Still More from Tour of the East Wing of National Gallery

If you like really modern art you may like these.

Here's the group contemplating Rothko

Many of the works are Untitled.

Joining Tuesday Treasures.

Bike Share Comes to Columbia

Downtown Columbia, Md near the lakefront and around town there are new installations - Bike Share spots.

Here's Dan's reflection in the map where bikes can be found.

 Columbia is a town of bike/walking trails many of which have been widened to allow both bikes and walkers to coexist.

 Dan read that its a 7 year trial sponsored by the Horizon Foundation.

He showed me that some of the bikes have electric assist.  We may just have to try this sometime.

Inside the Franciscan Monastery

I posted here about the trip to the Franciscan Monastery in Washington, DC and promised to share the tour of the sanctuary and catacombs.

The church is laid out in a cross but one that looks like a + not the typical cross.

 Where the two arms meet is where the worship leader stands rather than one arm being the front of the church or nave.

Looking down each arm are special areas.

There are 4 chapels in each corner.

One is of course dedicated to St. Francis.

Lovely stained glass windows came from Germany.

Downstairs is a recreation of the catacombs of Rome.  Those stones are painted.

Relics are tucked into corners.

There is a chapel dedicated to purgatory.

It was an interesting place to visit.

Joining Inspired Sunday

Lunch on the Water

Friday, June 30th Dan and I took friends to lunch on the Chesapeake Bay near Sparrows Point, east of Baltimore.  Though the day was to be a hot one, there on the water the breeze was blowing and we were very comfortable sitting under the umbrella.

We've been here before on a weekend, and the place is hopping.  Boats can come up and dock so these slips would be filled on Saturdays and Sundays.  On this Friday it was nice and quiet.

There are other restaurants nearby but we've enjoyed this one.

I had Maryland crab soup chock full of crab.  It was half gone before I thought to take a photo.

Dan ordered the nachos for us all to share.

I didn't take a picture of the rest of the meal - too busy eating.  Dan had fish and chips, I had seared scallops on a salad, Janet had a huge crab cake sandwich, and Will had shrimp salad on a bun also a mammoth serving.

We had a big debate on which direction we were looking here.  Between the iPhone and the GPS and the waiter I think we finally settled on generally east.

It was a lovely day out with good friends.  We'll do it again.