Washington D.C.

Three cheers for the Red, White, and Blue! I went to DC at the beginning of the month because I wanted to visit some museums. There are one or two there that you can visit haha. I happen to love art museums, I find them very relaxing and I can figure out solutions to problems I’m facing. In DC you can visit the National Gallery, where you can find any style of artwork that you prefer. I am a big fan of impressionism (19^th century French art movement including artists- Seurat, Monet, Pissarro, Van Gogh, and many others). I found a bench, really it was a comfy couch, in one of the East Wing rooms in which a few Pissarro paintings are hung together. I sat there for a while and enjoyed the views of Paris that Pissarro painted. I find myself escaping to that time and wondering where the people are going and if those dresses are comfortable at all. I also spent some time in the beautiful rotunda where there is bench seating along the outside and you can view the gorgeous fountain in the center (there is also free wifi in this area). If you are a museum loving person, like me, I highly recommend visiting the National Mall and going through the Smithsonian museums. The National Gallery and Air and Space Museums are my all time favorites. There are benches everywhere in DC so if you visit and find a cool bench let me know so I can check it out too!

Entrance to the National Gallery

The Rotunda

Pissarro

Indianaplois

I apologize for the tardiness of this post. Life has gotten a bit crazy the last few months, and today I finally sat down and reviewed what I wrote so I can post it.

On to Indy!

Indianapolis, home of the Colts. Well, I am a Bengals fan, but we’re not here to discuss football. I was excited to explore the downtown area for the first time a while back. I fell in love fairly quickly with this bustling city. I went to the Circle Center Mall, which was massive! The streets in the surrounding area of the mall have every available food option you can think of. I walked around a bit then decided to head back towards the hotel I was staying at due to weather possibly moving in. I went to the Monument Circle and was blown away at how people centered the area is. This is where I found my “bench”. I say “bench” because there weren’t any real benches in the area, but there were these little table and chairs set up everywhere along with picnic tables. This is part of an experiment being put on by Big Car in conjunction with the Indianapolis local government. They have ‘parklets’ which are wooden deck-like platforms that have bistro style seating available. They also has various activities set up around Monument Circle for everyone to enjoy and escape work on your lunch break or to enjoy while visiting the city. They have games like giant Jenga, ping pong, chess, checkers, a bookmobile, and different activities each night of the week. They have a list of activities on their website, which I’ll include at the end of this entry. I found a spot at one of the parklets and enjoyed the live music, and people watching. I honestly sat there for about three hours just watching business people taking their lunch breaks and playing Ping Pong or the giant Jenga. Not only is having these activities available fun, it’s also great stress relief. I guarantee that anyone that left work and took their break decompressing outside with friends, or alone if desired, when back to work in a much better mood thus being more productive. I think that it’s a fantastic initiative and you all should check it out. Since it is an experiment it’s only running from August 1, 2015- October 16, 2015.  Check out the list of activities, all of which are free!

Pano from my seat

Giant Jenga

Link to information about Spark: Monument Circle: http://circlespark.org