parterre, putting green, Japanese style garden, greenhouse, and cutting garden.

French Parterre

  Japanese Style Garden

Cutting Garden

Greenhouse

It took a good 2-2.5 hours to explore the estate. We opted for the self guided tour instead of professional tour or audio tour at no additional charge. 

Hillwood is a great place to explore if you are local to DC or visiting from out of town. It is different from all the Smithsonian museums and DC tourist hot spots.