We seem to always get a late start, rarely leaving the hotel before 10:00. Could it be that we get in so late the night before? Could it be that we kept our internal clocks on Pacific Time, since nothing requires us to HAVE to get up and go early? Could it be that I let them all sleep in because I have grumpy boys when they don't get enough sleep? Not sure why.... LOL
We are staying at a hotel near the Dullas Airport which is nicely within our price range, but also quite some distance from DC. That means again, we need to take the Metro BUS to the city, and take the Metro (their subway system) to the places we wanted to go. When we got there today, we decided to try one of their sightseeing tour buses. The double decker one offered us the best deal and we could get on and off at will. BIG MISTAKE. This one was old, overbooked, and we were crammed in like sardines. The narration was drowned out by the people talking and the city noises. Also, there was a president of Iraq or Afghanistan visiting and many streets were shut off to through traffic temporarily so the buses ran even slower. We waited 45 minutes for a bus that should have been there every 15 minutes. And when we did get off at one stop we never were able to catch another bus that met our time table. So advice to others "think twice before signing up for these if you just want to use them to get from one place to another, and if you do, use a reputable company like the original ones from DC." Lesson learned for us.
For those who don't know, all the Smithsonian museums are free. There are 7 of them, I think ... So we planned to take in a few of them today. Having a late start, we thought we'd go to our favorite ones first.
We stopped first at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. Seeing the first planes (Spirit of St. Lewis) or the early space crafts, and many other space related artifacts was fascinating. There were also hands on exhibits that we all enjoyed trying.
Next stop was the Smithsonian American History Museum. We saw the Ruby Slippers that Judy Garland wore in Wizard of OZ, Edith's and Archie's chairs from All in the Family, Oscar the Grouch and Kermit the Frog, as well as the ordinary; early kitchen appliances and tools, Julia Child's kitchen and supplies, tool shed with things like DDT that you could apply yourself (!!!), and other things.
We were closing in on dinner time, so we got a quick dinner at a food court and headed to the Capital Building's front steps where the US Marine Band was performing. One of the Marines had been a contestant on American Idol and we heard and saw her sing. Quite enjoyable.
By the end of the day, we were exhausted from all the walking, learning and viewing so we headed back to our bus (the long way, thanks to a kind policeman who though he was saving us time and money by showing us this way) and back to our hotel. As I write this, at 8:30, my men are stirring to wake up and we'll start our day again in DC. More exciting museums and sites, hopefully the memorials as well.
There's so much to see that we realize w won't be able to do all we hoped to. I would have loved to tour the Capital Building, or see the Library of Congress, but we are running out of time so we'll need to come back here another time, and stay closer to the main part of DC!
We are staying at a hotel near the Dullas Airport which is nicely within our price range, but also quite some distance from DC. That means again, we need to take the Metro BUS to the city, and take the Metro (their subway system) to the places we wanted to go. When we got there today, we decided to try one of their sightseeing tour buses. The double decker one offered us the best deal and we could get on and off at will. BIG MISTAKE. This one was old, overbooked, and we were crammed in like sardines. The narration was drowned out by the people talking and the city noises. Also, there was a president of Iraq or Afghanistan visiting and many streets were shut off to through traffic temporarily so the buses ran even slower. We waited 45 minutes for a bus that should have been there every 15 minutes. And when we did get off at one stop we never were able to catch another bus that met our time table. So advice to others "think twice before signing up for these if you just want to use them to get from one place to another, and if you do, use a reputable company like the original ones from DC." Lesson learned for us.
For those who don't know, all the Smithsonian museums are free. There are 7 of them, I think ... So we planned to take in a few of them today. Having a late start, we thought we'd go to our favorite ones first.
We stopped first at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. Seeing the first planes (Spirit of St. Lewis) or the early space crafts, and many other space related artifacts was fascinating. There were also hands on exhibits that we all enjoyed trying.
Next stop was the Smithsonian American History Museum. We saw the Ruby Slippers that Judy Garland wore in Wizard of OZ, Edith's and Archie's chairs from All in the Family, Oscar the Grouch and Kermit the Frog, as well as the ordinary; early kitchen appliances and tools, Julia Child's kitchen and supplies, tool shed with things like DDT that you could apply yourself (!!!), and other things.
We were closing in on dinner time, so we got a quick dinner at a food court and headed to the Capital Building's front steps where the US Marine Band was performing. One of the Marines had been a contestant on American Idol and we heard and saw her sing. Quite enjoyable.
By the end of the day, we were exhausted from all the walking, learning and viewing so we headed back to our bus (the long way, thanks to a kind policeman who though he was saving us time and money by showing us this way) and back to our hotel. As I write this, at 8:30, my men are stirring to wake up and we'll start our day again in DC. More exciting museums and sites, hopefully the memorials as well.
There's so much to see that we realize w won't be able to do all we hoped to. I would have loved to tour the Capital Building, or see the Library of Congress, but we are running out of time so we'll need to come back here another time, and stay closer to the main part of DC!
Remember you can click on a picture to supersize it.
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