Of course I couldn’t go all the way to Washington DC and only see the pandas – today I am sharing my city guide and what we got up to on our trip in September 2018. It was very hot on our first day, however that day then ended with a crazy rainstorm and we got very soaked! After that it was a bit of a damp and cloudy trip, however that didn’t spoil our time, just made for some dullness in the pictures but hopefully they still show the city and its attractions well.
The White House
I think The White House must be the most famous building to see in the city, so of course we passed by – I was surprised it wasn’t too busy with tourists. It was nice to see the building and have been there, but it was just something to see in passing for us. There is also a visitors centre nearby which I’ve seen good reviews for on TripAdvisor, but we didn’t visit ourselves due to time. The White House is located very centrally in the city so is easy to get to, and also see while doing other things nearby.
Smithsonian Institutions
For us one of the main draws to the city beside the pandas were the wide range of Smithsonian institutions – there are 19 in total, of course including the National Zoo, so provide so much to do in just one city. We had five days which isn’t nearly enough time to cover everything – so it’s good to research the different museums, galleries and gardens first to know what you want to prioritise. In total we visited 5 of the different institutions, including the National Zoo, which fitted our time well so that we could do and see other things as well. If we could have added more to our list I think it would have been interesting to go to the National Museum of American History as I really know very little in that area. One of the best things is that Smithsonian institutions have free admission, you can see and learn so much without spending anything (we did however leave donations on all of our visits as we really enjoyed what was on offer), although if you’re like me then you won’t leave empty handed from the gift shop! Not all of the Smithsonian institutions are currently open (November 2020), and those which are have certain restrictions in place so be sure to check those out before visiting at the present time. If you can’t make a visit at the moment but don’t want to miss out, some of the museums have virtual tours available online which is something nice to see.
Natural History Museum
The Natural History Museum was high up on our priority list as this is the sort of thing we like – and we had a great time! We did visit on a weekend, so it was pretty busy with families, so I couldn’t get many clear pictures of the museum or the exhibits. The museum is huge and there are so many different things to see and we really quite enjoyed everything – in particular we thought the temporary exhibit (which is still ongoing!) Outbreak: Epidemics in a connected world was really great and obviously has some relevance in the current climate. The animal-based exhibits were definitely highlights, alongside the nature photography which was on show at the time.
National Air and Space Museum
The Air and Space Museum was also pretty fun, although was very busy on our visit (it was the weekend). I’m more interested in planes rather than space, but found there was a good mix of both. Delving into the more history-based exhibits we found there were fewer families, so this was directed more at an older audience, but I was still happy to join the kids in the queue to see inside the cockpit of a Boeing 747. We spent a couple of hours here and felt like it was long enough to see most of the exhibits, but definitely didn’t see everything.
National Postal Museum
The final Smithsonian museum we visited was the postal museum – and we think we’ve decided that this was our favourite (I’m a bit of a nerd about things like this), we really enjoyed our visit. Firstly it was a week-day thus a lot quieter and we really could go at our own pace. It was fun to se all of the different stamp displays (there were even giant panda stamps), and I really enjoyed learning about the history of the postal system and the evolution of postal transportation. It’s something really quite different to the other museums and galleries, and isn’t something you’ll come across everywhere you visit – I’d definitely recommend it!
National Gallery of Art
I didn’t initially realise that the National Gallery of Art wasn’t a Smithsonian institution, but having since looked at the range of art galleries that are Smithsonian, I’m really happy with our choice to visit this one. It’s a huge gallery, with two different wings/buildings and a mix of both classic style paintings (our preference) and modern art. The building itself was also very beautiful, the courtyard and sculpture hallway below were particularly nice elements – I really liked this garden vibe in the middle of the gallery which was quite unexpected. I would highly recommend the National Gallery of Art for a visit if you’re looking for maybe just one art gallery to have on your list, however I’ve not visited any others, so this is a biased recommendation^ It was definitely quieter than the Smithsonian museums that we visited, and was more aimed at an older audience or those with a particular interest in art.
I liked a lot of the art at the gallery, they had several pieces by some of my favourite artists – Monet, Degas and Van Gogh so I was very pleased to see these works on my visit. I also really like paintings of animals, seeing three dog paintings in a row was also a highlight! The gallery was pretty quiet, there were times when we sat down to view the paintings and would be the only guests in the room, which I really like compared to some of the very busy galleries I’ve been to elsewhere. We preferred this side to the gallery over the modern artwork on show – there was also a lot of it, so if that’s your thing then there is plenty of it to see here too.
The FBI Building
Ok, so this is definitely not a tourist attraction – however I’ve been a fan of The X-Files for as long as I can remember, so stopping by the famous building was essential for my trip! The J. Edgar Hoover Building is centrally located near both the Natural History Museum and the National Gallery of Art. Even though seeing the building only took a few minutes, I’m so happy this was something I did on my trip.
Georgetown
Georgetown is a historic area of the city, with student-vibes due to the Georgetown University located there. It reminded me a lot of the west end of Glasgow, which is very much a bubble around the University of Glasgow – although this is far prettier! I loved the building designs and how quaint everything was, it didn’t feel like a part of the same city we’d already been walking through. The area made for a very nice morning walk and taking in some of the local shops – I would definitely come back here to take in more of the beautifully coloured houses and explore more of the winding streets.
United States Capitol
The Capitol is of course another must-see in Washington, DC – it’s what most people associate with the city, and I’ve definitely read about people getting confused between the Capitol and the White House (I suppose they are both white in colour). It’s really quite a grand building, the dome is very impressive in detail. The Capitol is located at the eastern-most end of the National Mall, so most visitors will come across it on their trip. There is a visitors centre for the Capitol which offers free tours – we didn’t go inside on our trip, we’d saved seeing the Capitol up close for our last day so we were a little tight on time, if we’d gone in then we wouldn’t have been able to see other highlights in the National Mall area.
United States Botanic Garden
Here in Edinburgh, the Botanic Garden is one of the main attractions in the city, so we included seeing the United States Botanic Garden in Washington, DC. The garden is right at the National Mall next to the Capitol and so we headed here after seeing the Capitol. The garden was quiet so made for a pleasant walk through, there was a nice range of plants and flowers along with educational information. The conservatory a particular highlight with its wide range of themed exhibits of different climates and environments.
National Mall – Monuments and Memorials
The National Mall is a central point in the city and is a park over a mile long. It’s more like a big expanse of grass than a park, but is surrounded by a number of museums and galleries along with the Capitol and nearby The White House. Walking from the Capitol, the main attraction is the Washington Monument which is impressive and being 500 feet tall, means it stands out across the city. We could even see it from our hotel room at the Dupont Circle. The World War II Memorial is next on the Mall and was the most popular place we came across on our walk along the Mall. The memorial is very nice with a peaceful atmosphere, and everyone was having a lot of respect when visiting here. I hadn’t realised that this was a newer memorial, only having been built in the early 2000’s. The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool follows on very nicely from this and really lived up to its reflecting abilities, I got some very nice photographs here^ It also really didn’t feel like you were in the middle of a city when visiting here. Seeing the Lincoln Memorial was also a must-see for our visit to Washington DC, and it was definitely as big and exactly as I imagined it would be. We ran out of time here on our walk as we had to head to the airport, so we didn’t get to see around the Potomac Park and Tidal Basin areas with their memorials – so there are things left to do on my next trip for sure!
I hope you enjoyed this mini guide based on my trip to Washington, DC – I really think we had a great trip to the city and took in a lot of what the city could offer. With the birth of a new panda cub at the National Zoo this year I think another trip could be on the horizon when travel to the US becomes a possibility!