National Botanic Garden

In Washington today to see the sights, we decided to put our heads around the door of the National Botanic Garden, near the Capitol Building.

It doesn't look very impressive from the outside but there were some interesting plants in the beds in front..

Inside, under a very tall glass roof, the garden was divided into sections - the main area was 'jungle'..

One of the most colourful and scented areas was the orchid garden - it was small, but packed with a variety of different types of orchid..

Outside there was a view of the Capitol building..

The dome is currently covered in scaffolding..

Our next stop was the National Gallery of Art - an impressive 20th Century building in classical style, housing some wonderful paintings.  

We focused on just one floor of the West wing..

There were so many lovely paintings and works of art that we could have photographed but I focused on just a couple of familiar views..

..and Claire's favourite Cezanne..

There was a small exhibition of works by Degas including this sculpture of a young girl..

Our final visit today, after walking around the Washington Monument, was the Enod Haupt garden at the Smithsonian Castle.  There was a small selection of potted exotic plants on show which were shortly due to be transported to overwinter in a greenhouse in Maryland..