couldawouldapica: love for the city: portrait

continuing with the 'love for the city' series

_ _ _

this.

this place right here:

inside the national portrait gallery sits the kogod courtyard.

and it's another one of my favorite places in dc.

it's not at all difficult to get to, like the secret steps. in fact, there's nothing secret or off-the-beaten-path about this place. the portrait gallery's right in the heart of chinatown, arguably one of the most consistently citified two blocks of dc.

(as opposed to downtown which is dead dead dead if it's not 9-5, m-f)

there's always something going on: a concert or sporting event at verizon, a crowd of people around the top of gallery place metro, dc residents jaywalking like champs, people banging on five-gallon buckets.

you know.

it's loud and semi-chaotic.

but then there's this courtyard. this impossibly beautiful and usually serene little weatherproof atrium that's open to the public as long as the museum's open.

there's usually people in here. but most of the time, they're quiet.

i like to chill out here after slowly ambling through the museum. perfect spot to people watch or read a few pages from a good book.

the portrait gallery is also just a fun free way to spend an afternoon. i bring out-of-town guests here a lot because we can hop over to jaleo, proof, poste or ping pong afterward.

a little dose of free culture and some good food?

your guests will think you're the best.

at my day job, we had an evening event at the portrait gallery last october. i was busy working so i didn't have too much time to take pictures and it was pretty dimly lit in there, but i was kinda loving that i finally got to see kogod at night.

aglow in blue light.