Once upon a time...

...a very lucky girl living in Washington DC was visited by the best mother in the world (who happens to live in the other Washington). Whilst gallivanting about the delightful town of Philadelphia, art was seen, historical monuments were visited, and delicious food was consumed.

It was an amazing day. I had the day off from work, so we headed up to Philly first thing, and went straight to the Barnes Foundation. Oh my art collection!

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It is one of the absolute best collection of French Impressionism, Post-Impressionism and Early Modern Art. I was in heaven! The collection includes  181 Renoirs, 69 Cézannes, 59 Matisses, 46 Picassos, 18 Rouseaus, 11 Degas, 7 Van Goghs, 6 by Seurat, 4 by Manet, and 4 by Monet. When I said I was in heave, I truly was! 


The collection is housed in the estate of the late Dr. Albert C. Barnes. In 1922 he founded The Barnes Foundation to  "promote the advancement of education and the appreciation of the fine arts" (source). The unique display of the art contributed to this. I won't go into much more about the Foundation, because it is quite controversial, really. If you are at all interested, I suggest watching a documentary on The Barnes Foundation called The Art of the Steal. 

Not only did we gallivant around Philly, but we also road tripped it to Valley Forge and Lancaster. The wind was so strong in Valley Forge, that the electricity went out at the visitor's center. We opted for the car tour--good thing we did, as there was a humongous Boy Scouts of America camp going on. Luckily we were able to beat most of the crowds, or at least get ahead of the boy scouts.

(The house where Washington stayed and some surrounding buildings)

Lancaster was a bit of a disappointment. We tried to make it to the Amish Market, but it was closing down as we were walking in. The town of Lancaster itself was quite beautiful, but we noticed that there were quite a few men loitering about, looking a bit rough around the edges. Quite the juxtaposition. We did pick up some jam (complete with "Shannon's Strawberry"), and headed to the outlets. 

(The center of town)

(An Amish buggy waiting in traffic)

 On Washington's birthday we headed down to Mount Vernon. It was rainy and wet, but little did we know that Mount Vernon was going to be free! We were pretty excited, and spent some time on the grounds. We also got to see Dean Malissa, aka The Official George Washington (Malissa has done a program or two for our department). Mom thought it was pretty cool. 

Afterwards, we drove through Old Town Alexandria, got caught up in the parade traffic and subsequently left. We lunched in Georgetown, walked around a bit, and then headed home. I was so sad to see my mum, and her little yellow bug go! 

It was a wonderful visit!

 Mom, we should do it again sometime!