Its been about five years since we've been to Washington DC - though I've visited DC many times over my work career. Other than a couple of personal trips, most of my DC visits were to attend security and privacy conferences. Back in 2012, I participated in cyber security legislative discussions with Congressional committee and White House staff. This upcoming trip was focused on revisiting monuments and seeing new museum exhibits. Perhaps there will be an interesting march to join - or at least observe.
Despite many previous DC visits, there is nothing like viewing the Capitol as your plane prepares to land at Ronald Reagan (National) Airport. An evening cab ride from the airport into town is always exciting as you drive past many well-known monuments and neoclassical architecture Federal buildings, many of which are bathed by brilliant spotlights.
Using the Residence Inn, DuPont Circle, as a home base, we had timed entry tickets to visit the recently opened Museum of African History and Culture. These tickets were hard to reserve due to the public interest in this new museum. The ticket reservations for April 2017 opened on January 4, 2017. Within a few hours most of the tickets for the month of April were gone. I was lucky to have been able to reserve three entry tickets.
When you visit DC, there's always more to see than you can likely fit into your schedule. Our initial plan was to spend one morning on a walking tour of the monuments on the National Mall. We also intended to devote a couple of days to tour museum exhibits and the Capitol and one day touring the historical city of Old Town Alexandria. With rainy weather, we ended up splitting our tour of National Mall monuments over two mornings.
What sights were included in this visit?
- Alexandria, Virginia
- Embassy Row and Woodrow Wilson House
- National Museum of American History and Culture
- National Museum of African American History and Culture
- National Museum of Air and Space
- US Capitol
- US Holocaust Museum
- Monuments
- Franklin D Roosevelt
- Thomas Jefferson
- Abraham Lincoln
- Martin Luther King
- George Washington
- Vietnam Veterans Memorial
- WWII
One of the highlights of this trip was a first-time viewing of the Franklin D. Roosevelt and Jefferson Monuments. We had never stopped at this area previously and were particularly moved by the large area of the Roosevelt Monument. Each of the Roosevelt Monument areas depicted important quotes and either sculptures or moving water.
The Martin Luther King Monument was equally moving. The Stone of Hope symbolizes King's passion for peace, dignity, freedom, equality and justice. Certainly moving and thoughtful in this current time period.
 |
| Embassy Row Area © 2017, R. Ono |
 |
| Rainy Day View of Capitol © 2017, R. Ono |
 |
| Capitol Dome Interior © 2017, R. Ono |
 |
| One FDR Monument Section © 2017, R. Ono |
 |
 |
| © 2017, R. Ono |
 |
| © 2017, R. Ono |
 |
| Reflecting Pool Residents © 2017, R. Ono |
Dining
While breakfast was included with our hotel room and lunch was generally a spot that was convenient to our day schedule, dinner allowed a bit more discretion. We particularly enjoyed returning to the casual Grill Fish restaurant and to the more upscale Michelin One-Star Blue Duck Tavern, in the Park Hyatt at 24th and M. Known for its fresh farm to fork approach to seasonal American cuisine offerings, Blue Duck Tavern can be difficult to confirm a reservation. We also had dinner at Kramer's Books and Afterwards Cafe and Scion Restaurant. We just happened to stop at Scion during Happy Hour and received half price beer glasses and discounted dinner selections.
No comments:
Post a Comment