Are you dying to see museums and historical monuments? If you have some time, head to Washington, D.C. A visit to our nation’s capital is the culture bargain of a lifetime! The Smithsonian Institution is worth a trip from anywhere. Although even some Americans think that the Smithsonian is a single museum, in fact, it’s a complex of 19 museums and 9 research centers. NINETEEN MUSEUMS! All of them right in the same area! And here’s the best part: they’re free! There is no admission fee to visit any of the Smithsonian museums. Yes, U.S. taxes pay for these museums, so you can enjoy seeing those taxes hard at work.
Do you like bugs? There’s a museum for that. Thinking about flying to the moon? There’s a museum for that. Longing for a look at long-lost lizards? There’s a museum for that. The Smithsonian Institution has museums for just about anything you could possibly be interested in. Maybe you’re just hoping for a stroll through beautiful gardens surrounded by sculpture. Yes, the Smithsonian has it all: architecture and art, gardens, space information, ethnic museums, collections of clothing, history . . . You name it, and it’s there. And, of course, you can even buy a not-so-culturally-important T-shirt on the mall. In fact, when you need a rest from all that walking, the mall is a beautiful spot to relax. This is not a shopping mall; it’s a long stretch of lawn and walkways, with benches and some food places. You can see the beautiful U.S. Capitol building with its white dome on one end, and the 555-foot-tall Washington Monument on the other end.
Because there’s so much to do and see, it’s a good idea to plan your cultural visit well in advance. If you’re not planning to do a tour on foot, you can arrange for all kinds of different tours. These special tours will cost money. Of course, there are the typical bus tours. These will pick you up at many different locations and drive you through the entire area. Usually you can hop on and hop off. As the bus takes you to different spots, you can stop to visit the attraction for as long as you’d like, then get on a bus to the next stop when you’re ready. Or you can take bicycle tours of the area. How about a Segway tour? Now, that is cool! There are tons of special tours you can book, according to your interests. Some of these are very popular, so you might want to buy your tickets in advance. You can do it online and avoid the wait at the tour office or ticket counter.
If you plan in advance, you can also time your visit. That way you can easily fit in all you want to see. Check online for museum floor plans and know what sections you plan to visit. (You can spend an entire day in some places and still not see everything!) See what other museums are nearby. Don’t forget historical museums where you can learn all about the city, certain industries, and cultural and ethnic influences on the country.
And you will probably want to visit many of the beautiful memorials along the mall. There are several that honor past presidents, as well as many war memorials. These commemorate the sacrifices of people who served in the country’s wars. Visiting these monuments and memorials is a nice way to think about all the wonderful things we have . . . and the people who made them possible.
Just make sure you leave plenty of time for browsing in the gift shops!
LIA: Hey, Alan, aren’t you planning a trip to London this month?
ALAN: Well, that was the original plan. But now we’re not planning to go to the UK at all. We’ve decided to save some money and just have a staycation this year.
JAE: Yeah. We’re going to Plan B: just stay home and have a vacation doing things nearby. And with the money we save, we’re planning to see three extra shows when we go to London next year! We’re thinking about a drive to Washington, D.C., for a weekend. What do you think?
LIA: Wow, road trip! Count me in! The North Tower at the National Gallery has an exhibit of American art that I really want to see. And I’m dying to see the special Matisse paper cuttings exhibit. I checked the floor plan, and I see that they’ve moved it from the Tower to the Concourse. Every time I’m in the capital, I forget to plan around the exhibit’s hours, and I miss it. Every time!
ALAN: Don’t you check the museum’s hours? Isn’t it open all day?
LIA: Sure, I know the museum’s hours. But the Matisse exhibit has its own hours, separate from the rest of the museum. Because the paper cuttings are fragile, they’re only on display for certain times of the day. Too much light can damage them.
JAE: Well, we’re not staying in D.C. very long, and we’re planning to buy tickets for an opera performance at the Kennedy Center. I’m not sure we’ll get around to going to the National Gallery of Art on this trip.
LIA: I know you culture vultures have your own plan. But we can save some big bucks if we carpool down. Then you can do your own thing, and I’ll go see the Matisse exhibit. I’m not going home until I see that exhibit! We can split the gas, and we can share the driving. It’ll be a great way to save money and have a great cultural weekend. And if you’re lucky, maybe I’ll sing on the way home!
ALAN: Aaghh! It sounds like a great idea, but we’ll only do it if you promise not to sing!
Tip 4 |
Find out who the congressional representative is in your voting district. If you call that office a few weeks before you go, the representative can sometimes arrange a special tour of the White House for you! (Your friends will be very impressed.) |
Pronunciation Pointer
You can impress your friends with a very fancy English word that means “to gently move from one topic to another.” The word is segue and it is pronounced seg-way — just like the Segway that people can ride! (Maybe the inventor gave it this name because it moves people easily from one place to another?) Here’s how segue can be used in a sentence: They were talking about culture, but when the baseball player arrived, they segued [seg-wayed] into a discussion about sports.
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architecture: the art of designing buildings or other structures
browsing: just looking around
bugs: insects
capital: spelled with an a – the city where the government is centered
capitol: spelled with an o – this is the office building where government business takes place
carpool: join with other people for a drive
complex: many things in one area
concourse: the main area of a place, usually the first floor
congressional representative: the person elected in a district to vote in Congress for laws that the people in the district want
dome: a shape that looks like half a circle
do your own thing: separate so each person does what is interesting to him or her
dying to: want to do something very much
exhibit: a special display in a museum or gallery
fit in: be able to see a lot of things
floor plan: a map of where things are located in all areas of a place
foot: a unit of measurement. Remember: we do not usually use the metric system in the United States.
fragile: delicate and easily damaged
get around to: find time to do something
lawn: a large grassy area
lizards: reptiles of many sizes
longing for: wanting very much
long-lost: something that hasn’t been seen for a very long time
memorials, monuments: buildings, gardens, or statues made to honor very important people or times in history
on display: able to be seen
opera: a musical play with all parts sung by professional classical singers
original: first
Plan B: a second-choice plan
road trip: a fun trip taken in the car
sculpture: art that is made by shaping or carving stone, clay, or some other material
Segway: a cool two-wheeled scooterlike vehicle that is run by balancing; people stand on it (See the pronunciation note for another interesting /seg-way/.)
separate from: different from
share the driving: take turns driving on a long trip
split the gas: share expenses of driving somewhere
time your visit: plan your day so that you can see a lot of things
voting district: the area that elects the person to act for the district in local, state and the national government; neighborhoods in towns may belong in different districts
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