Places to Go - Ballerinas at the Phillips Collection and Tea at the Ritz (but the highlight, as always, was the metro)

A few weeks ago, Grandma M and C, the children's cousin, came to town for a girls' day of Degas' ballerinas at the Phillips Collection and teddy bear tea at the Ritz. Of course, such a big event demanded fancy dresses, so we broke out the Xmas outfits a little early this year and the girls couldn't have been happier.



We parked at Pentagon City and took the metro to the museum. Never underestimate the power of a train ride to enthrall kids, I love how, when you're young, the excitement of the journey equals the thrill of the destination. Regarding the Phillips Collection's Degas exhibit the girls saw one painting and became so excited that they danced through the crowd. As cute as this sounds, when people pay $12 for admission to an art museum, they ARE NOT amused when preschoolers bump into them. Luckily the exhibit also includes a movie of a ballet and a mirror with a ballet bar, which helped keep my twirling children away from other museum patrons. If you're interested the exhibit runs through January 8, admission is free for people 18 and under.

After the museum, we hopped back on the metro and headed for afternoon tea at the Ritz Carlton Pentagon City. As soon as we entered the hotel, P said "mom, this place is beautiful, imagine if we lived here." This sense of awe and wonder penetrated the rest of the "meal" - sparkling wall paper, cups full of hot chocolate, sandwiches and beautiful sweets. I've never seen the girls so well-behaved. They loved every minute of it. And Grandma M and I loved our bellinis. At the end of the meal we surprised P with special birthday cupcakes (5, she is 5!!). If you want to visit, the Ritz Pentagon City serves tea on weekend afternoons. Children's tea only costs $16, adult prices range from $29 to $42 per person.



MONDAY LINKS:

*Melanie Rodriguez. Beautiful.

*The difference between nerd, geek, and dork graphed through venn diagram. This explains a lot.

*Kid-Friendly DC's WONDERFUL LIST of DC's Best Holiday Events. So much to do.

*I love these watercolors by Tobias Tovera.

*A trench bridge (via Miss Moss).



5 years old. Wowsers.