the price to pay: painful feet

6.28.2008

Today was a wonderful but HOT day. My roomies and I started our adventures at about 1:00 pm (sleeping in on Saturdays are the best) and decided to head on down to the festival at the Smithsonian. The Smithsonian puts on a festival once a year for a week that is related to a nation, a state and an agency. This year it was Bhutan, Texas and NASA. Upon our arrival, there were a bunch of people (mostly, if not all, tourists) lined up around a Bhutan temple and others passing through various tents that included arts, food, stories, photos, etc.


This monk in particular was hand crafting this wonderful image with colored powder. Using only his fingers, he steadily pinched each color to produce this beautiful product. It was absolutely amazing.
(PS- you can click on the picture for a bigger version. I recommend doing this for the following)

After a few minutes of walking around, we were all pretty tired so we decided to take the opportunity for a couple of photo ops. Then, we figured it was best to put something in our stomachs while deciding what the game plan was going to be.

(From left: Perry, Andrea, Daria, Emma, Me, Jimmy)
Roommates: Emma, Andrea, Me, DariaAfter our happy-family picture, we skipped on over to Potbelly's--a yummy sandwich restaurant that was recommended to me by a friend back at home. Despite the sweltering heat, we managed to keep a positive and ambitious outlook for the rest of the day. After lunch, we were going to go across the street to see the Constitution at the National Archives but there was a very long line so we decided to save that for another day. Then, we made our way to the National Museum of Art but only had 15 minutes. We limited ourselves to only the Impressionism Era and concluded that we would come back at another time.
The famous Degas piece. I never thought I'd see it in person.
Optical illusion: the never ending ladder
Since the museum closed, we walked on over the Natural History Museum in the Smithsonian. On the way there, we took a break and eased our ill-stricken feet.

I had to take a pic of these two lovebirds straddling each other as families w/ small children sat nearby. Idiots.

After being disgusted for about 10 minutes, we waddled (because of our feet) on over to the Natural History Museum. Great place but a little too tired to appreciate it....I'll have to go back.

I'm amusing myself...
The Hope Diamond: 67 1/8-carat diamondSo, that was my day. I was pretty pooped by the end. I made the horrible mistake of wearing really painfully flat sandals that just did nothing for my flat platypus feet. Walking barefoot was way more comfortable.


Tomorrow, our group will be canoing on the Potomac...I'm not sure how many pictures I'll be able to post since my camera isn't waterproof but I'll try...

Until then...ciao ;-)

4 comments :

Mai said...

liz! i'm reading your entries and i absolutely love em! i get to live dc all over again vicariously through your blog :) keep it up!!

Anonymous said...

hey elysabeth... its elizabeth. and i love reading your bolg! i cant believe you got such an amazing oppurtunity... good for you!

Susan said...

Platypus/ Is that what that means? Your flat feet? I never got it before. Looks like you're having fun. Take in each minute because I'm sure it'll fly by. Don't pass up any opportunities.

Mom

Candice. said...

all of your pictures are so wonderful!!!
the monk doing the art is incredible.
im so excited for you.
i know you're having a great time!
have fun tomorrow.

i love you!!
your blog is an inspiration for me to open up my computer more than once a week.

ha ha,
love you.

candi che