National Gallery of Art

Friday we took the bus and subway into DC for the last time this trip. We decided to go to the National Gallery of Art.  There are two buildings, the West Building, which contains more traditional art work, including French 19th and 20th century, Germany and Italian and sculptures. An escalator takes you to the East Building,  to the more contemporary art work. Before we started looking at the art work, we had a bite to eat at the Garden Cafe Francais.
The Garden Café Français features a menu of French cuisine developed by award-winning chef Michel Richard in honor of From Impressionism to Modernism: The Chester Dale Collection. The Chester Dale Collection  includes paintings from  such artists  as Monet, Manet, Cezanne and Picasso among others. You could order a la carte or the buffet. We choice the buffet, which incudes breads, salade d'epinards, ratatouille, salade de cervelas, cheeses, chicken faux gras, daube provencale( a beef stew which was especially delicious and which we got a recipe so we can try it at home) and chocolate mousse for dessert. Of course we had a glass of wine as well in keeping with the French theme. Then on to walk off some calories looking at the art work. You can't take pictures of the art work but I took some in the East area where it was allowed.

We have had a great time visiting DC. It is still amazing that there is so much to do here and so much that is free to the public. We will definitely be back here sometime in the future as there is still much to see and do.