Our family is just back from a couple of days of sightseeing in D.C. For us, Washington has been that close-but-oh-so-far place that we somehow never managed to take the kids before now.
Of course, now that we are back, the weather's beautiful. :)
Thought it would be helpful for you to hear what we did in our 2 1/2 day whirlwind cherry blossom tour in case you are doing the same soon:
Sunday afternoon:
--Checked into the Beacon Hotel near Scott Circle. This place was great -- a real deal considering what other hotels in the city were charging for our dates. Tip -- if you have an AAA card, you may be able to get free parking -- and they let you keep your car at the hotel until 5 p.m. on the day you check out.
Here's a picture of the suite we had:
--We walked several blocks down 16th Street to take a look at the back of the White House, and Lafayette Park. The street between the two is permanently closed to traffic now, and it was a good place for the kids to run around a bit.
Monday:
--Breakfast of muffins and bagels we brought with us to save some dough.
--We then spent that dough on one of those double-decker bus sightseeing tours, which may not have seemed smart since it was raining. It wasn't cheap -- $35 for adults; $18 for kids -- but that's for a two-day pass, and it did allow us to see a lot in a short amount of time. You can also get on and off as you like -- buses run about every 20 minutes.
We even braved the upper deck when it wasn't raining too hard, where we had a great view of the National Cathedral, the Naval Observatory, the Islamic Center and Georgetown. By the time we got to the Arlington National Cemetery and then the Tidal Basin, we had fled to the lower level. We got kind of an interesting picture of the cherry blossoms through the rainy window:
--We got off at Union Station to look around and have lunch at the food court, where there's something for everyone.
--Metro to the International Spy Museum. (We could have hopped back on the tour bus, but Metro was very fast.) There was a line to get in, but not a terribly long one.
My 8-year-old daughter got a lot out of the museum, but my 6-year-old son mostly enjoyed the part where you can make like a spy and climb through the ducts. I thought the museum could have been more interactive than it was, but we had fun. I'd say it's best for 8 and up.
The tour bus was right outside the museum when we left, so we hopped back on to ride back to the Mayflower Hotel, the closest stop to the Beacon.
--Takeout dinner at our hotel from Pizzeria Paradiso. It was decent, but not the best Neapolitan pizza I've ever had.
Tuesday:
--Breakfast at the Luna Grill & Diner at Dupont Circle. It was pretty good -- the kids had waffles and a fruit bowl. But what self-respecting diner doesn't have pancakes?
--Metro to the National Zoo, where we spent the rest of the day before heading back to Baltimore. More on that in a separate post. (We could have taken the tour bus there, too, but were closer to the Metro.)
(Photos by me)