Across from the National Portrait Gallery and American art museum is Ella's Wood-Fired Pizza. Its website claims to have the best wood-fired pizza in DC. It was good but I've never been to the competition.

After seeing the portraits of many famous Americans -- especially the newest ones, including those of film stars and directors, music stars, designers, current writers, artists and many others, we went to lunch at Ella's. Then back for the famous portraits of George Washington, Lincoln, many other presidents, Chuck Close's portrait of Bill Clinton, portraits of famous civil rights leaders, and many more. I especially liked Ben Shan's portrait of martyrs Goodman, Schwerner, and Chaney.

The museum was exhilarating!

Finally, a special collection of wire portraits by Calder, whose ability to visualize and sketch in 3-D lines is amazing. He drew many art-world figures, including Ben Shan.

Here's an example of Calder's work: a 2D and 3D portrait (1929) of an art historian named Hans Curlis who made a film about Calder: