Day at the museum: Eccentric items from the Smithsonian

Jerry Seinfeld's puffy shirt

I hope this was the turkey/mashed potatoes/stuffing TV dinner.

Buzz Aldren's space suit (looks like he's a contestant on "To Tell The Truth")

Tito Puente's timbales (they're good and Puente)

Uranus looks lovely tonight

Not the most sophisticated exhibit but my personal favorite.

Washington D.C.'s Smithsonian Institution exists because a generous British scientist named James Smithson (1765-1829) wanted to increase knowledge among all mankind. He left his fortune to the United States government even though he never visited the country. We call this Eccentric with a capital E, and would like to tip our cocked hat to him.

A few parting shots from Washington, DC

Above: From the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum

Also from the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum: one of their more sophisticated exhibits.

On display at the National Postal Museum: I love museums devoted to mundane things.

At the National Archives: Rose Mary Woods' tape recorder.

At the National Archives: a letter a seventh-grader named Andy Smith from South Carolina wrote to the government, asking for Federal Disaster Relief funds because his mother says his room is a disaster area.

At the National Archives: Bill Clinton's high school marching band uniform.

At the National Archives: a video documentary about President George Bush Senior.

Eccentric Smithsonian: Seinfeld's puffy shirt

On the same day we saw this exhibit at the Smithsonian...

...we saw this on TV later on in our hotel room! You can't make stuff like that up!

The Smithsonian Institution (or "that Smith Brothers Institute" as Barney Fife would say) is full of national treasures, not the least of which is the puffy shirt worn by Jerry Seinfeld in episode 66 of his TV series. In it, as you recall, Jerry winds up wearing an outlandish pirate shirt on the Today Show with Bryant Gumble because Kramer's girlfriend, the designer of the shirt, is a bit of a low-talker, and he was just being polite. It sits enshrined behind Plexiglas, next to Fred Rogers' red sweater. Upon its induction, Seinfeld commented that surely this was the most embarrassing moment in the museum's history. The same day we viewed the shirt in all its Smithsonian splendor, we retired to our hotel suite, The Virginian, for a little r&r and some color TV viewing. Seinfeld was on (not hard to miss, as it is on about 100 times a day) and spookily, the puffy shirt episode was being broadcast. Coincidence? I think not. We are not alone.