Earth Day Sightseeing at the Smithsonian

     

The Arts and Industries Building was closed for renovations.

      We took the Metro Train from the College Park station today to explore Smithsonian Museums.  We rode the Green Line into DC and transferred to the Orange Line and got off at the Smithsonian.  We are beginning to get the hang of using and adding funds to our SmarTrip cards. 

Ceiling inside The Castle

Castle interior

      First stop was the Smithsonian Institution Building, better known as The Castle.  It's a beautiful structure with some interesting artifacts and a good start to our sightseeing day.

More Castle interior

      

       We next walked past the Arts and Industries Museum with great disappointment to find it was closed due to renovations.  The flower gardens outside the building were absolutely gorgeous!

     Lunch was a little over $20, charged by the pound, at the Cosmo Cafe on Maryland Avenue near the L'Enfant Metro Station.   The restaurant accommodations were beyond cramped and crowded, but the food was fairly good.

      We walked just a block or two to the National Air and Space Museum where we spent most of an afternoon and feel we got a taste of all it had to offer.  George really loves planes and was somewhat disappointed in the displays compared to the Air Force Museum which we visited a number of years ago in Dayton, Ohio.  

       After doing some research, we found that we will need to also check the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in nearby Chantilly, Virginia where display space is not so limited.  Hopefully, George will find it more to his liking.

We only caught a glimpse of the Earth Day Activities on the National Mall.

      Our legs let us know when we had experienced enough for one day and we were just too tired to be concerned about a few sprinkles of rain.  We caught the Green train at L'Enfant Station back to College Park, where the car awaited us to head back the Cherry Hill Park.   The dogs were glad to see us, and after taking them to play, our legs were happy to get a rest.

Waiting for our Metro train inside L'Enfant Station