A Top 10 List Not Created By David Letterman

The Top 10 Reasons The Portrait Gallery Is My Favorite Place in DC (so far)...

10. There is a Metro stop on the corner of the building--very convenient.
9. It doesn't open until 11:00 a.m. so I don't have to be an early riser to get there, and it doesn't close until 7:00 p.m. so it can be my last stop of the day.

8. It is actually two museums--The Museum of American Art and The Portrait Gallery in the same building.
7. Because it is part of the Smithsonian, it is free and I can go as often as I like. (which is a lot!)
6. There is a little something for everyone-portraits, paintings, landscapes, modern art, sculpture, folk art...
5. They are currently running an exhibit of Norman Rockwell pieces that are owned by Steven Spielberg and George Lucas (That's right! They like my museum enough to lend their own private art to it!!) There is also an exhibit by an Iowa artist who returned to her hometown of Maquoketa (where is that, mom?), put up signs around town that she would paint a portrait of anyone who would come for a setting, and then put together the exhibit of her community.
4. As part of the Rockwell exhibit opening this weekend they had the Air Force Jazz band play hits from the 1940's in the atrium.
3. The Atrium is fabulous!
2. It's sense of history--this building was one of the first constructed after the White House and Capitol. It used to house the Patent Office, and to get a patent an inventor had to bring a working model of the invention to the office for display. The public got to see the latest and greatest technology of their day. It is also where President Lincoln held his second inaugural ball. Plus, Walt Whitman worked as a nurse in this building while it was a hospital during the Civil War.
1. It is awesome!!

In case you need one more reason...Because it is! That's why!

I didn't even mention the free WiFi (which is harder to find in this town than I thought it would be), the behind the scenes tour showing how they restore art, and the building itself it a beautiful example of Greek Revival architecture--columns and all! :)

Last but not least, the CBS program Sunday Morning will have a feature on the Rockwell exhibit this Sunday morning. My sister and I were there while they were filming the segment. We didn't get to see anyone, but we were only allowed to see a few of the sculptures right outside of the gallery if we promised to be quiet. I can't wait to see what they filmed!