Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
I was pretty excited about going too Washington DC, but coming from a buzzing city like Chicago, Washington DC was pretty boring. Of course it is a spectacular city with enormous monuments and buildings, and yes, it is nice to see the White House, but as a tourist you would want some entertainment and surprising moments in the streets while walking around. And that is what Washington DC is missing.
When you're touring the nice (and free!) Smithsonian museums in the Mall downtown you meet more squarrels than you meet entertainment. Sometimes a firejuggler, a musician or a magician can be annoying in bigger cities, but when you hardly meet other people than fellow tourists you really miss something. At least I did.
Help me spend the money!
Furthermore Washington DC is really short of things as coffeeshops, restaurants and bars in the museum/monument area, so tourists really have to get their Sherlock Holmes glasses on to find their refreshments. It seems weird that all the visitors in the area really have to fight to put some money in the city, but anyway, America has a great economy already. Or maybe not.
After some days in DC, I did find some places which were a bit more lively. The Adams Morgan area north of downtown is great, the Dupont Circle is okay and Chinatown provides a few bars and restaurants too. These areas reminds you that it is a huge city you're in, and not just a collection of huge white and grey buildings.
Arlington
I must say though that a few things in DC are great to see. First of all the Arlington Cemetary, which I was lucky to attend at a beautiful and sunny spring day, and watching the way America keep the memories of former soldiers is nothing but amazing. Thousands and thousands of white gravestones as long as you can see really puts you in a special mood, and you can't help to feel the respect and national proud that lies over the cemetery. It's a special experience.
Newseum
And as the second highlight of my Washington DC visit was the Newseum. A pretty new news museum where I walked around with my ears and eyes wide open for almost five hours. During my visit they had a special exhibition about the Katrina hurricane in and around New Orleans, but they also had amazingly interesting information about 9/11, the Oklahoma bomb, WWII, the war in Iraq, Ku Klux Klan, the two snipers who killed around 25 people a few years ago and lots of other interesting stuff.
The fact that Newseum is pretty new is obvious in the exhibitions. Lots of them are interactive, so you can watch videos with interviews or key moments in television history. You choose what you wanna watch.
Smashing photos
Photographing of course also plays a big part of news history, and the Pullitzer Prize-winning collection of photos in Newseum is one of the strongest parts of the museum. Here you can also get interactive information such as interviews with the prizewinning photographers.
And does it all sound boring for kids? Maybe the youngest ones, but there are plenty of opportunities for kids too, as they can get a video with them acting like a real news reporter or find themselves 'on air' on the massive screen in the lobby where you also see a real news helicopter.
If you live in or go to Washington DC, go to the Newseum. It's not free as many other museums there, but it's worth every dollar.
- comments