Gorgeous day for a baseball game!
Sunday, May 14
We started the day at the National Gallery of Art. We did the East Building last week, time to revisit the main gallery. I took a direct line for Gallery 83, my favorite room last year. Multiple Degas and Van Gogh paintings. It's overwhelming. We finally found the Thomas Cole paintings that Mike loves. Part of the museum is closed for renovations. We found them in a stairwell near the largest painting of George Washington I've ever seen. I love walking through this museum with the app. It's a map and an audio tour in one. I revisited the only Da Vinci in America. I forget that there are only 19 works by the great painter. Seems insane to be so famous for such few works. I spent this tour in the French and Italian works. I'll be back again before we leave. But for now, we're headed to see a baseball game.
This is my favorite Degas. Not sure if it's four women or just one in motion. Either way, I love it.
We grabbed a couple of bikes and headed towards the river. High blue skies and 75º make a perfect day for a spring baseball game. We both love sport and are happy to see a game in any city. As we walk up to the gate, I realize our tickets are for a game three hours from now. Wait, what? Apparently, Saturday's game was rained out and they changed Sunday's game time to adjust for the double-header. This fact was verified by a family walking into the gate at the same time. The father told us he had several tickets but only a few people had come to the game, so he had extras to get us in. Thanks so much! I made a smart purchase of a Nationals visor on the way in. A couple beers and hot dogs and we sat in the sun halfway through the fifth inning. Not sure where our seats should have been. The stadium isn't full, so we just headed to the home dugout where we'd bought tickets anyway.
Great game! Nats win 3-2. We grabbed a bike and rode around for a bit. We had about ninety minutes until the next game. Went down the boardwalk, saw the Titanic memorial, looked out at the river. Good times and a nine point ride. And then we were back for the game we actually had tickets for. The teams changed uniforms and had all the pink items for Mother's Day. The mascots for the Nationals are four Presidents. Still mascot caricatures, but instead of a bird or cat, they are Teddy Roosevelt, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and Abraham Lincoln. They have races during inning breaks and take pictures with kids. If you've met Mike, you know he's a big kid. Note the picture.
This game was more exciting, but not in the home team's favor. Nats lose 8-2. A good day in the sun with beers, peanuts, and hot dogs none the less. A bad day at the ballpark is still pretty good.
We had dinner reservations at Pacci's at Lincoln Park. On our way we rode north on South Capitol St. This is a view of Capitol building we had not seen yet. With the sun beginning to set, lighting the west side of the building, we got a new version of our favorite view.
Pacci's was wonderful. Good service and great food. You know our rule on mozzarella sticks: if they're on the menu, we have to order them. These were fresh mozzarella, hand breaded and then fried. And massive! So so good. We were obviously hungry after being in the sun all day. We ordered chicken marsala and barramundi as well as a pizza. The rest of this trip will all be based in pizza. A piece of limoncello cake later and we headed home stuffed and laden with to go boxes.