Savvy Sightseer - tips and insights for seasoned travelers!
Visitor Center of the Smithsonian Museum Complex
Washington, D.C.
Celebrate 250 Years in the Nation’s Capital!
It covers less than 70 square miles, yet is the heartbeat of the entire United States – Washington, D.C. The federal district has it all: from serious, formal stately buildings and monuments to festive and frolicky Giant Pandas at the zoo; from the magic of Cherry Blossom season to the many facets that comprise the Smithsonian Museums year-round.
The Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute
Simply known as the National Zoo, two campuses are home to more than 2,200 animals, including some of the planet’s most critically endangered species. Always free of charge, the Zoo's 163-acre park in the heart of Washington, D.C., is a popular tourist destination, welcoming nearly two million visitors from all over the world. Some species are familiar, like apes and reptiles; others are a little less known, but all well worth a visit!
Hands down, the most popular duo in the zoo today is a pair of Pandas: Bao Li (bow-lee), a male born in 2021 whose name means “precious treasure”; and Qing Bao (ching-bow), a female, also born in 2021, whose name means “green treasure.” They moved into their new digs on the Asia Trail in January of 2025, and split their time between sleeping in their enclosures and rolling around outside eating bamboo.
Click on the pictures above for a closer look at Zoo denizens, or the video clip to the left to see a panda who really, really likes bamboo!
Cherry Blossom Time
In the springtime, visitors flock from all over for the annual phenomena of the Cherry Blossom Festival. The first recorded major celebration of the yearly event came in 1927; by the late 1930s it was a regular festival, complete with opening ceremonies. What follows is weeks of indoor and outdoor dancing, music, kite flying, fireworks, parades, art and of course food feasts, capped with a gala. Typically over 40 different organizations and 150 performances dazzle the more than 120,000 attendees.
Perhaps the most welcomed and enduring gift from Japanese authorities in 1912 is a stunning display of colorful trees. Millions of visitors and locals alike turn out to admire the 3,500 trees in full bloom around the Tidal Basin south of the National Mall. The cherry trees and their treasured blossoms are living symbols of friendship and diplomacy between the U.S. and Japan.
Click on the pictures above for a closer look.
Smithsonian Museums
Many people come to Washington expecting to see one huge repository of Smithsonian works; instead it is a complex, including about 20 museums, nine research/cultural centers and the zoo. What could seem more a symbol of iconic Americana than the D.C.-based museums? Ironically, the benefactor who established them never even stepped foot on American soil – he was the illegitimate son of British nobleman, Hugh Smithson, and had no physical ties to this country. After graduating Oxford where he’d studied chemistry and mineralogy, he became highly regarded in the science world, and was credited with a discovery leading to a mineral named for him - since 1832, zinc carbonate has been known as smithsonite. Reportedly, he parlayed a small inheritance from his mother into a fortune through a lifetime of shrewd investment & management. No one is quite sure why he left his lucrative estate to America, but some believe it was a thumb in the eye against the British society that didn’t recognize him as heir to a dukedom nor even his legitimacy to use his biological father’s surname – he had been known by his mother’s maiden name, Macie, until she died and he took on Smithson. It is also believed he may have been influenced by a deep respect toward this country’s promise of enlightenment and democracy, and wanted to support it.
The so-called Big Three Smithsonian musts are: the National Museum of American History, the National Museum of Natural History and the National Air and Space Museum. At the first, only a fraction of its millions of historic objects are on display, tracing the American experience from colonial times to the present. Over three floors, exhibits are devoted to the scientific, cultural, social, technological, and political development of the United States. Where else could you find both George Washington’s uniform and Dorothy’s ruby slippers from the Wizard of Oz, both demonstrating the breadth of American history? Not to mention a well-preserved one-legged pigeon?? He played a pivotal role and earned his spot in the Price of Freedom: Americans at War exhibit hall. Named "Dear Friend" in French, Cher Ami, defied all odds when he braved artillery fire. Despite taking one bullet to his chest and another to his foot, being blinded in one eye and soaked in blood, he completed his mission to deliver a critical message to American forces, thus saving a battalion trapped behind enemy lines in 1918. America’s First Ladies’ haute couture gowns for various state events are among the museum’s most popular stops. More than two dozen sophisticated styles from the Smithsonian’s almost 100-year old First Ladies Collection chronicling changing times and styles, are on view. The Food Exhibit section actually has famed chef Julia Child's kitchen! This museum easily deserves a whole day to do it justice!
With more than 147 million artifacts and specimens spanning about 18 football fields of floor space, the Natural History Museum is billed as the world's most popular natural history museum. And then there's the Star Trek and lunar landing presentations at the Air and Space Museum!
Click on the pictures above for bigger views.
Monumental Monuments
The skyline of Washington, DC, is familiar to just about everyone. The buildings are treasures as well as memorials. Each has its own story to tell, and history to explore. Here are just a few.
Click on the pictures for bigger views and additional information.
For more details about the Nation's Capital, check out my video or in--person presentation through your local library or community center. For a listing of programs and places I'll be, check my Programs page.
