Washington D.C. museums, Smithsonian and otherwise
No matter how long your trip is to Washington, D.C., chances are you’re not going to have enough time to see everything. Mom and I were there for six full days and it left me planning a return trip to visit all the sites we missed this time. One reason for this is the myriad museums run by the Smithsonian Institution. It is the world’s largest museum complex and research organization, composed of 19 museums, 9 research centers, and the National Zoo. Along with the zoo, we managed to visit the National Museum of African Art; the National Museum of the American Indian; the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden; and the National Museum of Natural History. That equals four museums out of the total nineteen. We’d never make them all. My favorites from this lot are the African Art museum and the American Indian museum, which we visited twice.
On our trolley tour, the guide said that the cafeteria in the American Indian museum had some of the best food in the District, and that was reason enough for our second visit to the museum. From the museum’s website:
“Mitsitam” means “Let’s eat!” in the Native language of the Delaware and Piscataway peoples. The museum’s Mitsitam Native Foods Café enhances the museum experience by providing visitors the opportunity to enjoy the indigenous cuisines of the Americas and to explore the history of Native foods. The café features Native foods found throughout the Western Hemisphere, including the Northern Woodlands, South America, the Northwest Coast, Meso America, and the Great Plains. Each food station depicts regional lifeways related to cooking techniques, ingredients, and flavors found in both traditional and contemporary dishes. While seated in the café, visitors can look out a wall of windows to view the Native habitat and water features of the museum’s landscaping.
I had roasted chicken with a mole/pineapple sauce and a cold salad of sweet and purple potatoes from the Meso America station; and cold corn and tomato soup from the Great Plains station, I think. At any rate, everything was absolutely delicious. A little pricey, but since admission is free to all the Smithsonian facilities, I didn’t mind spending a few extra dollars for the incredible food.
One of my other favorite museums, though not affiliated with Smithsonian, is the National Gallery of Art. Currently, there is a special exhibit featuring “Hidden Treasures” from the National Museum in Kabul, Afghanistan. There are over 200 artifacts on display that were unearthed in modern Afghanistan, and that range in date from 2200 BC to AD 200. It was absolutely fascinating.
Some of the big museums that we missed are the National Air and Space Museum (due to lack of interest on my part, although it is one of the most popular of the Smithsonian museums), and the National Museum of American History, because it is closed for renovation until late November of this year.
If planning a trip to Washington, D.C., and visiting the museums is a priority, be sure to call or check the websites ahead of time for closures and new exhibits.
Posted by Francesca
Tags: National Gallery of Art, National Museum of African Art, National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.
