DC Museums and Monuments – Mon 30th October
We started our day at the National Air and Space Museum. We had tickets for 10 am. When we arrived just before opening the line stretched all the way down the block and around the corner. Once the museum opened it moved pretty fast and it was not long before we were inside. Our plan was to see the moon landing section and the history of flight and Wright brothers exhibitions. My tip is to head straight up the escalators to the moon landing then come downstairs afterwards. We did this and both sections were fairly empty doing it in this order. we spent about 1.5 hours there.
Once we finished there we went to the National Museum of the American Indian for lunch at Mitsitam Cafe. Unfortunately it was closed but we got some chilli and corn muffin at the espresso bar. We ate quickly and headed off to the National Museum of African American History and Culture. This museum doesn’t open until 12 pm on Mondays. This is a powerful museum, and I learnt heaps. My husband and I went at our own pace, but he had a bit of a wait for me at the end, I probably spent about three hours here.
We then wandered up to a cafe to kill some time before going to Oyamel for dinner. I ate cactus for the first time. I think it was good. It was very hot. We had a selection of dishes and I had a couple of margaritas. It was pretty good. We picked here because it was only a ten minute walk from the meeting point for our night tour.
Our friends suggested we do a night bus tour of the monuments. We picked a small bus tour which was a bit more expensive but probably less aggravating dealing with a big crowd of people, plus statistically less probability of someone being sick. My husband was doing what he could to avoid catching something before the marathon. There were ten of us on the tour and everyone was really nice. Our guide was excellent and we hopped off at most of the major monuments to walk around for 15-20 minutes. I’d highly recommend this tour.
5 Comments
Tobia | craftaliciousme
I love your travel report. I need to save all your tips for the time when I make it to DC. A night bus tour is such a great way to see the monuments in a different way and avoid the crowds. So smart. The National Museum of African American History and Culture sounds really interesting.
Thank you for sharing your travel adventures.
P.S. I want to try cactus now.
Jenny
I LOVE the way the monuments look lit up like that- if I go back to D.C. I’m definitely taking a night bus tour. I was there years ago and didn’t go to any museums (it was a very short trip.) I definitely need to revisit this town!
ernie
Clearly we need to go back to DC. You have proven that there is so much to see. It cannot be done on one visit. I love that you did a night tour. We were there for a few days with the kids years ago. We’d both been there previously, but we only did the main things. The kids take a trip there with their school in 8th grade. I will have to come back here to take notes on what else we need to see. Good for you for being such a thorough and curious tourist.
J
I love DC. I went in 2019, and we went to the African American History museum, and I agree it was really well done. I haven’t been to the Jefferson memorial in so long, it’s very moving. Such a complicated man, so depressing.
San
So fun. I love the night bus tour of the monuments. They’re awesome during the day, but extra-cool at night.