Itinerary help for Washington, DC
 

My 19-year-old sister and I are heading for DC right after Christmas. She's never been, and there are new museums I want to check out. She's pretty easy-going, not much of a shopper (except for necklaces of the $10-15 variety), wants to see the Holocaust Museum. Here's the plan so far:

Friday- arrive at Union Station on Amtrak around 5:30 pm. Check in to the Affinia Liaison Capitol, 3 blocks from Union. Amtrak being what it is, I'm not planning anything that requires tickets for Friday night. If we arrive on time and are feeling antsy, however, any suggestions on places to stroll/things to see?

Saturday- Holocaust Museum, when it opens. Suggestions for a light lunch nearby? I figure the afternoon will be necessary downtime/recovery from this emotional experience. In the evening, we're going to see an improv group (I tried to get tix to Capitol Steps but no luck.)

Sunday- Native American/American Indian Museum, with lunch at its cafeteria. I'd love to sneak a peek at the new American History Museum- will see if sister is museum'ed out. If so, ideas? I'd like to stay in the general area because that evening we're taking the Monuments by Moonlight tour.

Will this tour be similar enough to the Old Town Trolley tour that I should skip the day tour?

It's supposed to be 50s and rainy- not too awful, but not good 'walk around' weather either.

Monday- I have tickets for a tour of the Capitol. Is that worth getting up early? In the afternoon, I'm thinking maybe the Newseum or National Archives (although the Archives has a note on its Website that it will be very busy that week.)

Tuesday- back on Amtrak to head home.

My next stop is Chowhound, but if you have any suggestions for good breakfasts, burgers, or Chinese food in the area, let me know.

Thanks in advance!

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NOAA forcasts a 30% chance of rain for Friday night with a low about 42 - that will make it one of the warmer evenings in DC this week. If the weather seems ok you may enjoy taking the metro over to Georgetown for the scene there on Wisconsin ave. Chinatown is also in walking distance of your hotel, but compared to other Chinatowns IMO it is not much.

For your "recovery" time on Saturday choose another Smithsonian or two. The Spy museum is also a good choice. It is hard to get museum'ed on the Smithsonians - they offer a lot. If you go to the Natural History Museum, spring for the admission to the Butterfly exhibit. It is excellent and has some great photo oportunities if you like that sort of thing.

On Friday, your hotel is an easy stroll to the lively Penn Quarter area (including Chinatown). Head west on E Street and then up 7th.

Not exactly really close to the Holocaust Museum, but I recommend the little cafe in the National Gallery's Sculpture Garden for lunch. It's on the Mall between the Natural History Museum and the National Gallery (and across from the National Archives). There is an ice rink there now (it's a fountain in the summer).

Yes, if you do the Monuments by Moonlight tour I'd skip the Trolley daytime tour.

Note you can't really get to Georgetown on the Metro, but you can get close and then use the Georgetown Connection bus:

http://www.georgetowndc.com/getting-here/shuttle

There's also the DC Circulator but I think it doesn't run as late into the night:

http://www.dccirculator.com/routemap.html

It looks like a portion of the DC Circulator does run until late at night, but it doesn't go all the way back to Union Station.

For an interesting breakfast not too far from you, you might try Teaism, located right at the Navy Memorial on Pennsylvania Ave.

There isn't any place to eat near the Holocaust Museum that I can think of. None, it's just an area of museums and govt buildings and streets (and monuments). Why do you want to eat lunch near it when it sounds like you expect your visit to be over at that time? You can go anywhere for lunch.

Why not take a walk across the mall and eat in the cafeteria of the Am History museum. It has a good cafeteria actually, and since you don't have any plans anyway, you might want to see a few things there if you are in the mood to do something. They have a wide variety of interesting exhibits, like the First Ladies' gowns, and it's free entry. It's closer to the Holocaust museum than the Am Indian museum.

One place that does come to mind that actually is very close to the Holocaust Museum is the cafeteria (actually two eateries) in the Department of Agriculture buildings, which are right across 14th Street. I assume they're only open on weekdays but I'm not sure.

http://www.da.usda.gov/oo/cafemenu.htm