On the day that I went to visit the National Building Museum, I also had a few other adventures. One of them was a walk through Chinatown. I went to Chinatown to look for (what else?) lunch! I found that, at a restaurant called “Chinatown Express.” This restaurant is very interesting to look at from the street because a man stands right next to the window, making dumplings. People enjoy watching the man prepare the dumplings. He must have been doing that for some time because he never appears to make a mistake and all of his dumplings pretty much look alike.
I had a big bowl of soup, filled with noodles and seafood and scallions. That was absolutely delicious. And it was economical, too. My very filling and very tasty lunch cost me approximately six dollars. That is very cheap, compared to a hot dog stand near the Smithsonian, where a hot dog, potato chip, and soft drink combo costs approximately eight dollars (ouch!).
After my lunch, I went to the National Portrait Gallery, where I viewed the paintings. Then I went to the Luce Foundations Center for American Art, where I went to a sketching class. The focus of the sketching class was heads and bodies. The group got to see examples of famous artists’ sketchbooks. Then we had an hour to make our own pictures. Afterwards, we had some opportunity to discuss our pictures. It was fun. I found out that these sketching classes are held once a week, on Tuesday afternoons. The instructor told me that, anytime I am in Washington, D.C., to be sure to come to the class!
