lmichael

Hello Fodorites, I have followed so many of other family’s trips the last few months and your comments/suggestions to them has helped me so much in planning our trip. Many of our tours are through our Congressman so I have had to redo our schedule every time we have gotten an update from them. Any suggestions or changes will be greatly appreciated!!

Saturday, June 8
Arrive Dulles 4:00pm (We leave SFO at 6:25am)
Thinking town car is the best route to take to Apartment near Eastern Market Metro
Dinner suggestions:
The Tortilla Cafe on 7th St.
Ugly Mug on 8th St.,
Matchbox, yummy pizza and pasta.

Sunday, June 9
Eastern Market get food and check it out, Eastern Market (tip: try the pancakes, they are fantastic
12:15-1:45 National Archives – have tickets
2-4 Ford’s Theater – have tickets/tour
4:15-5:15 Old Post Office
Maybe a bit of American History Museum, if we have it in us
Dinner at Apartment

Monday, June 10
Capitol tour for 9:45-11:15, Cannon House Office Building South of the Capitol – have appointment
Lunch, Good Stuff Eatery, Ted’s Bulletin, open to suggestions
Noon-3:30 Natural History Museum
A bit more of American History if time
Dinner with friends, their pick

Tuesday, June 11
Library of Congress 8:45 – have tour
10-1:30 National Gallery of Art
2:15 Dept of State for 2:45-3:45 tour – have appointment
Einstein Memorial
Exterior of Eisenhower Executive Office Building?
A bit more of American History if time
Dinner at Apartment

Wednesday, June 12
Air and Space
Arlington
Jefferson Memorial?
Dinner in or out? If we eat at the apartment I can get some laundry done
7:30p Monuments Tour Night – Departs from the Old Post Office
• START AT: Old Post Office
• US Capitol Building
• World War II Memorial
• Vietnam Memorial
• Lincoln Memorial
• Korean War Memorial
• Iwo Jima Memorial
• Martin Luther King Memorial
• White House
END AT: Old Post Office

Thursday, June 13
Anything we can squeeze in or sleep and pack
Noon Metro to Reagan for our flight to Orlando at 2:37 (Am I giving us enough time?)

SeeHag

No comments as I am just starting to look for info for a trip we will be making to DC sometime this summer as our son will be there on a temporary assignment for three or four months starting at the end of May. Interested in what responses you get!

yestravel

One of my favorite restaurants on the Hill is Monte,ate. Excellent French food in a casual, nice atmosphere. zest on 8th St is also good. I like Matchbox's pizza. Not so keen on Tortilla Cafe.
have a fun trip.

lmichael

@ SeeHag You have come to the right place! The advice has been so amazing!
Thank you yestravel, we are eating out more than planned, so really need help with that planning.
I neglected to mention that my girls are 11 and 14.

5alive

Hi, LMichael,

One thing that I noticed about your itinerary is that American History Museum is tucked into the end of one day "if there's time" and the beginning of another "if there's time."

American History is really a great museum. Not sure where you're coming from but many cities have a good (if not great) natural history museum. Nobody has American history on the level of the Smithsonian. So I hate to see you minimize that.

I also would have you explore exactly what your Library of Congress tour covers. Hands down that was the most disappointing tour of our two week trip. Briefly, the general tour we took focused on the construction of the Library of Congress building rather than all the fascinating details about the Library of Congress's collection of materials. We learned about what part of Italy the marble was brought in from, and some of the stories behind the paintings on the walls and ceilings. I love history and this was not history at its most compelling. I was later told that your congressman has the "specialized" tours for you to sign up at.

Hopefully this link will get you to the day of my trip report which talks about the Library of Congress:

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...omment-7845157

lmichael

Hi 5alive. It was your report that did not have the Library of Congress on my original list, until our Congressman got us the tour. I will check with them and make sure it is the "specialized" tour. Thank you for the suggestion. You are also so right about the American History Museum. I originally had 4 hours scheduled there, but with all the tours times coming in, our schedule changed drastically. We had a tour at the Kennedy Center, but there was just no time for it. I was hoping someone would be able to tweak our schedule to give us a solid amount of time there. I choose the American because it is one of the smaller museums.

sf7307

Easy for me, but it depends on your interests. I would do away with the 3:30 spent at the Natural History Museum on Monday and spend it at the American History Museum instead.

bardo1

It all looks good to me.

Where is apartment (roughly)?

There are a number of pleasant walking routes between the Eastern Market area and the Capitol/LOC area. I can give some suggestions depending on where in the Eastern Market area you're based. I assume you'll be returning to the apartment on Sunday, June 9 after visiting Eastern Market to drop off food and your other shopping items. DO spend some time at the flea market looking at all the wonderful artists, craftsmen, and collectibles booths. Good stuff.

FWIW - The wait for a table at Matchbox on a Saturday night will be LONG!!! (1 hour?)

I like to eat in the last night of an apartment stay so as not to throw away too many leftovers

If you decide to go out your final night's dinner, however, some other area ideas are (Google for menus):

Montmartre (pricey but oh so sublime)...call and reserve. Hands down the best dining in the neighborhood.

Seventh Hill Pizza - next door to and same owners as Montmarte. Very limited seating. Best pizza in all of DC, IMHO.

Belga Cafe (Wonderful Belgian food and beers...call and reserve)

Levi's Port Cafe - cheap and wonderful comfort food (get the pork ribs, greens, mac&cheese, hush puppies, and sweet potato pie) - just show up.

bardo1

I would also consider grocery shopping at the Harris Teeter at 1350 Potomac Ave. SE - about 7 blocks from Easter Market Metro or one Metro stop away (Potomac Ave. Metro). Eastern Market is good for meats, cheeses, breads, fruits & vegetables but won't have any packaged items or other kitchen necessities. You'll want a real grocery for those.

lmichael

@ SF7303, you really have me thinking. We really love history, might just switch the Natural to “fitting in” and the American to Monday slot.
@ bardo1 We are on I Street SE, between 6th and 7th streets SE. Thank you for the recommendation for restaurants. We are not getting a rental car, taking the Metro to most places.
Packing all of the dry stuff. Milk will be my biggest challenge to get.
Also agree on not wasting food. I know it sounds a bit crazy but we plan on freezing some of the meat and packing it in our suitcase to take to Orlando (also keep the cheeses cold, we are so excited about the Eastern Market!). We will be poolside the first few days and plan on BBQing.

tchoiniere

The other Smithsonian I would recommend and is open later than the rest is the Portrait Gallery. Would fit in decently after Ford's Theatre (relatively close to it) if you could slide the Old PO someplace else.

tenthumbs

I agree with the above comments regarding the American History Museum. It is my absolute favorite........and it's not a "small" museum. It's four stories packed full of so many fascinating exhibits! I could easily spend an entire day there.

lmichael

I have changed the American History and Natural History in the schedule and I have emailed my Congressman's assistant to see what tour we have at the Library of Congress, if it is the architectural/building of tour I will cancel and slot something else in.
@ bardo1, great point about what restaurants will be like on Saturday. Any suggestions for delivery or take out. I know we will be exhausted, my kids have not napped since they were 2/3 years old, even with getting up at 3:30a they will not sleep on the plane. Would rather get something fast and go to bed early to be ready for our next 4 days.

5alive

That all sounds good. Should a tour not sound appealing, you can also just visit the Library of Congress. You also can walk up and peer through the glass in the reading room on the upper floor. Not a big deal. Also the special exhibits the tours do not show you, you go see those on your own.

lmichael

Thank you 5alive, that might be a really good option! I was planning a bit of a sleep in day for my 11 year old that day until we received the email for the tour, I know she will need it.