WashDCday

After arriving quite late to our hotel in Arlington, VA (I never truly knew how easy it was to get from state to state on the east coast until after today being in 7 different states in a matter of 4 hours) we woke up early the next day to get started on touring D.C. It was very refreshing to have so much space around us as we walked, be in subways that smelt and looked a tad bit cleaner than those in NYC and have time to ‘relearn’ about our history through the years.

The Smithsonian is made up of a bunch of museums in our 8+ hours of being around the National Mall we made it to 5 of those-being in each of them it felt like you could spend even MORE time, which now I understand how people could spend more than a few days in DC just seeing the monuments, museums, memorials, the capital and of course the White House.

Air and Space Museum

We loved seeing all the different time zones of when travel/transportation was invented.

Hearing the details of the various planes that were apart of different wars was enlightening.

National American Indian Museum

This museum is spectacular in how each section is split up into different tribes and stories of whom the people were, where they were and what has happened to them over the years. I enjoyed this museum as I often feel like the Native American people are too often forgotten.It was a very interactive and seemed like a great place for kids to hang out and spend time from just ‘walking’ through and reading displays of things.

National Holocaust Memorial Museum

We were both very happy we took our time to go here, even though it was a lot to choke down and at some points hard to keep reading the individual stories of those that lived and survived through the concentration camps. I enjoyed this ‘tour’ as it is a memorial so still pictures and filming is not allowed and welcomes you to ‘breath’ in everything that you are seeing, and everyone is encouraged to grab an ‘Identification Card’ before entering-which has the story of one individual for you to read as you walk from floor to floor.  The memorial is 4 floors and goes from before Hitler became thesupreme power and everything that happened in the years to follow and of course how it all ended.

The one thing that I never knew was how Hitler also wanted to get rid of ‘gypsies’ which were mostly ‘roma’ people at that time, and came from Bohemia and Moravia. (This really stuck out to me as from my father’s side we are part Bohemian Jewish) The museum has done an honorable job in remembering the Holocaust and I would recommend if you are in D.C it is a must go and see.

 

American National History Museum

Our favorites here: George Washington’s actual clothing and sword.

The two chairs that were used by General Grant and General Robert E Lee to sign the agreement that ended the Civil War.

The Natural History Museum

This being the last museum we went into-we breezed through everything, making sure we spent time in areas that we knew we couldn’t find in other museums we would go to in the future, the Dinosaurs and Gems.

Seeing the ‘hope’ diamond and reading its path through history was sweet.

At the end of the day walking to the Lincoln Memorial was a challenge as our poor little feet (even after walking every day in New York) were very sore, but we made it! It had construction pieces around it (just like the Washington Monument) as we had seen on the news last week someone had poured a large amount of green paint over it, which is now white paint and seems as if they are still trying to figure out how to clean it off without ruining the statue.

Above is the Lincoln Memorial from a distance and below is inside with the man himself.

We ended our day at the Arlington Cemetery and were very grateful that our hotel was connected to the Metro line for a short and convenient journey home.

Thanks for reading and don’t forget to check out the gallery for more pictures!