SO. MANY. MUSEUMS. SO. LITTLE. TIME.
All of my friends all of the sudden have moved to DC, so why not make an excuse to go there for New Years? I had not been since my day trip last year, and I took this time to go to some more museums and eat some more food.
We went to DuPont Circle for the New Years Party at the Mission. It was like $90 for two DJs, an open bar, and a taco bar. It didn’t feel too crowded and we all had a great time!
After recovery the next day we got to work doing free tourist things and eating. I won’t post a bunch of pictures of us at the National Mall because everyone has those.
I know DC people are crazy about brunch so we couldn’t miss out. We ate brunch at the Founding Farmers and it was one of the best Egg Benedict’s I have ever had. Top 3. I splurged and got the crab — totally worth it.
One of my friends works for Nat Geo and so of course we had to go through the museum. The exhibit while I was there was on world food and the history of cooking. I was really impressed by the use of artifacts and recreations used to create scenes and immersive, interactive exhibits. There were a lot of touch opportunities and many of the exhibits brought the information off the wall and into real life. As is expected with Nat Geo, they showcased a wide range of cultures and had instructors leading different activities and offering us spicy Mexican hot chocolate.
The other exhibit was about dinosaurs so it was naturally awesome.
Walking around the sculpture garden was one of my favorite parts of the day —
That night we went back to DuPont Circle to walk around and get drinks by the water before dinner. We did get cupcakes before dinner at Baked and Wired. They were amazing and the decor inside was one of the more quirky things I had seen in DC. I didn’t get any good pictures of dinner, but we went to an Ethiopian restaurant called Das. It was my first time having Ethiopian and I thought the service was great and the food better than I expected.
The next day we went for a more non-traditional brunch — Korean (in Chinatown). The interior was really modern and my friends both said the food was good. Unfortunately, I’m allergic to soy. A lot of the brunch had soy so I had to stick to soup 😦 Should have seen that one coming.
So I have a new favorite museum in DC. Tied for favorite really. The Holocaust Museum, from an exhibit designer’s standpoint, is brilliant. It’s respectful, beautiful, subtle (in the way it’s organized), yet extremely impactful. It would be a dream to design something so important, but also extremely difficult and daunting. Even while touring Auschwitz, the museum is what I was thinking about.
BESIDES THAT, the Spy Museum is my new tied-for-favorite museum, but for different reasons. This is the first museum I’ve seen where it’s packed with people who want to participate in every interactive. It’s extremely effective in being immersive and educational. Sometimes being assigned an identity can fall flat, in this case it is carried throughout the museum successfully and puts the visitor in the position of a spy. The interactives were interesting, fun, challenging, and appropriate for all ages. It brought this secret world of spying to life, and for the rest of the trip we were on the lookout for spies. I think that shows how effective this exhibit was — it makes you see the world differently when you leave.
It connected the past to the present through artifacts and interviews. The temporary exhibit on James Bond connected fiction to reality. The exhibit also made visitors think about the future. What is the next threat? Why are spies just as important now as ever? I love this museum and I didn’t spend nearly enough time here. I’m glad to hear they’re going to move to a larger location! I’m excited to see what designers will do with the opportunity to design a building around the exhibits, not the other way around.
The last museum stop for me was the National Museum of Women in the Arts. It was a beautiful collection (I saw my first Frida Khalo 🙂 )and I really enjoyed the special sculpture collection. I feel weird photographing art, but here’s a little preview.
DC you’re always great, I’ll be back! Must Do’s on my list next time are the Newseum, National Museum of the American Indian, and the Library of Congress. I know there are a ton more… all in good time — and I’m open to suggestions! The quirkier the better.
A Place in Prague 