Lillian & Albert Small Jewish Museum

We made it to the Lillian and Albert small Jewish museum & Jewish historical society of Washington DC today. We arrived just a few minutes before 1pm after having lunch at the green Turtle nearby, and the gate was still chained shut, So we called the number on the sign as directed and within a few minutes a representative arrived to show us around. The museum consisted of a trip inside one of DC's first synagogues and the story of how it came to be where it was. Originally located elsewhere and moved the exhibit included photographs of the many uses it had to endure before finally being rescued and moved to it's new home on a small piece of left over land from a freeway on ramp.

Madame Toussaud

We just went to Madame Toussaud's Wax Museum. It was neat you could take photos w/the figures. they had more then listed online.

Inside there was a short video about the history and making of the wax figures, then you enter the exhibits. There are a lot of presidents spread throughout the museum exhibits, it is obvious that they choose the figured based on the locations though as this one was very heavily populated with political figures. You could sit with Lincoln in his theater booth and shake hands with George Washington, have your photo taken with the Obama's and even sit in the Oval Office for a picture.

The interactive exhibits even continued into the bathrooms as there were fake hats on the sinks so you appeared to have on a silly hat as you washed you hands, and the stalls had "singer" "actress" and other designations on the door, with trivia inside the stalls which could be answered by reading the plaques by the displays inside the museum!

hard rock cafe

hard rock cafe in dc is a blast, although it is a bit loud. It would be much more enjoyable if the drunks at the bar would stop yelling hey...

So to expand on my blog from my phone we finally made it to the hard rock after walking half way and hailing a cab for the final portion of the journey. we were lucky and walked right in and were seated, the prices are slightly higher then the one near my home in Atlantic City, but the food was great and the service was excellent.

Native American Indian Museum

the Native American Museum is right along the mall between the Air & Space Museum and the Capitol Building....it has a lot of great exhibits if you are interested in finding more information about the various tribes..you have to spend a lot of time standing around listening to the story be told for each tribe though, and the lay out is not the greatest with walls in odd places making it like a maze...at one point we walked into what appeared to be a small exhibit area and it turned out to just be an artist gallery of painting someone did of native americans, most were abstract and you were forced to walk thru the winding maze to get out again...i do not see the educational value in this area of the museum, it belong in an art gallery not a museum about the Native Americans...

Boy do my feet hurt after walking all over today, the nicest thing about this museum was the padded benches placed throughout the building on all of the floors1

we tried to see the

We tried to see the Jewish Historical Society & Lillian and Albert Small Jewish Museum ...but after a long subway ride and an even longer walk, getting lost, walking around in a few circles and finally finding it we see the sign out front, it is only open on Monday, Tuesday & Thursday from 1-4PM...So back to the subway it is.

I did take some shots of the fencing it is really neat...check it out!!

Holocaust Center Again

today we stopped back at the holocaust center to hit another book signing, this author was apparently not as nice as the one yesterday who wanted to discuss his book with those visiting. Unfortunately I did not get to meet this author as i was not allowed in the building with a drink which i had purchased just outside. I was told very rudely that I would have to exit the building find a trash can and dispose of the bottle then return, the nearest trash can was the one 1/2 a block away at the vendor I had just purchased it from. Yesterday there was no problem with me having a bottle I think this guard was just being a jerk!

Either way I apparently did not miss much, I just sat against the wall outside and waited for my friend to come out.

Arlington

We just left Arlington Veterans Cemetery, we saw the perpetual flame for JFK as well as the tomb of the unknown soldier. We not only got to see a changing of the guard we got to witness a wreath laying ceremony at the tomb.

This is a very surreal place to be, or it would be if not for the excessive amount of rude and loud tweens that are taken their as part of their school trips. Honestly I wonder if this should be part of their trip, since as an 8th grader it seemed majority of the kids did not or could not appreciate the gravity of the
location. I actually overheard one kid say "if the teachers think i need to lose weight they should have just made me walk on a tread mill" I seriously wanted to walk over to the kid and give them an earful...but i was sure it would have gone in one ear and out the other.

The odd part was there were a few younger groups there, maybe 5th or 6th graders and those students seemed to be taking it much more seriously asking legitimate questions of their guide.

The guides on the other hand are a whole other story...i heard one say "you will see a bunch of stone that don't have crosses on them those and the ones with the funny stars are all for the Jews who got to be buried here" first off it is a Star of David, and 'got to be buried' makes it sound like they should be privileged to be here, no is privilege to be buried anywhere, it means you are dead. Additionally the Star of David marks the Jewish graves, those unmarked belong to those who either did not declare a religion, or are of a religion which does not have a symbol or is not recognized officially by the military...children should be taught that all soldiers are soldiers and religion should not be a factor when it comes to the honor of serving in the military.

American History Museum

After leaving the Holocaust Center we decided to check out the Smithsonian American History Museum...being that neither me or my friend are really American history people most of it was not really our area of study...we did find the wars exhibit on the top floor to be interesting, and the inauguration dresses of the 1st ladies on the 2nd floor was interesting to see....but the exhibit we really wanted to see was quite disappointing.

We really wanted to see the pop culture exhibit on the 3rd floor, it looked like it would be great when Dumbo from the disney theme ride sat at the entrance...then with Dorothy's shoes and Archie Bunkers chair just inside the door we expected to see a lot more, but beyond them there was not much. Kermit the Frog & Oscar the Grouch were 2 of the other dozen or so items in this small and over crowded exhibit which was not much larger then average college dorm room. a few dresses from random celebrities, some I had never heard of and a couple pairs of boxing gloves completed this rather small and unexciting exhibit...very disappointing considering how long it had been closed to be revamped and all the hype on the new exciting exhibits...

Holocaust Center

We are at the Holocaust center in Washington DC today, I will add photos to this post later. The whole front entrance was closed for a VIP, so we had to go in the back. Once inside we learned the VIP was the wife of Israel's Prime Minister. They were closing one floor at a time in order for her to enjoy the exhibits without the rush of high school children, we were not so lucky. we were able to sit and enjoy one of the movies on the 4th floor and most of them passed by us.

If you have not been to this museum it is a must on the DC tour list. you need to stop in as soon as you can during the day to get your tickets. we got there about 1:15 and received entry tickets for 2:30 pm. this is not bad there is a gift shop you can browse through as well as free exhibits on the 1st floor and basement level that do not require tickets. all tickets are free, but space and times are limited each day. This was the 1st time I was able to tour the Daniel's story exhibit, it has been closed on m other visits. It was great for kids, if you have young children i recommend seeing this part of the museum even if you cannot get to the rest. you get to walk through Daniel's house with touch and play learning as guided by his diary pages.

I have begun to get my great photographs online and available for everyone to purchase...the first are available now:

Photography For Sale

Coming soon hundreds of my photographs from my travels will be available on my new website http://www.chasingthegnome.com ....while i work on that you can buy them through zazzle at http://www.zazzle.com/chasingthegnome

products will begin to be offered within the next several days.