Dec 31 - Smithsonian Mark 2

We decided to give the buffet a rest today and had coffee and pastries instead.

We arrived at the Smithsonian castle to get directions to...Macy's! We saw an advertisement in the local paper for 50-80% off store wide. We walked over the to the Museum of American History excited about the prospect of our afternoon activity. The museum was a fantastic museum. Like the other Smithsonian museums, it was well set out and the displays were fascinating. I never thought I would have been so engrossed in American war history. There were many other interesting exhibits, some of my favourites include Dorothy's ruby slippers, 4 Stradivarius violins and a "pop up" book of the human heart by Descartes from the 1600s. I also LOVED looking at all the inauguration gowns of the various First Ladies.

We caught a taxi to Macy's only to be bitterly disappointed. The ad was rather misleading. It was not a store wide sale. The clearance items were 50-80% off. Of course, the ones that we were interested in were not on sale. We left and decided to walk through the town instead on the way to the National Art Gallery. This was yet another building with magnificent galleries and displays. We were able to show the children famous works of art by Monet, Matisse and Cezanne to name a few. Hopefully the attempt to instill some culture into them will work...

We continued to walk, this time back to the Holiday Inn to meet up with the Kohs for dinner. I was very excited when our home delivery Chinese dinner arrived. It came in little paper cartons just like on television and in the movies! Yes, I am easily amused. We scoffed down our food and settled the children into bed. We had important business to attend to...the christening of our new board game, Bunny Bunny Moose Moose. Over the next couple of hours, we pretended to be bunnies and moose attempting to run away from the hunter. What better way to usher in the new year!

The Smithsonian Castle

Museum of American History

Elliot wandering around by himself reading about all the exhibits!

A surprisingly interesting exhibit

Amazing pop up heart by Descartes 1662

National Treasures of Popular Culture...Turtle power!!!

Jonah actually asked for his photo to be taken, how could I resist?

Fonzie's jacket

Kermit

Dorothy's ruby slippers as worn by Judy Garland 1938

One of only 11 surviving ornamented violins by Stradivari

Look Dad!!!

I just loved the display of lunch boxes in the cafeteria!

Talk to the hand...I'm eating

The American Presidency...a glorious burden

The next POTUS?!?!

Another fascinating exhibit

Elliot really getting into it!

George Washington's camp chest

More majestic buildings to look at on the way to the National Gallery

Time for some art lessons

Dinner!!!

Happy New Year!

Dec 30 - Smithsonian Mark 1

Ordinary buffet breakfast for the second day in a row was not as exciting, no matter how much value it was. It served the purpose of energising us for the day though, and off we went to our first museum of the Smithsonian Institution, The National Museum of the American Indian.

View from the National Mall. US Capitol on one side...

...and the Washington Monument on the other. The children were given a chance to "go crazy" before they had to "behave" within the museums...

Our first stop

It must have been cold as the water feature was frozen

Channeling our inner Indian

Waiting for the museum to open. Very kiasu...had to be the first ones there!

The museum was well set out and the children, surprisingly, enjoyed it. They sat transfixed, watching Indian folk stories, on the screens. A similar system that was used in the Jefferson Library was employed for their displays of native artifacts. This meant the children could touch and look closely without undue parental anxiety.

We strolled through the various aspects of American Indian culture including art and music, before completing our experience with an American Indian lunch. We settled for ground buffalo nachos, buffalo pull apart, pork crusted with coffee and chocolate accompanied with a wild rice salad, blue corn bread and an Indian version of tres leches cake. The meal was quite nice!

The excellent interactive system

American Indians in popular culture

Lunch

Ground buffalo nachos

Pork

Blue corn bread

We moved on to the National Air and Space Museum, another excellent museum! In particular, I really enjoyed the gallery on the Wright Brothers. Amongst others, we saw a plane built by Wilbur and Orville as well as the plane owned by Amelia Earhart. The simulator ride although fun was a little disappointing, considering one had to pay $7 for it. The hours zoomed past and before long, it was dinner time.

The boys loved the National Air and Space Museum

Amelia Earhart's Vega

Where we spent most of our time

Watching an educational demonstration of the four factors for flight

Even Jonah is watching!

"I can do this!"

A lovely view of the Art Gallery on the way out

A McDonald's cart?!?!

We caught a taxi to DuPont Circle. I struggled to see why it was listed as a place to visit as I felt there was nothing special about it. Perhaps, I missed something...We, of course, ended up having Malaysian cuisine for dinner. Char kway teow, har mee, Hainanese chicken rice, roti canai, otak otak and po pia were well appreciated by all. With our failure to find any shopping establishments, we headed home.

No more words needed...

I wanted to make a comment about the seemingly poor ventilation in the galleries of the Air and Space Museum. Despite only wearing a thin top and jeans, it was still very hot and stuffy. It was rather unpleasant at times. We couldn't work out whether it was simply a lack of ventilation or intentional heating. We have noticed that the insides of buildings in Washington DC tend to be warmer than those in New York. Just a small observation...