Yesterday was my final day in DC before returning home. One of the great things about the Smithsonian museums is that they are open seven days a week, year-round, except for Christmas and New Year’s Day.
My first stop was at the National Museum of the American Indian. This too is new since the last time I visited the museums on the mall. Architecturally it is a beautiful building. The central lobby is designed to feel like the interior of a kiva. It’s massive, spacious, and sunlit. I wish the rest of the museum was up to that standard. The exhibits tell part of the Native American story but left off a lot of history that I know about. It also doesn’t give much information about that number and diversity of the tribes. Rather it focuses on a few narrow topics, like Pocahontas, Native Americans in the Military and Little Big Horn.
A short walk from that museum is the National Botanical Garden. I was delighted to discover they’d just installed part of their holiday decorations. For those of you who have seen the train show at the NY Botanical gardens, you’ll get the next part immediately. Replicas of famous DC buildings were constructed using natural materials. Most I recognized, the Capitol, White House, Supreme Court, and Smithsonian Castle to name a few. Others I couldn’t identify, and the explanatory signs had not yet been placed. I loved seeing these. The remainder of the garden is lovely, with species of orchids I’ve never seen. On the other hand, the National Botanical Garden makes me appreciate how amazing the NY Botanical Garden is.
From there I returned to the hotel, picked up my luggage and set off for Union Station.
While parts of the city are on an upward trend, NOMA for example, Union Station is looking a bit sad. More than half of the stores and restaurants are empty. I hope it comes back, I remember when it was a thriving, vibrant place to visit. Now it’s a place to pass through.