Typically the boys awoke about 6.30 am, which enabled us to go down to breakfast fairly early. Lucky for us, breakfast was included in the price of the hotel, and we opted for a buffet breakfast. The kids loved it, and had at least 2 mini boxes of cereal each. A gentleman at breakfast recommended the spy museum for the kids, he said it was really good, but unfortunately this was not in our plans for the day.
We headed out of the car park from the hotel and went for a quick drive around the monuments. We decided not to stop, as we had too many other things planned for the day. We eventually found somewhere to park near L'Enfant metro station. We may have been better off using public transport, but with 3 young kids, it is not something we are overly confident about. It did cost us in parking though, about $25! But we were able to park close enough to the museums, so the walk there took us past the Capitol Building
First stop was the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. I would say this is probably equivalent to the Natural History Museum in London. We got there about 20 minutes after it opened, so missed the initial rush, so the queue for bag searches wasn't too long. The great thing about the museums we visited in Washington, they are all FREE (though a donation is suggested).
Sebastian loved the elephant in the entrance hall
A particular hit with the boys was an interactive classroom, where they could look at many different things such as fossils, seeds, shells etc. We entered the room when it was quiet, and left when one of the many school groups visiting entered.
Another hit was the live insect zoo. Isaac loves bugs, and was pleased to see so many in one place. This is a really good exhibit, with plenty of creatures and staff on hand to give you information about the exhibits, and even let you hold the insects. Here is Isaac with a Carolina tobacco caterpillar. These things were big, and there was a display of them, some caterpillars, some moths.
We spent most of the morning in the museum. It is well worth a visit, very glad we were there on a thursday, so it wasn't too busy (running theme here…). We were desperately hungry by the time we left, but there are few place to eat within walking distance in this area. Thank goodness for a McDonalds hut. We had noticed on our drive looking for a parking place, that there were many food trucks in the L'Enfant area. I imagine McDonalds placed there hut outside the Air and Space Museum in the hope of generating business, and they certainly did.
It is a short walk from the Museum of Natural History to The Air and Space Museum, walking back past the Capitol Building again. There seemed to be some kind of protest on the steps, luckily we were far enough away from it.
After lunch we ventured to the Air and Space Museum. May have just been the time of day, but this was much busier, with big queues for bag searches. Think we waited about 20 minutes to get in.
So many aircraft in one place. By now we were pretty museum-ed out, so this was hard going, even though there were may wonderful exhibits.
The boys loved this one, in fact they liked most of them.
This museum didn't seem as good as the Natural History Museum. It felt a bit mismatched and hard to navigate, especially with the number of people there. May just have been tiredness kicking in….
We decided it was time to go. We headed back to the car, and got back to the hotel in time to go to the bar to watch England get ejected from the World Cup.
After a hard day museum-ing, our boys did awesome sitting in the bar, playing kindles while we enjoyed some sherbets.
Thank goodness the bar was empty, and the staff were really good. The boys even got their promised ice creams.
Having already eaten out at lunch (ok, it was only a McD's), we were in a quandary what to do for dinner. In the end we decided, sod it, we are on holiday, and looked for a restaurant within walking distance.
There were loads of them….. We took a walk to the Logan Circle area of D.C. Such an interesting area. It reminded us a bit of parts of London, its own little mini town within a city.
We had decided to try Logan Tavern. We were seating quickly in a nice booth to the side. This place reminded me a lot of Bacon Brothers in Greenville. Lots of fresh local produce. We ordered beers, I went with the Troegs Perpetual IPA, and Paul had the Heavy Seas amber lager, these were decisions made with the help of our server. We all felt pretty comfortable in this establishment. It had a nice relaxed atmosphere. Seb and Isaac had the grilled cheese sandwiches, and Oliver went with a cheeseburger. After asking the servers advice, I went with one of their signature dishes, the Crispy Chicken Paillard with garlic mash. Paul decided on the grilled boneless pork shoulder.
Again the food was delightful. Juicy, succulent and very flavorsome. Empty plates all round. Think we were really tiring the kids out, as they became very good at clearing their plates.
Logan Tavern is a good place to eat if you are in that area of Washington D.C. I might even say it is worth traveling there, as the food and atmosphere are very enjoyable. The servers were very good also, and it was not too busy.
Logan Circle area of D.C was certainly interesting….. on the way to and from the restaurants we saw some sights…. men having their nails done…...gentlemen in ladies clothing…...few cross gender people. Not sure if stumbled into that area of Washington, but it was well worth it!
It was fairly early to bed that night, after a crazy busy day. We had to drive to NYC the next day…...
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