Washington DC, A to Z: Zamboni on the National Mall

On our second day of our Washington DC vacation, Jimmy and I  visited many museums on the National Mall. We started out at the Smithsonian Castle and then split up.  I went  to see some of the  “thousands of the most significant works of art from the Renaissance to the present day” in the collection of the  National Gallery of Art.

Walking through the Sculpture Garden, it’s hard not to notice the skating rink. When I took this picture I was standing just a little bit north of Thinker on a Rock.

Skating Rink National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden Washington DC

When I saw the skating rink, I hoped I’d find my picture for the letter Z very close by.  It wasn’t hard to find at all. In addition to owning thousands of pieces of art, the National Gallery of Art owns a Zamboni.

Zamboni Ice Resurfacer The National Gallery of Art  – Washington DC

The National Gallery of Art Ice Rink is open mid-November through mid-March, weather permitting.

All the museums located on the National Mall are part of the Smithsonian Institution except the the National Gallery of Art  which was  originally conceived and funded by Andrew W. Mellon.

Some Highlights from the Collection National Gallery of Art via Wikipedia

Admission to and tours of (even audio tours) the National Gallery of Art is free.  In addition to the art they own, there are also special exhibitions which are also free. Special exhibitions that I saw when I visited in March included:

• The Dying Gaul: An Ancient Roman Masterpiece from the Capitoline Museum, Rome
• Garry Winogrand
• From the Library: Grega and Leo A. Daly III Fund for Architectural Books

And like most every other place we visited in Washington DC, I didn’t see even half of what I wanted to see.