Trip report, Part 3 - Washington DC, January 2015
Apr 16th, 2015, 11:26 PM
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Trip report, Part 3 - Washington DC, January 2015
Sorry - this is a repost, as I didnt tag the the original as a trip report.
Thanks to those who have read and responded to part 1 and 2
2 parts to go!
Washington DC
New Years Day
We had a super early start on New Years Day, leaving the hotel in Boston at 6am to fly to Washington DC. Everything went to plan and by 9:30am we had landed in Baltimore and negotiated the subway to make our way to DC. This trip was longer than arriving at a central DC airport, but overall the time wasn't an issue for us and the flight we could get was much cheaper and convenient into Baltimore.
A beautiful, sunny, cold afternoon awaited us and we walked and walked around the capital. There are so many big, solid, beautiful and imposing buildings in DC.... no skyscrapers though. A beautifully well planned out city, with wide roads and big footpaths. Liked it immediately. We walked to the Lincoln memorial and it was a really moving moment, to be in that space. I didn't expect to be moved, as such, but found it really emotional. Beautiful memorial. From there we walked to the Martin Luther King memorial, and again found it to be beautifully done and very moving. The whole memorial is surrounded by quotes from King.
We visited (OK, viewed) the White House, and the Washington Monument, taking photos with a gorgeous sky behind them. It was a lovely start to our time in DC.
The Hard Rock Cafe was just near our hotel - the pulled pork burger tasted pretty good after all the walking we had done. For the first time, I made 30,000 steps in a day!
January 2
We were very excited to be able to finally visit the Smithsonian museums. Our first stop on the Smithsonian trail was the Natural History museum. Wow, Just wow. Massive place, engaging, interactive, accurate.... unbelievable.There is even an elephant on display, not to mention all the dinosaur bones! We saw a nature photography exhibit with the most beautiful images.... new goal, have a photo displayed in the Smithsonian.
We had a 1pm walking tour booked, and walking to the starting spot we were slightly early and feeling organised. However, we didn't realise there are TWO 'First Streets' in DC, so we were on diagonally wrong side of Capitol building with ten minutes to go!! The Capitol is a BIG building on a hill, so getting around it in 10 minutes is no mean feat. We did it though....! The guide left at 1:01! Luckily we were in sight of him. The walking tour was about Capitol and how Washington was a planned city....the history of the city was interesting..... but you would think if they were planning the city so thoroughly they could've planned to name each street a different name?
The Library of Congress was amazing! Such an opulent beautiful building. We briefly saw Jeffersons original library that he donated to re start the collection after the books had been burned in war. We also went to the observation area of the reading room.... amazing area.
We then toured the Capitol building. Very cool tour. Our tour guide was fun and interesting. Pretty cool to hear how 4th graders successfully lobbied for Utahs 2nd statue to be installed in the Capitol - each state can have 2 statues but they must be made of marble or bronze, and the statue has to be made of a deceased person. Lots of interesting information and a beautiful building. Sadly the dome was scaffolded, but it wouldn't be a holiday without an important monument under scaffold!
We returned to the HRC for dinner, again having Fatijas and a burger between us. Sometimes at the end of a long day convenient food in a location we like is easier!
Jan 3
Spy museum
Today we had tickets for the Big Bus hop on / hop off tour. Of course there are 3 similar businesses in town.... we think we had tickets to a mythical bus. All day we saw the other 2 companies trundling around, saw stops for their buses, representatives for their companies selling tickets.... but Big Bus??? Not a bus. Not a sign they exist, until 4:45 when we saw an empty out of service bus go past.
Anyway we started at the Spy museum... very cool. We started the museum by choosing a spy identity and as we wandered around we had to answer questions about our identity to see if we would pass as a spy. Happy to report I passed with flying colours!
There was so much information about famous spies, how spies have been caught, disguises, movies.... was great. We were there for ages - as we left the line was long to get in so glad we got there early!
Archives building
The Archives building was a fairly short visit- we really wanted to see the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Of course as the documents are so old now they are pretty impossible to actually read but we made out the signatures of Benjamin Franklin, George Washington and John Hancock - which was really great. Beautiful building, too. The handwriting on these documents is so beautiful as well.
Natural History
Next on our list was a return to the Natural History museum where we saw the most beautiful photographic display. The photos were beyond stunning and so inspiring. Imagine having a photo displayed in a Smithsonian! This museum is just massive, with everything from rocks and minerals to animals, the sea, plants, humans, dinosaurs.... it just goes on and on. Very engaging and interesting. The kind of place it would be nice to visit for an hour or do at a time every month or so, so much to take in. Lucky DC kids.... what a place for an excursion!!!
American Art Gallery
By now it was around 3:15 so we headed down the road to the American History museum, except we got lost and ended up in the art gallery. Glad we did, as the building is just stunning inside. Obviously the artwork was beautiful too, but if was the building that took our breath away!
American History
We had a quick look around the American History museum in the last half hour it was open, locating Dorothy's slippers for my friend who loves the movie!
Crime and Punishment
We thought we would need maybe an hour for the Crime and Punishment museum, but instead we stayed for nearly 2.5 hours until they closed at 8! Really interesting place, looking into crimes and punishments from medieval times to now. There were excellent displays about pirates, witch trials, cyber crime, FBI, medieval punishments, infamous criminals .... the list goes on and on! Was interactive and interesting. Great visit!
Jan 4
Today was finally the day for the Air and Space museum! So exciting Such a massive museum- very exciting to see things like the Wright Brothers plane- a whole exhibit explained the life of the Wright brothers which I loved. I also touched moon rock!
We spent hours walking around this museum, reading about the history of space travel and flight. The only disappointment in the Air and Space was food! McDonalds was the only choice.
In the last part of the day we had a look around the Native American museum. It was really interesting to learn more about the history of the native people of America - treated very unfairly in the early days, much like the indigenous people in Australia.
As it was a warm night (comparatively!) we wandered around looking at the beautiful monuments again. There was an amazing orange glow to the clouds that looked very cool. The buildings, so imposing, were never boring to look at. Pity the Capitol building was scaffolded. We will have to return one day to see it looking as magnificent as it does in photos.
Jan 5
Our last day in Washington. We started the day by getting the metro to Arlington National Cemetery. A very sober place, with acres and acres of headstones stretching as far as the eye can see. We saw the changing of the guard statue tomb of the unknown soldier... There is an unknown soldier for WW1, Vietnam and WW2. We also visited John F Kennedy's final resting place, overlooking the city of Washington, there with his wife and 2 babies. Very sad.
There was one hilarious moment on the tour bus though. It was a hop on hop off bus that worked its way around. Unfortunately a group on the bus didn't quite get the concept of hop on hop off. We stopped at a memorial and 2 groups on the bus thought that 'hop on hop off' meant 'hop off, bus will wait for you for ages, hop back on at your leisure'. So at the same stop a man jumped off, leaving his wife and another man did the same thing. So then the bus takes off leaving one man behind (the first we successfully called back). So the left behind man starts chasing the bus - very funny. The family were getting stressed snd the driver said (in her cool southern accent)... 'I didn't leave him behind! He got off!' Very funny. They stopped the bus to let him rejoin us.
It was interesting seeing the freed slaves plots, who had 'citizen' written on them. There are around 30 funerals every day at Arlington and over 400,000 people rest there. Very sobering.
After Arligton we returned to the American History museum to finish it off, then went back to the Library of Congress.... Such a gorgeous building. Loved it in there.
Washington is a fabulous city, one we hope to return to one day. I hope this trip report helps someone out with their planning!
Thanks to those who have read and responded to part 1 and 2
2 parts to go!Washington DC
New Years Day
We had a super early start on New Years Day, leaving the hotel in Boston at 6am to fly to Washington DC. Everything went to plan and by 9:30am we had landed in Baltimore and negotiated the subway to make our way to DC. This trip was longer than arriving at a central DC airport, but overall the time wasn't an issue for us and the flight we could get was much cheaper and convenient into Baltimore.
A beautiful, sunny, cold afternoon awaited us and we walked and walked around the capital. There are so many big, solid, beautiful and imposing buildings in DC.... no skyscrapers though. A beautifully well planned out city, with wide roads and big footpaths. Liked it immediately. We walked to the Lincoln memorial and it was a really moving moment, to be in that space. I didn't expect to be moved, as such, but found it really emotional. Beautiful memorial. From there we walked to the Martin Luther King memorial, and again found it to be beautifully done and very moving. The whole memorial is surrounded by quotes from King.
We visited (OK, viewed) the White House, and the Washington Monument, taking photos with a gorgeous sky behind them. It was a lovely start to our time in DC.
The Hard Rock Cafe was just near our hotel - the pulled pork burger tasted pretty good after all the walking we had done. For the first time, I made 30,000 steps in a day!
January 2
We were very excited to be able to finally visit the Smithsonian museums. Our first stop on the Smithsonian trail was the Natural History museum. Wow, Just wow. Massive place, engaging, interactive, accurate.... unbelievable.There is even an elephant on display, not to mention all the dinosaur bones! We saw a nature photography exhibit with the most beautiful images.... new goal, have a photo displayed in the Smithsonian.
We had a 1pm walking tour booked, and walking to the starting spot we were slightly early and feeling organised. However, we didn't realise there are TWO 'First Streets' in DC, so we were on diagonally wrong side of Capitol building with ten minutes to go!! The Capitol is a BIG building on a hill, so getting around it in 10 minutes is no mean feat. We did it though....! The guide left at 1:01! Luckily we were in sight of him. The walking tour was about Capitol and how Washington was a planned city....the history of the city was interesting..... but you would think if they were planning the city so thoroughly they could've planned to name each street a different name?
The Library of Congress was amazing! Such an opulent beautiful building. We briefly saw Jeffersons original library that he donated to re start the collection after the books had been burned in war. We also went to the observation area of the reading room.... amazing area.
We then toured the Capitol building. Very cool tour. Our tour guide was fun and interesting. Pretty cool to hear how 4th graders successfully lobbied for Utahs 2nd statue to be installed in the Capitol - each state can have 2 statues but they must be made of marble or bronze, and the statue has to be made of a deceased person. Lots of interesting information and a beautiful building. Sadly the dome was scaffolded, but it wouldn't be a holiday without an important monument under scaffold!
We returned to the HRC for dinner, again having Fatijas and a burger between us. Sometimes at the end of a long day convenient food in a location we like is easier!
Jan 3
Spy museum
Today we had tickets for the Big Bus hop on / hop off tour. Of course there are 3 similar businesses in town.... we think we had tickets to a mythical bus. All day we saw the other 2 companies trundling around, saw stops for their buses, representatives for their companies selling tickets.... but Big Bus??? Not a bus. Not a sign they exist, until 4:45 when we saw an empty out of service bus go past.
Anyway we started at the Spy museum... very cool. We started the museum by choosing a spy identity and as we wandered around we had to answer questions about our identity to see if we would pass as a spy. Happy to report I passed with flying colours!
There was so much information about famous spies, how spies have been caught, disguises, movies.... was great. We were there for ages - as we left the line was long to get in so glad we got there early!
Archives building
The Archives building was a fairly short visit- we really wanted to see the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Of course as the documents are so old now they are pretty impossible to actually read but we made out the signatures of Benjamin Franklin, George Washington and John Hancock - which was really great. Beautiful building, too. The handwriting on these documents is so beautiful as well.
Natural History
Next on our list was a return to the Natural History museum where we saw the most beautiful photographic display. The photos were beyond stunning and so inspiring. Imagine having a photo displayed in a Smithsonian! This museum is just massive, with everything from rocks and minerals to animals, the sea, plants, humans, dinosaurs.... it just goes on and on. Very engaging and interesting. The kind of place it would be nice to visit for an hour or do at a time every month or so, so much to take in. Lucky DC kids.... what a place for an excursion!!!
American Art Gallery
By now it was around 3:15 so we headed down the road to the American History museum, except we got lost and ended up in the art gallery. Glad we did, as the building is just stunning inside. Obviously the artwork was beautiful too, but if was the building that took our breath away!
American History
We had a quick look around the American History museum in the last half hour it was open, locating Dorothy's slippers for my friend who loves the movie!
Crime and Punishment
We thought we would need maybe an hour for the Crime and Punishment museum, but instead we stayed for nearly 2.5 hours until they closed at 8! Really interesting place, looking into crimes and punishments from medieval times to now. There were excellent displays about pirates, witch trials, cyber crime, FBI, medieval punishments, infamous criminals .... the list goes on and on! Was interactive and interesting. Great visit!
Jan 4
Today was finally the day for the Air and Space museum! So exciting
Such a massive museum- very exciting to see things like the Wright Brothers plane- a whole exhibit explained the life of the Wright brothers which I loved. I also touched moon rock!We spent hours walking around this museum, reading about the history of space travel and flight. The only disappointment in the Air and Space was food! McDonalds was the only choice.
In the last part of the day we had a look around the Native American museum. It was really interesting to learn more about the history of the native people of America - treated very unfairly in the early days, much like the indigenous people in Australia.
As it was a warm night (comparatively!) we wandered around looking at the beautiful monuments again. There was an amazing orange glow to the clouds that looked very cool. The buildings, so imposing, were never boring to look at. Pity the Capitol building was scaffolded. We will have to return one day to see it looking as magnificent as it does in photos.
Jan 5
Our last day in Washington. We started the day by getting the metro to Arlington National Cemetery. A very sober place, with acres and acres of headstones stretching as far as the eye can see. We saw the changing of the guard statue tomb of the unknown soldier... There is an unknown soldier for WW1, Vietnam and WW2. We also visited John F Kennedy's final resting place, overlooking the city of Washington, there with his wife and 2 babies. Very sad.
There was one hilarious moment on the tour bus though. It was a hop on hop off bus that worked its way around. Unfortunately a group on the bus didn't quite get the concept of hop on hop off. We stopped at a memorial and 2 groups on the bus thought that 'hop on hop off' meant 'hop off, bus will wait for you for ages, hop back on at your leisure'. So at the same stop a man jumped off, leaving his wife and another man did the same thing. So then the bus takes off leaving one man behind (the first we successfully called back). So the left behind man starts chasing the bus - very funny. The family were getting stressed snd the driver said (in her cool southern accent)... 'I didn't leave him behind! He got off!' Very funny. They stopped the bus to let him rejoin us.
It was interesting seeing the freed slaves plots, who had 'citizen' written on them. There are around 30 funerals every day at Arlington and over 400,000 people rest there. Very sobering.
After Arligton we returned to the American History museum to finish it off, then went back to the Library of Congress.... Such a gorgeous building. Loved it in there.
Washington is a fabulous city, one we hope to return to one day. I hope this trip report helps someone out with their planning!
Apr 16th, 2015, 11:50 PM
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Oh, nice trip report! I'm glad you had fun. You definitely are making me want to go back, I haven't been in years, and last time I chose the holocaust museum over the spy museum. The holocaust museum was definitely worth it but I thought the spy museum would be so interesting!
What did you think of the Native American museum? (compared to the other Smithsonians, I mean). I was in DC last about four months before its grand opening, and I remember being disappointed about that. Was it more focused on colonization history or indigenous culture or both?
What did you think of the Native American museum? (compared to the other Smithsonians, I mean). I was in DC last about four months before its grand opening, and I remember being disappointed about that. Was it more focused on colonization history or indigenous culture or both?
Apr 17th, 2015, 12:03 AM
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Hi MarvelousMouse... thanks for reading I was hoping to get to the Holocaust museum but ran out of time. Next time I will go there. The Native American Museum was interesting, as Australians we are sadly ignorant of much American history and this museum helped us to understand some indigenous cultural history, as well as the colonisation on America. We certainly didn't spend a day in there, as we did with the Natural History museum, but we enjoyed our visit.
I was hoping to get to the Holocaust museum but ran out of time. Next time I will go there. The Native American Museum was interesting, as Australians we are sadly ignorant of much American history and this museum helped us to understand some indigenous cultural history, as well as the colonisation on America. We certainly didn't spend a day in there, as we did with the Natural History museum, but we enjoyed our visit.
Apr 17th, 2015, 12:27 AM
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Well, the Natural History museum is hard to tear oneself away from
between that one and the air and space, I didn't even get a chance to skim through the US History. Hm, I definitely think it's time to go back. Maybe next year!
But yes, certainly go through the holocaust museum next time. It's beautifully designed, though emotionally draining, if that makes any sense.
Did you get to see the Korean memorial?Or FDR? Those were probably tied for my second favorite after Lincoln. They are somehow so powerful in person in comparison to seeing photos online or in textbooks. DC is not really my favorite city, but things like the memorials and visiting Arlington left me with lasting impressions that are vivid but somehow hard to put into words...before my first visit, I thought my grandmother was right when she said "museums are for dead people". And now those museums are why I travel lol.
between that one and the air and space, I didn't even get a chance to skim through the US History. Hm, I definitely think it's time to go back. Maybe next year!But yes, certainly go through the holocaust museum next time. It's beautifully designed, though emotionally draining, if that makes any sense.
Did you get to see the Korean memorial?Or FDR? Those were probably tied for my second favorite after Lincoln. They are somehow so powerful in person in comparison to seeing photos online or in textbooks. DC is not really my favorite city, but things like the memorials and visiting Arlington left me with lasting impressions that are vivid but somehow hard to put into words...before my first visit, I thought my grandmother was right when she said "museums are for dead people". And now those museums are why I travel lol.
Apr 17th, 2015, 12:39 AM
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Yes, we visited those memorials... the Korean memorial was just so moving. The Natural History museum was fascinating. The Air and Space was fantastic. I couldn't believe they were all free to enter!
Jun 24th, 2015, 11:05 PM
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Hi Hodie, Im trying to remember who we used, as there were limited tours available in January. When I find the company I will post, but Id recommend Free Tours By Foot, we used them in a few US cities and they were excellent.
