With the end of her term in office, there is finally time for appointments away from the big world political stage: For former Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU), this means spending a lot of time traveling.
Now she has visited a museum in Washington alongside former US President Barack Obama.
Obama shared a picture of the two via Twitter and Instagram.
Together they visited the "National Museum of African American History and Culture" of the renowned Smithsonian Institution.
As president, he saw how Merkel led through crises with her wise pragmatism, her good humor and her unrelenting moral compass, Obama wrote.
He added, "And I feel lucky to call her a friend."
Merkel's office also confirmed the visit.
»I can confirm that former Chancellor Dr.
Merkel is currently in Washington DC for after-hours political talks," a spokeswoman said.
Merkel has been in Washington since Monday and will return to Berlin on Thursday.
No further details were given.
Merkel had made it clear in the past that she wanted to travel a lot after her 16-year term in office - including to the USA.
Parallel to the iconic photo
The meeting took place almost simultaneously with the G7 summit at Schloss Elmau in Bavaria.
The two met there at the summit in 2015.
In the end, an iconic photo was taken: Obama was sitting casually on the bench, Merkel was standing in front of him with her arms outstretched.
The National Museum of African American History and Culture was opened in 2016 by Obama and his wife Michelle.
It focuses on the creative and suffering history of the black US population and traces the history of African Americans, from the slave trade to formative figures such as Martin Luther King and Oprah Winfrey.
mrc/dpa