Next stop... Portrait Gallery... well so we thought. I carefully planned our day not knowing the Gallery didn't open at the same time as all the Smithsonian's. So we got there about 1 hour before it opened. Too long to sit, too short to really get anywhere. As I gathered my little chickens and began to debate how to pass the time a very nice gentleman who ran the Hop On Hop Off bus tour leaving from the Gallery offered me a tour. I told him thank you but I could not afford those tickets pointing to my brood. I chatted with him talking out my dilemma thinking we may just try to walk up to the White House Visitors Center... and then he offered to give me a ride on his bus explaining it was on the route and he hated to see us walk that far. He took us on his bus and wouldn't even let me tip him. He refused money saying he just likes to help people. I told him thank you sooo much, and that I appreciated not only the ride but the lesson he was teaching my kids! In reality, the walk was not that far (especially since we only did one way back to the Gallery) but it would have really put us later back to the Gallery then we had planned and then we would not have made our engraving tour. With his help our day went off without a hitch. And what a fun day we had!! This day was probably the highlight for me of our time spent as refugees in Washington DC.
This is right in front of the White House Visitors Center, where the bus man dropped us off and we had an early lunch to pass the time. The birds were really fun till one "dropped a mess" close to us.. then we packed up and moved on.
When we returned to the National Portrait Gallery "bus man" was still there and I asked to take his picture with the kids... he was happy to accommodate!! Nice bus man!!!
There were some really fun art exhibits!!
But we really enjoyed the Presidents Portraits the most and
I couldn't believe they let me take pictures!!!
Last stop Bureau of Printing and Engraving... we all found this very interesting.
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