Trip to Washington, D.C.
Like thousands of others, we spent this past weekend in Washington, D.C., exploring our nation's heritage and enjoying the National Cherry Blossom Festival. Mid-April is said to be the busiest time for tourists visiting the U.S. capital: the confluence of school vacation, the long Easter weekend, and the prospect of seeing the glorious flowering cherry trees bring hoards to the city at this time each year.
On Friday, we gave ourselves a walking tour of the National Mall area. We started by encircling the White House, and then since we hadn't procured tickets to go inside, consoled ourselves with a visit to the White House Visitor Center, for a look at the history of the building and its furnishings. The Center's Easter Egg Hunt, which involved finding clues provided by a display of eggs representing each of the 50 states, provided a fun activity for the younger members of our group.
After a lunch at Cosi's sandwich shop, we spent the afternoon visiting the Mall's impressive memorials and monuments: the Lincoln Memorial, the Korean War Veterans Memorial, the Vietnam War Veterans Memorial, the World War II Memorial, the Washington Monument, and the Jefferson Memorial. Along the way to the latter, we admired the waning cherry blossoms that ringed the Tidal Basin.
Saturday was more of a museum day. We started at the National Archives, which we found, for the most part, rather underwhelming. There was a large crowd waiting to get in, attracted, perhaps by National Treasure's depiction of the documents on display. The rotunda was smaller and darker than we had imagined, and despite constant warnings from the guards about the bleaching effects of flash photography on the Declaration of Independence, it appears that the damage has already been done.
We made a quick trip through the National Air and Space Museum -- by far, the most mobbed of any of the sights we visited -- before heading over to the International Spy Museum. If you have even the slightest interest in the history of espionage or the tools and techniques that spies have employed throughout the years, don't miss this intriguing museum. There are plenty of hands-on exhibits for kids (including a chance to listen in on Fidel Castro as they climb through air ducts). The museum covers the topic of spying from a variety of angles, including depiction in the popular media (look for James Bond's car) and its role in shaping world events.
Our last stop was the relatively new Dulles Airport annex of the National Air and Space Museum, called the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. After battling the crowds in the D.C. museum, it was a relief to wander through this enormous complex. Although we were impressed with the huge number of aircraft on display, including the Enola Gay, an Air France Concorde, and the Space Shuttle Enterprise, we were disappointed that the museum allowed so little interaction with its exhibits, especially when compared to New York City's Intrepid museum. We also recommend that you avoid the museum's simulator rides -- these are done much more realistically elsewhere (including at the Intrepid). But the Imax movies are worthwhile and some of the smaller displays (like the model alien spacecraft from the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind) are entertaining.
On Friday, we gave ourselves a walking tour of the National Mall area. We started by encircling the White House, and then since we hadn't procured tickets to go inside, consoled ourselves with a visit to the White House Visitor Center, for a look at the history of the building and its furnishings. The Center's Easter Egg Hunt, which involved finding clues provided by a display of eggs representing each of the 50 states, provided a fun activity for the younger members of our group.
After a lunch at Cosi's sandwich shop, we spent the afternoon visiting the Mall's impressive memorials and monuments: the Lincoln Memorial, the Korean War Veterans Memorial, the Vietnam War Veterans Memorial, the World War II Memorial, the Washington Monument, and the Jefferson Memorial. Along the way to the latter, we admired the waning cherry blossoms that ringed the Tidal Basin.
Saturday was more of a museum day. We started at the National Archives, which we found, for the most part, rather underwhelming. There was a large crowd waiting to get in, attracted, perhaps by National Treasure's depiction of the documents on display. The rotunda was smaller and darker than we had imagined, and despite constant warnings from the guards about the bleaching effects of flash photography on the Declaration of Independence, it appears that the damage has already been done.
We made a quick trip through the National Air and Space Museum -- by far, the most mobbed of any of the sights we visited -- before heading over to the International Spy Museum. If you have even the slightest interest in the history of espionage or the tools and techniques that spies have employed throughout the years, don't miss this intriguing museum. There are plenty of hands-on exhibits for kids (including a chance to listen in on Fidel Castro as they climb through air ducts). The museum covers the topic of spying from a variety of angles, including depiction in the popular media (look for James Bond's car) and its role in shaping world events.
Our last stop was the relatively new Dulles Airport annex of the National Air and Space Museum, called the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. After battling the crowds in the D.C. museum, it was a relief to wander through this enormous complex. Although we were impressed with the huge number of aircraft on display, including the Enola Gay, an Air France Concorde, and the Space Shuttle Enterprise, we were disappointed that the museum allowed so little interaction with its exhibits, especially when compared to New York City's Intrepid museum. We also recommend that you avoid the museum's simulator rides -- these are done much more realistically elsewhere (including at the Intrepid). But the Imax movies are worthwhile and some of the smaller displays (like the model alien spacecraft from the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind) are entertaining.
posted by Insider Travel Guides at 1:23 PM
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