A Museum Day in DC

After being completely lazy on my vacation days and refusing to push a computer button or lift a camera except for my daily photo, I was ready for a day downtown with Rob. He wanted to see the red shoes from the Wizard of Oz and Archie Bunker's chair, (who the hell is Archie Bunker?)

On Friday the weather was good to us and gave sunshine with mild temperatures which was convenient as I guessed a fair amount of walking would be involved. We parked and then started off with the American History Museum. This was a first for me and did actually hold some treasures which really interested me, but first we needed to get Rob's wish list checked off.

Sorted. Two photos for proof and then we moved on. I was a little disappointed with the shoes though, I'd envisioned bright red and very sparkly shoes, not faded slightly twinkly clodhoppers that looked as though styled for a witch not a heroine.

This was the actual hat worn by Lincoln when he was assassinated at Ford's Theater. I was also entranced by an image of him without a beard, a portrait rarely seen. Click here for a link to the story of how 11 year old Grace Bedell prompted Lincoln to wear a beard. I thought he looked far more handsome and stronger without it...

A British rifleman from The Civil War peeking round the door at Rob.

A George Washington bust reflected in some glass.

These posters were from WWII. Wish they had sold replicas in the museum store, I would've bought the top one.

Julia Child's kitchen. I'd never heard of this iconic woman until I saw the movie, Julie & Julia. A wonderful film. I was actually quite excited to see this room.
This was a great museum with many exhibits that I loved, Stradivarius violins, first Ladies dresses, a Southern Railway 1401 steam locomotive, master key to the White House and some old Muppets puppets. I couldn't believe as I looked at the clock on leaving that we'd spent nearly 5 hours in there.

Rob holding up The Monument.

We then walked to the Smithsonian Castle. This building is beautiful but the public can now only see a small part of it inside. I was fortunate to have seen a lot more when I visited a few years ago.

After here we walked to the Air & Space Museum. I wasn't too bothered about this one as the sister museum at Dulles is far more impressive. It was very crowded in here also so I was glad to leave. The only thing that perked up my attention was seeing the Wright Brother's actual plane that they made their first flight in. There are many copies around the world but the original resides in DC.
We were only a block away from The Botanical Museum so we got in line there to see the Christmas Railway display.

We were lucky enough to have seen most of the plants before the garden closed and with the humidity and crowds we were glad to be back outside. The sun was just setting so the timing was perfect for some photos of the skyline and The Capitol.

The light faded fast and the temperature dropped. With no tripod there was little point in taking any more photos so our attention turned to another important subject, beer. All good day trips have to end with a beverage and we found a small and very friendly bar across the road from the car park. They had Fat Tire on tap so I was a very happy bunny. A superb way to finish off our day in DC.