# Visiting Washington, DC. Anything I need to book in advance? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 16, 2019, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visiting-washington-dc-anything-i-need-to-book-in-advance/835608 "2019-06-16T14:30:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2019, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visiting-washington-dc-anything-i-need-to-book-in-advance/835608/81 "2019-06-24T18:53:43Z")
OK guys, let’s not insult the man’s taste before he even gets a chance to answer the question! ---
**Author:** ![Mundane\_Super\_Hero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mundane_super_hero/32/6304_2.png) [@Mundane\_Super\_Hero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mundane_Super_Hero)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2019, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visiting-washington-dc-anything-i-need-to-book-in-advance/835608/82 "2019-06-24T19:13:31Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > I don’t know if you were trying to or not, but that didn’t clear anything up. Meh. Lazy minds gonna be lazy. ---
**Author:** ![Mundane\_Super\_Hero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mundane_super_hero/32/6304_2.png) [@Mundane\_Super\_Hero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mundane_Super_Hero)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2019, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visiting-washington-dc-anything-i-need-to-book-in-advance/835608/83 "2019-06-24T19:16:59Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > Shhh, let the random word generator do it’s thing. And don’t put batteries in that old man’s hearing aid. either. Better stick to ‘Me TV’ if you’re too stupid to handle anything more challenging. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2019, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visiting-washington-dc-anything-i-need-to-book-in-advance/835608/84 "2019-06-24T19:34:16Z")
> [@Mundane\_Super\_Hero](#): > > I had you in mind, I’m sure. Monk, like the TV show? With Traylor Howard? > As for me, you’ll get over it if your normal. Have some tea! All I can really glean from your post is that you can’t parallel park and you have a hard time driving down the road, so you want someone to commit a terrorist attack. ---
**Author:** ![Mundane\_Super\_Hero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mundane_super_hero/32/6304_2.png) [@Mundane\_Super\_Hero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mundane_Super_Hero)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2019, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visiting-washington-dc-anything-i-need-to-book-in-advance/835608/85 "2019-06-24T20:39:02Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > All I can really glean from your post is that you can’t parallel park and you have a hard time driving down the road, so you want someone to commit a terrorist attack. Wow. you are REALLY too stupid to get that the streets around Georgetown are too narrow for parking and that something drastic has to be done to drag ALL those tiny street-cloggers off the streets permanently? ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2019, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visiting-washington-dc-anything-i-need-to-book-in-advance/835608/86 "2019-06-24T20:57:37Z")
> [@Mundane\_Super\_Hero](#): > > I’m sure the white-sales are both popular and reasonably priced. (I’m going to regret asking…)… wat? > [@Mundane\_Super\_Hero](#): > > Some of us are just lucky to get off the Beltway and to find parking. Which reminds me… Someday some bright young boy is going to slam through the Georgetown Area with an MRAP truck equiped with a plow > to knock all those crappy mini-coopers up onto the sidewalks and make those streets actually wide enough to drive through. > > I hope he gets a medal for it too. Are you from Central Urban Planning? The sidewalks are barely wide enough for two people walking abreast. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2019, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visiting-washington-dc-anything-i-need-to-book-in-advance/835608/87 "2019-06-24T22:08:12Z")
> [@puddleglum](#): > > What did you like on Georgetown? By my lights it has one great building and one monstrosity and everything else is unremarkable. Lots of buildings at Georgetown University: Healy Hall, Copley Hall, White-Gravenor Hall, and others. They remind me a lot of the nice old buildings at the University of Toronto where I got my first graduate degree. Which one great building were you thinking about? ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2019, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visiting-washington-dc-anything-i-need-to-book-in-advance/835608/88 "2019-06-24T22:39:21Z")
[Arlington National Cemetery](https://www.arlingtoncemetery.mil/#/). Take the tram tour, witness a Changing of the Guard ceremony. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2019, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visiting-washington-dc-anything-i-need-to-book-in-advance/835608/89 "2019-06-24T23:33:20Z")
> [@Reeses\_Monkey](#): > > The Spy Museum is pretty neat. My husband and I will also be in DC on those days. He’s a librarian and the annual conference is June 21-25. I was there last year, but they recently moved to a larger building that can display more exhibits. > [@madmonk28](#): > > The African American Museum has been mentioned, I haven’t yet been, but I hear it is excellent and that the cafe is very good. Great museum with a really well though out design. The cafeteria is second only to the one at the National Museum of the American Indian. > [@QuickSilver](#): > > …Oh, and do wonder around the perimeter fence of the White house. There is some interesting surrounding architecture there, including the confusing facades of the West wing building and some of the buildings just north. It’s really entertaining when protesters are outside the fence. > [@Fretful\_Porpentine](#): > > [Mount Vernon](https://www.mountvernon.org/) might be of interest if you have your own transportation. You can book online, although it’s not usually necessary to do so far in advance. I was there on the 4th of July itself. It was really cool, but extremely crowded. There was also a naturalization ceremony going on presided over by General Washington. Daytime fireworks too. > [@jonesj2205](#): > > Lincoln Memorial and Korean War at night are my favorite recommendations. Especially moving is excellent description of Korean War monument. If you go on a moonlight monuments tour just remember to keep your phone charged or bring a portable charger to so can actually take pictures. :o > [@puddleglum](#): > > The Museum of the American Indian is a bad museum but has interesting architecture, the same with the Hirshhorn. I disagree with you completely. > [@madmonk28](#): > > But the cafe at the Museum of the American Indian is pretty good. Personally I think it’s good enough to visit just for lunch, not just as a place to eat because you’re already at the museum and hungry. ---
**Author:** ![Mundane\_Super\_Hero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mundane_super_hero/32/6304_2.png) [@Mundane\_Super\_Hero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mundane_Super_Hero)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2019, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visiting-washington-dc-anything-i-need-to-book-in-advance/835608/90 "2019-06-25T00:41:23Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > (I’m going to regret asking…)… wat? Affordable White Sales in NoVa? > **[KKK Fliers Again Found In Loudoun County](https://patch.com/virginia/ashburn/kkk-fliers-again-found-loudoun-county)** > > Hate-espousing pamphlets under the imprimatur of the KKK have been found in several NoVa communities this week. Loudon's the latest. Wat? Yeah, That wat. ---
**Author:** ![Mundane\_Super\_Hero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mundane_super_hero/32/6304_2.png) [@Mundane\_Super\_Hero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mundane_Super_Hero)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2019, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visiting-washington-dc-anything-i-need-to-book-in-advance/835608/91 "2019-06-25T00:43:43Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Are you from Central Urban Planning? The sidewalks are barely wide enough for two people walking abreast. Then parking should be prohibited. Two people walking abreast down the middle of a street can barely fit. ---
**Author:** ![BeeGee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5a626/32.png) [@BeeGee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeeGee)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2019, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visiting-washington-dc-anything-i-need-to-book-in-advance/835608/92 "2019-06-25T03:32:09Z")
Welcome to Austin, then. ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2019, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visiting-washington-dc-anything-i-need-to-book-in-advance/835608/93 "2019-06-25T18:33:09Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > Lots of buildings at Georgetown University: Healy Hall, Copley Hall, White-Gravenor Hall, and others. They remind me a lot of the nice old buildings at the University of Toronto where I got my first graduate degree. > > Which one great building were you thinking about? Healy Hall, the others looked like generic college buildings except for the monstrosity. I wanted to go in the library there but it was all locked up. I figured being from Vienna you couldn’t swing a cat there without hitting a building as nice as Healy Hall. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2019, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visiting-washington-dc-anything-i-need-to-book-in-advance/835608/94 "2019-06-25T18:55:05Z")
**Moderator Warning** > [@Mundane\_Super\_Hero](#): > > Wow. you are REALLY too stupid to get that the streets around Georgetown are too narrow for parking and that something drastic has to be done to drag ALL those tiny street-cloggers off the streets permanently? Do not call anyone “stupid”, or any other insult, in this forum. This is an official warning for personal insults outside of the Pit. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2019, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visiting-washington-dc-anything-i-need-to-book-in-advance/835608/95 "2019-06-25T19:00:13Z")
**Moderator Note** > [@Mundane\_Super\_Hero](#): > > I’m sure the white-sales are both popular and reasonably priced. > Well now, every Administration re-does that Bush-era white house museum. (Because no, you can’t tour the white house. That’s for the wealthy and the powerful and you don’t even look Russian. ) > > While I have not yet seen this Administration’s ‘version’… if it is in anyway like the who/what the way prior mock-ups have been done, I can’t see it ever _not_ being kitschy. At the end, I’d expect for sale a whole lot of ‘tchotchkes’ that directly come from or require you to visit some ‘family owned business’. Maybe 50% off a meal after a day golfing at a resort? > Who wrote the Check for Love…? > Some of us are just lucky to get off the Beltway and to find parking. Which reminds me… Someday some bright young boy is going to slam through the Georgetown Area with an MRAP truck equiped with a plow > to knock all those crappy mini-coopers up onto the sidewalks and make those streets actually wide enough to drive through. > > I hope he gets a medal for it too. I’m not sure what all of this is, but considering that this thread is only about tourist type information, this post is either off topic or threadshitting. Either way, don’t do this again. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2019, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visiting-washington-dc-anything-i-need-to-book-in-advance/835608/96 "2019-06-25T20:52:42Z")
> [@puddleglum](#): > > Healy Hall, the others looked like generic college buildings except for the monstrosity. I wanted to go in the library there but it was all locked up. > I figured being from Vienna you couldn’t swing a cat there without hitting a building as nice as Healy Hall. True, but Healy Hall is nice in a very different way than the buildings in Vienna. I don’t recall seeing any buildings in that style back home. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visiting-washington-dc-anything-i-need-to-book-in-advance/835608/97 "2019-07-08T08:38:18Z")
I’m now back home and can offer the following brief report: I arrived in Washington the afternoon of Friday, 21 June. Aften checking into my Airbnb, I headed downtown where I had dinner with a friend of mine whom I hadn’t seen since we were 13 years old. Now she’s the head Washington editor for a major TV news network. It was great hearing her first-hand stories about the massive upheaval in politics and political journalism in the last few years, and about her work in the White House press corps. After dinner she took me to the White House, which I got to admire from the outside. Of course, she’d been inside many times before, but I was unable to visit because foreign tourists need invitations from their embassy and mine never responded to my request. (My friend says that she’s often tried this as well to arrange visits for her friends and family members, but it’s never worked for her either.) On Saturday morning I walked from the middle of the Mall to the Lincoln Memorial and then back again, passing the Washington Monument, the World War II and Vietnam memorials, the reflecting pool, and various nice buildings on Constitution Avenue. I then popped into the White House Visitor Centre (mostly to use the washroom, but I also had a quick look around) and then headed over to the Ronald Reagan Building, which I admired from the outside. I had lunch at a food truck (philly cheesesteak) and spent the first half of the afternoon at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. Then I took a cab to the Capitol for a pre-booked tour. I had planned to visit the Library of Congress afterwards, but it was closed to the public due to the annual librarians’ conference mentioned by **NotherYinzer**. However, I was still able to admire it and the Supreme Court building from the outside. In the evening I headed to Georgetown to visit the Exorcist steps and wander around the university campus. On Sunday morning I dropped my suitcase off at Union Station and lingered a bit to admire the architecture inside and out. I then walked across the street to the National Postal Museum, which also has quite a nice interior, and proceeded to the National Building Museum to see the Great Hall. Unfortunately, the Great Hall was closed for renovations, so I kept walking to the Smithsonian American Art Museum and Center for American Art and Portraiture in the Old Patent Office Building. I had just enough time to take in the courtyard, the presidential portraits, and the beautifully decorated rooms on the third floor. Then I had to zip back to Union Station to catch my train to BWI Airport for my flight to Austin. Thanks again to everyone in this thread for their ideas. It was on your recommendations that I went many of these sites, including the Old Patent Office Building, the Ronald Reagan Building, the Library of Congress, and the Great Hall of the National Building Museum. Pity the last two of these happened to be temporarily closed, even though I tried to visit during the usual opening hours. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visiting-washington-dc-anything-i-need-to-book-in-advance/835608/98 "2019-07-08T10:20:42Z")
Very nice. Any thoughts on the quality of the architecture/design? ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visiting-washington-dc-anything-i-need-to-book-in-advance/835608/99 "2019-07-08T12:11:15Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > I’m now back home and can offer the following brief report: > > I arrived in Washington the afternoon of Friday, 21 June. Aften checking into my Airbnb, I headed downtown where I had dinner with a friend of mine whom I hadn’t seen since we were 13 years old. Now she’s the head Washington editor for a major TV news network. It was great hearing her first-hand stories about the massive upheaval in politics and political journalism in the last few years, and about her work in the White House press corps. After dinner she took me to the White House, which I got to admire from the outside. Of course, she’d been inside many times before, but I was unable to visit because foreign tourists need invitations from their embassy and mine never responded to my request. (My friend says that she’s often tried this as well to arrange visits for her friends and family members, but it’s never worked for her either.) > > On Saturday morning I walked from the middle of the Mall to the Lincoln Memorial and then back again, passing the Washington Monument, the World War II and Vietnam memorials, the reflecting pool, and various nice buildings on Constitution Avenue. I then popped into the White House Visitor Centre (mostly to use the washroom, but I also had a quick look around) and then headed over to the Ronald Reagan Building, which I admired from the outside. I had lunch at a food truck (philly cheesesteak) and spent the first half of the afternoon at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. Then I took a cab to the Capitol for a pre-booked tour. I had planned to visit the Library of Congress afterwards, but it was closed to the public due to the annual librarians’ conference mentioned by **NotherYinzer**. However, I was still able to admire it and the Supreme Court building from the outside. In the evening I headed to Georgetown to visit the Exorcist steps and wander around the university campus. > > On Sunday morning I dropped my suitcase off at Union Station and lingered a bit to admire the architecture inside and out. I then walked across the street to the National Postal Museum, which also has quite a nice interior, and proceeded to the National Building Museum to see the Great Hall. Unfortunately, the Great Hall was closed for renovations, so I kept walking to the Smithsonian American Art Museum and Center for American Art and Portraiture in the Old Patent Office Building. I had just enough time to take in the courtyard, the presidential portraits, and the beautifully decorated rooms on the third floor. Then I had to zip back to Union Station to catch my train to BWI Airport for my flight to Austin. > > Thanks again to everyone in this thread for their ideas. It was on your recommendations that I went many of these sites, including the Old Patent Office Building, the Ronald Reagan Building, the Library of Congress, and the Great Hall of the National Building Museum. Pity the last two of these happened to be temporarily closed, even though I tried to visit during the usual opening hours. Man, you fit a lot into a very short trip. I’m glad you had a good time. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2019, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visiting-washington-dc-anything-i-need-to-book-in-advance/835608/100 "2019-07-09T11:57:07Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Very nice. Any thoughts on the quality of the architecture/design? To be honest I don’t know much about architecture, so I hope you’re not expecting some kind of detailed commentary on neoclassical cornices and art nouveau arabesques. I just like looking at nice buildings without having to think too much about why I like them. So I’ll just say that there was plenty to admire in downtown Washington, as well as a couple gems further afield. On an aesthetic level I liked pretty much everything I set out to see, with the exception of the Vietnam memorial. This was too plain in comparison to the WWII memorial, and especially in comparison to some of the monumental war memorials I’ve seen in Europe. By simply digging a trench into the ground and lining it with plaques, it comes across like they didn’t take things seriously enough to bother allocating any significant amount of money or imagination. Is that memorial highly regarded or do a lot of people share my low opinion of its design? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visiting-washington-dc-anything-i-need-to-book-in-advance/835608.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visiting-washington-dc-anything-i-need-to-book-in-advance/835608.md?page=6)