Sunday, December 23, 2012

A Capitol Version Of The Holiday Train Show In United States Botanical Garden


         Act II of the Holiday Train Show, which started in New York (see previous post here) coincidentally continued at the United States Botanical Garden. Following our visit to the New York Botanical Garden, my husband and I took the Amtrak from Manhattan to the nation's capitol, Washington, D.C. We came here for a family visit and our first stop after arriving at the beautiful D.C. train station was the conservatory (with family), which was only minutes away.


The same artist of the NYBG train show--Paul Busse and company Applied Imagination--continues the theme here with a capitol version of scaled replicas of D.C. landmarks.


In this show, the trains are not circulating the scaled D.C. buildings;
but they are featured in a display of an enchanted forest


for fairies and such creatures who live in tiny places.


Meanwhile, the first room of this much smaller conservatory (compared to New York Botanical Garden) is decked out in a colorful holiday display designed with red and white poinsettias,


and whimsical topiary of birds, reindeer, bears


and turtles. We heard the conservatory also looks enchanting in the evening 
when it is lit with lots of tiny lights.


We wandered past the U.S. Supreme Court,



the Smithsonian


and the Lincoln Memorial.


And in between, we admired fascinating plants of the season such as this Eucharist Lily (Eucharis grandiflora), sweet smelling and a native of Colombia;


eye candy, such as the lollipop plant;


fruit, like these pineapples--they are low growing and a member of the bromeliad family.


And there must be chocolate at the holidays.  These cacao pods grow on the trunk of the Theobroma cacao tree. The seeds inside are used for cocoa powder and chocolate. Yum.



When evening arrived we managed to view some of the actual landmarks,
 like the Washington Monument


and the Lincoln Memorial, both of which are impressive and befitting of the men they memorialize. On a side note, our holiday traditions usually involve going to the movies; if you are going to the movies this holiday season, we highly recommend Steven Spielberg's movie Lincoln.  It is a fascinating story about his pursuit to abolish slavery. And with that movie still fresh in my head, this memorial loomed that much larger in my mind.  Indeed, Mr. Lincoln was a special American and, a special president.


I hope you enjoy all of your favorite traditions this holiday.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the United States Botanical Garden!



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