Thanks for the offer, but I am traveling with two non-Dopers, it wouldn’t be fair on them to make them meet a group of people whom they have no idea exist.
Oh.
Obviously I have seriously underestimated the actual size of the Smithsonian.
I’ll do some Googling myself first and try to work out what my options are.
(btw, is the Jeffersonian in Bones really the Smithsonian?)
If you like Johnny Rocket’s, try Five Guys. They have several locations in DC. Not kitschy like JR’s, but very good burgers and fries.
The big music club is 9:30 on V St. The areas north and east of it can be sketchy, but there’s usually plenty of people around and it’s well-lit. A dash of common sense will keep you out of trouble, just like in most cities.
There’s a couple of other areas with clubs & restaurants possibly worth checking out…U St. (that’s where Ben’s Chili Bowl is) is close to Adams-Morgan and fairly close to Dupont Circle. And locals will roll their eyes at this, but Georgetown has a few places of interest and some lovely older houses.
I have absolutely no clue at all what is meant by this. Are you asking whether Thomas Jefferson’s skeleton is there? If so, it’s an urban myth that he and Lincoln are buried under their memorials. No truth at all to this.
I’ve seen this kind of statistic before, and I wonder about how it was arrived at. Like, if you spent one minute staring at each individual piece of rock in the geology exhibit, and the same for every other item in every other exhibit, maybe I could see it. The Smithsonian is a set of museums – about 16, plus the National Zoo – some of which are quite large. The most well-known, I would say, are the National Air & Space Museum, the National Museum of Natural History, the National Museum of American History, and the National Gallery of Art (actually run under a separate charter but affiliated with the Smithsonian) – I guess I would also add the Hirshhorn Museum, Sackler Gallery, and Freer Gallery for art lovers. If you’re quick, (i.e., spending some time with the exhibits you’re most interested in and skimming or missing the rest), you could do a couple of those a day and still leave a good amount of time for other stuff. So I would say a heavy-duty, immersion-level tour of the major Smithsonian museums could be carried out in three or four days.
This can not be emphasized heavily enough. Really. Treat yourself to a half day at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor and the National Aquarium. One of my best vacation days ever was a day at the Inner Harbor where we spent the afternoon visiting the aquarium and having a very nice dinner at one of the restaurants that line the area.
Celtling and I did the “Breakfast with tthe Dolphins” a few weeks ago - it was awesome, if a bit early given the drive. They really make the immersion tours special, and the prices include full admission for the day. Celtling, unfortunately is too young for most of them. http://www.aqua.org/immersiontours.html
List of Smithsonian Museums
You can also easily take a train from DC to Baltimore if you don’t want to rent a car.
Sorry.
Bones is an American tv series.
It is based on the books of Kathy Reichs.
It features a forensic anthropologist who solves crimes while working for an institution known as the Jeffersonian; an institution of ancient artifacts and scholarly investigation.
I was wondering if it was based on the Smithsonian.
The Wikipedia entry calls it a “thinly veiled allusion to the Smithsonian Institution”:
Laudenum. If I’m mistaken, correct me. You’re from Ireland?
And, if I haven’t read every post here, sorry.
You’re gonna be in the Wash DC area. Chesapeake Bay. Seafood. If you don’t eat some of the local catch, then shame on you. While I’m sure you have better fish dinners at home(assuming you’re from Ireland), Chesapeake seafood is the best the US has to offer. Blue crabs. You have nothing to compare to this.
Soft shells are in this time of the year. May not be to your liking. But, crabcakes, Maryland style(for lack of a better descriptor), wonderful. Anything having to do with Chesapeake Bay crabs should be OK.
Fresh seafood caught that morning in the Chesapeake Bay should be on your list.
Timbuktu has some of the best crab cakes in the world. Near BWI airport, it would be on the way to Baltimore if you decide to go to the Aquarium.
I might be down in your neighborhood near the end of September.
Ah! Sorry. My television is entirely monopolized by Dora the Explorer and Disney Princesses. . . LOL!
One of the things I regret not seeing in Washington 10+ years ago was the Marine Corps War Memorial. Hell, when I was a kid, I thought that was the WWII memorial.
They still have the touchable moon rock at the Air and Space Museum, luckily.
I should specify that that’s the main museum, on the Mall—there’s also the Udvar-Hazy Center annex of the museum, at Dulles airport, which has several more exhibits (that I also didn’t get to see when I was there—it wasn’t open yet), including a Space Shuttle and the Enola Gay.
Find a Grave is useful for finding plots of interest in Arlington National Cemetery, if that’s your thing.
If you’re looking for some nightlife, let me take you Couchsurfing. It’ll be either Wednesday or Thursday in September. We’ll go meet some interesting people for drinks. PM if you’re interested.
Other than that, I think everything good has been mentioned. For food, if you like steak and pork, hit up Fogo de Chao by Federal Triangle.
Everyone has provided you with good spots to visit, that seems to be covered.
Allow me to enlighten you on a few finer points of visiting this fine city:
[ul]
[li]DC proper is actually very small, and the vast majority of real estate is residential, which is very helpful for visitors. 95% of what you’d want to see is concentrated downtown, and other interesting places (Adams Morgan, U Street, Georgetown, etc.) are also small areas of concentrated activity.[/li][li]Take the Metro. It goes directly to everywhere you’d want to go and you absolutely do not want to attempt to drive here. Trust me.[/li][li]When using the Metro, please have a plan before you enter the station. This website is an invaluable tool. Please use it.[/li][li]When using the Metro’s entensive system of extremely long escalators, the rule is stand right, walk left.[/li][li]Very helpful tip: again, DC is very small; most Metro stops downtown are literally only a few blocks apart. It could be worthwhile to get off a stop or two earlier than your destination if you like to explore. You’ll see a lot more, and avoid the logjams that occur at busy stations like Gallery Place/Chinatown and Metro Center.[/li][li]It’s much cheaper and way less crowded to use the Metro during non-rush hour hours (off peak hours are 930AM - 300PM and 700PM - closing).[/li][li]If you don’t already have hotel arrangements, bear in mind that the outlying areas (Arlington, Silver Spring, Chevy Chase) have tons of hotels right near Metro stops and can be far cheaper than staying in DC proper.[/li][/ul]
Hope that’s helpful. It’s very easy to have a great time in this town. Have fun!
YES! I forgot to mention this. DC is very small geographically. Virginia and Maryland are parts of the metropolitan area. They’re like the suburbs. And Arlington/Alexandria might even be considered part of the city (it was at one time, after all).
Don’t feel like you have to have arrangements in DC. Staying in VA or MD is perfectly fine. You’re only a mile or two from the city proper. I recommend staying in VA, but I’m biased like that.
While most of the Smithsonian Museums close at five, the American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery (wings of the same building) are open until seven. That is across the street from the Verizon Center and close to Chinatown. It is relatively close (five or six blocks) to the other Smithsonian Museums.
That is one of my favorite museums and I usually just pick a section and wander thru on my way to a hockey game or other event at Verizon.