We were supposed to start as early as possible ( say 6 AM) so that we do the five hour drive from Bushkill.PA to Washington,DC soon enough for us to take the working hours of the museums at DC. That was the general direction for the day - check out the best museums till 5 PM , check out the cherry blossom and check out white house / lincoln memorial etc.
We actually started off at 7:30 AM and reached DC around 12 PM. To save some parking time from the visit time, I dropped my folks next to the National museum of portraiture and drove away looking for parking. Luckily I found it close enough and reached the museum entrance around the same time as the rest of the group as they had to come round the museum to get to the ramp for the baby strollers.
The museum was gigantic and was in fact two museums - National Portrait Gallery and Smithsonian American Art museum. We started off with the amazing portrait photographs by Yousuf Karsh. Then there were so many sections on the American history of the 1700s and 1800s that it was almost overwhelming. There were four floors of exhibits with left side for National Portrait Gallery and right side for the Smithsonian art.
Initially, I had thought we could do Portrait museum and then do American Art museum. Soon I got overwhelmed by the portraits and wanted some solace in art. The variety in art did give solace. There were various sections which were very striking , most so when we reached the top floor which had the modern exhibits and which looked pretty much like the high museum of art in Atlanta. By the time , we had covered all the floors , it was 4 PM. So we bought some food from the cafe.Meanwhile, we could not find my father.I did one full round through the 4th floor but could not find. So I decided that I will run over to the National gallery of art which is a few blocks down to see work by Picasso and other french artists which is a must see as per the person at the information desk.
So I reached the national gallery of art and rushed to the hall way he had mentioned and indeed the paintings were mind blowing. I hardly had the time and kept photographing names I knew - Pablo Picasso , Vincent Van Gogh, Claude Monet etc. Meanwhile my mother called and said that my father had joined the group. So I invited everyone over as per interest. At 5 PM , the national gallery of art closed and I walked back feeling surer of the museum content at DC.
Next up was the cherry blossom - that is when a realization dawned on me that there is not enough sunlight left in the day and by 8 PM it is dark and you need light to appreciate the blossom as well as to appreciate the white house/lincoln memorial etc. To save some time, we tried to get a bus to tidal basin but we were out of luck as the bus stop we waited in did not carry anyone near to the tidal basin around which cherry trees bloomed. So we started walking towards it and we walked through the washington monument and captured more photographs from there. On our way to Bushkill , we had stopped by here at night and had taken some photographs of the monument with some struggle and had been chased off by the next car behind us. Now, we could do it all over again with time.
The crowds were getting thicker and we were seeing more and more cherry blossom trees as we reached the tidal basin. Unfortunately , Niya had chosen such a beautiful surrounding to be wimpy that she could not play in the park. Then again, she does deserve better consideration in terms of vacation planning as we had been discussing even earlier. Some of her wimpiness rubbed off on me and tarnished the heavenly experience I ought to have been feeling. To add to that, the younger one was crying for milk and I accompanied Divya away from the tidal basin edge to the center of the park to find a spot. Kids!.
Meanwhile , my father wanted to check out the Jefferson memorial which was visible from the basin thinking that it was the Lincoln memorial. Since the kids were slowing down the walk , my parents walked off alone while we waited at the park. When they came back , lincoln memorial was still undone and so was the white house. I was hopeful that the lights would be available at night time as well and if not, the plan was to come back to DC from the inn we had booked for the night at Laurel , watch these monuments and continue on back to Atlanta.
We had been taking in quick dinners all along to save time. Today, we decided to get ourselves better dinner. So a taxi took us to the parking spot near which was 'Austin Grill'. I had six tacos under the umbrella of 'All you can eat Tacos' , my parents had salmon grille and Divya had Tilapia grill. The food was pretty good but too bland for my mother's taste. By the time , the heavy dinner was over , it was 11 PM and we decided to check in to our place of stay and come back here for the white house visit the next day morning.
That is how we reached Garden Inn at Laurel, Maryland. An old Gujarati Patel was at the reception and another couple argued with him over the wifi not working , lamps not working and the like. That braced me up for some unpleasantness. First thing , he did not find my reservation and wanted me to call Expedia and ask them to fax in the confirmation. The phone number he gave me went to a line that said I had received some 'Walmart Gift'. This time he gave me the card and I called Expedia for real and meanwhile he found the reservation in the system and allotted us the rooms.
The rooms were pretty spacious but I did not like having to remove all the big suitcases from the car at 12 AM , just to stay for one night - talk about lessons in packing. But that is what I did anyway and we crashed off with our parents in the adjacent room.
We actually started off at 7:30 AM and reached DC around 12 PM. To save some parking time from the visit time, I dropped my folks next to the National museum of portraiture and drove away looking for parking. Luckily I found it close enough and reached the museum entrance around the same time as the rest of the group as they had to come round the museum to get to the ramp for the baby strollers.
The museum was gigantic and was in fact two museums - National Portrait Gallery and Smithsonian American Art museum. We started off with the amazing portrait photographs by Yousuf Karsh. Then there were so many sections on the American history of the 1700s and 1800s that it was almost overwhelming. There were four floors of exhibits with left side for National Portrait Gallery and right side for the Smithsonian art.
Initially, I had thought we could do Portrait museum and then do American Art museum. Soon I got overwhelmed by the portraits and wanted some solace in art. The variety in art did give solace. There were various sections which were very striking , most so when we reached the top floor which had the modern exhibits and which looked pretty much like the high museum of art in Atlanta. By the time , we had covered all the floors , it was 4 PM. So we bought some food from the cafe.Meanwhile, we could not find my father.I did one full round through the 4th floor but could not find. So I decided that I will run over to the National gallery of art which is a few blocks down to see work by Picasso and other french artists which is a must see as per the person at the information desk.
So I reached the national gallery of art and rushed to the hall way he had mentioned and indeed the paintings were mind blowing. I hardly had the time and kept photographing names I knew - Pablo Picasso , Vincent Van Gogh, Claude Monet etc. Meanwhile my mother called and said that my father had joined the group. So I invited everyone over as per interest. At 5 PM , the national gallery of art closed and I walked back feeling surer of the museum content at DC.
Next up was the cherry blossom - that is when a realization dawned on me that there is not enough sunlight left in the day and by 8 PM it is dark and you need light to appreciate the blossom as well as to appreciate the white house/lincoln memorial etc. To save some time, we tried to get a bus to tidal basin but we were out of luck as the bus stop we waited in did not carry anyone near to the tidal basin around which cherry trees bloomed. So we started walking towards it and we walked through the washington monument and captured more photographs from there. On our way to Bushkill , we had stopped by here at night and had taken some photographs of the monument with some struggle and had been chased off by the next car behind us. Now, we could do it all over again with time.
The crowds were getting thicker and we were seeing more and more cherry blossom trees as we reached the tidal basin. Unfortunately , Niya had chosen such a beautiful surrounding to be wimpy that she could not play in the park. Then again, she does deserve better consideration in terms of vacation planning as we had been discussing even earlier. Some of her wimpiness rubbed off on me and tarnished the heavenly experience I ought to have been feeling. To add to that, the younger one was crying for milk and I accompanied Divya away from the tidal basin edge to the center of the park to find a spot. Kids!.
Meanwhile , my father wanted to check out the Jefferson memorial which was visible from the basin thinking that it was the Lincoln memorial. Since the kids were slowing down the walk , my parents walked off alone while we waited at the park. When they came back , lincoln memorial was still undone and so was the white house. I was hopeful that the lights would be available at night time as well and if not, the plan was to come back to DC from the inn we had booked for the night at Laurel , watch these monuments and continue on back to Atlanta.
We had been taking in quick dinners all along to save time. Today, we decided to get ourselves better dinner. So a taxi took us to the parking spot near which was 'Austin Grill'. I had six tacos under the umbrella of 'All you can eat Tacos' , my parents had salmon grille and Divya had Tilapia grill. The food was pretty good but too bland for my mother's taste. By the time , the heavy dinner was over , it was 11 PM and we decided to check in to our place of stay and come back here for the white house visit the next day morning.
That is how we reached Garden Inn at Laurel, Maryland. An old Gujarati Patel was at the reception and another couple argued with him over the wifi not working , lamps not working and the like. That braced me up for some unpleasantness. First thing , he did not find my reservation and wanted me to call Expedia and ask them to fax in the confirmation. The phone number he gave me went to a line that said I had received some 'Walmart Gift'. This time he gave me the card and I called Expedia for real and meanwhile he found the reservation in the system and allotted us the rooms.
The rooms were pretty spacious but I did not like having to remove all the big suitcases from the car at 12 AM , just to stay for one night - talk about lessons in packing. But that is what I did anyway and we crashed off with our parents in the adjacent room.
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