Maximizing Museums and Monuments

DC
Hey guys! I consider myself a "breezer" not a "browser" when it comes to museums. Loved the fairly new Aerospace museum in Chantilly! Seeing the space shuttle and knowing it's history gave me goose bumps! Glad you two are doing well. I am still on assignment in Raleigh, through Dec, then I have no definite plans. Except to retire within the next five years. 59 now.

DC
Hey guys! I consider myself a "breezer" not a "browser" when it comes to museums. Loved the fairly new Aerospace museum in Chantilly! Seeing the space shuttle and knowing it's history gave me goose bumps! Glad you two are doing well. I am still on assignment in Raleigh, through Dec, then I have no definite plans. Except to retire within the next five years. 59 now.

Museums
When we travel we visit museums, but when we are at home its often art galleries. Come to think of it we really like both. In Oz they often score exceptional visiting exhibitions like the Aztec one on in Sydney at the moment and the antiquities of Afghanistan on recently. We'll have to have a chat about it one day.

Smithsonian are great
Smithsonian Museums easily ranks among the best museums in the world. We have seen American History Museum and Air and Space Museum and we would love to see the rest of them some day in the future. A crazy idea would be to see them all in one go. To pull a Smithsonian all in. But that would not be fun. One museum or two is what a normal person can digest in one visit. /Ake

Total museum geek!
I always plan a full day for every museum (unless it's the NY Met, the Louvre or the Hermitage, and then I devote a week). I visit chronologically, reading every caption and taking notes (it takes a long time in French or Spanish). When I finish, I go back to the beginning because you see things differently from a new direction. Then, I go through again, stopping to be with my favorites. I always visit even the small, sincere, very funky regional museums and chat with the workers who are thrilled someone is visiting. Museums are a real love of my life though, needless-to-say, they are a solitary enjoyment.

Thanks for the memories!
Hi, Thanks for reminding me how lovely DC is. I was lucky to be there in beautiful April with the cherry blossoms. I hope you'll visit Frederick Douglas' home. I really enjoyed that visit. Douglas came to Ireland during The Great Famine and was shocked to see the Irish people in rags, begging from him, far worse than he had ever seen in the Deep South.

Museum viewing styles
MJ and Dave, it seems are our museum viewing styles are very compatible... we usually find ourselves in the cafe, on our third or fourth cup of coffee while waiting for friends who subscribe to Tara's style of museum viewing :)

From Cortona
Love your museum visiting style.... pretty much matches our own. We arrived in Cortona yesterday for a week after barging the Canal du Midi in southern FrAnce. Great experience! There is so much we need to do and see in the DC area and your blogs will be our guide.... Another great one!!!