'Cascades' - National Gallery of Art

The National Gallery of Art in Washington DC is a building of two halves.  This is the original west wing - classical style architecture similar to other Smithsonian museums on the National Mall such as the Museum of Natural History.

The east wing, currently under renovation, is quite different in style and houses some huge modern sculptures, including this work by Henry Moore at the entrance..

When we visited the Gallery on Saturday it was not, on this occasion, to marvel at the fabulous European and American paintings, although there were tantalizing glimpses of impressionist masterpieces as we hurried through..  Our mission was more basic - to have lunch at the Cascades restaurant in the basement.

The 'Cascade' in question is a huge water feature covering the best part of one wall of the restaurant area where millions of gallons of water pour down from the fountains above over a stepped wall to create a noisy,  bubbling waterfall.

It is behind glass, of course, but so full of movement that visitors reach out as if to put their hands into the cascading water.

After lunch we viewed it from outside and above, looking back down to the restaurant window..