2 Days to get out of D.C.

I'm glad I went to Washington D.C. because seeing the monuments and memorials were cool, but the traffic there was so terrible!  Hard to drive, hard to park... but still was a good experience.  The first evening, I walked around to see the White House (which looks smaller than I expected), US Treasury, Capitol Hill, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, FDR Memorial, and the Jefferson Memorial.  Along the way I also saw the WWII memorial, which is really pretty at dusk.  It was so chilly as I walked back from visiting Lincoln, I bought some of the worst warm chocolate I have ever had- yes warm, not even hot :(

After seeing the monuments, I was ready to leave if it weren't for the Smithsonian museums.

So, to avoid paying for parking, I left my car in West Potomac Park and walked for ages to get down to the museum area.  Luckily it warmed up.  I went through the Holocaust Museum first-- so intense.  I was impressed.  I am usually kinda reluctant to go through Holocaust memorials because the one I went through in Germany was so great that I don't expect much from smaller ones.  This one has a new exhibit based on the propaganda that paved the way to Hitler's rule.  Their permanant exhibit is spread over 3 floors and has actual bunks from the barracks at Auschwitz, the victims' uniforms from death marches, a rail car used to transport the Jews into the camps, and belongings of the victims that were taken from them before walking into the gas chambers(shoes, razors, combs, scissors, brushes, eating utensils).  Each of these exhibits had real video footage from that time: rallies, executions, war... wow.  Near the end, they display interviews of survivors and have a room with audios of testimonials by the survivors also.  (No pics allowed here)

 

Next, I made my way to the Air and Space Museum.  I stopped in to say hi to Amelia, the Lindberghs, and the Wright Bros.  The planes hanging everwhere were so amazing.
The furthest from my car was the Museum of Natural History- dinosaurs, geology and such.  Unfortunately, they closed early for a special event, so I never made it passed the lobby before guards chased eveyone out.  If would have known, this would have been my first stop!  Oh well, next time...  I tried the Museum of American History instead and that one was ok.  Some of the exhibits were closed, but I did see the head covers and shackles of the the conspirors of the Lincoln Assassination.

My final stop before sitting in hours of trafffic was the Exorcist Staircase, where the fall of Father Karras was filmed in the movie.  Those stairs are incredibly steep!!!

My favorite was probably the Lincoln Memorial beacuse it's just so large, and the WWII memorial because the lights and fountain effects are so pretty.  And D.C. is just so nice for pictures, how everything lines up... you can get a straight on of the Washington Monument from Capitol Hill, the Capitol Building in the background from the Washington Monument, the Washington Monument reflecting off the water from standing in front of Lincoln, the Washington Monument lines up with the WWII Memorial also, and both the Capitol building and the Wash Monument reflect off the Tidal Basin from near the Jefferson Memorial.  So, at least I got some decent pictures :)