National Portrait Gallery/Chinatown

            Last Monday I had the pleasure of exploring the National Portrait Gallery and Chinatown – two places that will be included in our guidebook. Unfortunately by starting in the early America wing and was inundated in portraits of old white colonists which tired my museum tolerance, but before departing I enjoyed some wonderful impressionist pieces and a fun gallery of celebrities from the 30’s and 40’s. The featured temporary exhibit, a combination of different Asian-American artists was even furthur from the traditional portraits. The mélange of videos (of a woman performing strange tasks endlessly), photos (full body shots of the artist in different outfits), and paintings (of hair), were outside the box were compelling if not relatable or traditionally beautiful.

            The remainder of the day was devoted to Chinatown; the enclave of Asian culture located a few blocks from the museum. Trying to be adventurous we chose Burma, a Burmese restaurant, for lunch. The good news is that one dish was fantastic, and the bad was that other was on the grosser side of bland. Fueled by our exotic lunch we visited every souvenir shop we could find and succeeded in staying on our feet while confronting the terrible smells of each shop.