National Bonsai & Penjing Museum

Let’s pretend that you have visited Washington D.C. plenty of times already, and have exhausted all the Smithsonian related museums. You still want some free museums to visit because your pockets are still empty, then what? Never fear, for that is the reason this blog is here; to show you the fun and affordable museums to visit when you want. This time, I made my way to a free, non-Smithsonian related museum called…

National Bonsai and Penjing Museum, located in Washington, D.C.

The National Bonsai & Penjing Museum is located within the U.S. National Arboretum, which is an easy train and bus ride from the national mall, (about an hour, I think).  From the National mall, take the blue or orange line to the Stadium-Amory stop (I talked a bit about the DC metro in my Smithsonian’s National Zoo post), and then transfer to the B2 metrobus. Exit the train station, walk about ten steps, and the bus stop will be there, so there’s need to worry about getting lost looking for the bus stop. Take the bus to Rand St on Bladensburg Road, just past the big “Arboretum” sign (look for the sign on the right when you are in the bus). Walk back to the “Arboretum” sign on R street, and walk down R street until you reach the entrance of the Arboretum. Once inside the Arboretum, you will find signs for the information desk, make your way there to find more information about the Arboretum and directions to the museum.

A quick word about the public transportation route: the Arboretum is located in a sketchy part of D.C., so be a smart traveler and stay safe. You can always drive to the Arboretum, there is plenty of parking (I’m not sure if there is a fee or not), and the Arboretum is huge, so you can probably spend days there and still not see everything. (Apparently the Arboretum is a living museum, so one day, it will have it’s own post, I just have to go to D.C. again.)

Once inside the arboretum, it is easy navigating to the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum. The museum is opened from 10am to 4pm, and admission is free. The museum is divided into several display areas, two were located indoors, and the rest were all outside. The museum’s layout is a bit different from traditional museums; it is more similar to aquariums, and zoos, which is quite fitting, seeing how the bonsai and penjing are living specimens.

Since it was a hot day, I started with the indoor galleries to cool off. The first indoor gallery, the International Pavilion, was dedicated to viewing stones. Viewing stones are natural stones that suggest landscapes or structures. (The second picture reminds me of a hot spring, and the third picture reminds me of a mountain range.) There were quite a number of viewing stones on display, however the volunteer said only a portion of the museum’s collection was on display, and even he hasn’t seen the whole collection yet. The other indoor gallery, the Special Exhibits Wing, was the special rotating exhibit of the museum. When I had visited, the exhibit on display was entitled “Becoming a Bonsai exhibit”. The exhibit explained the steps on how to create a bonsai, and demonstrated how a normal plant was turned into a bonsai through pruning, wiring and repotting (or collectively known as training a bonsai). In addition, there were tools used by bonsai masters on display. (Unfortunately, there are no photos of the special exhibit, because some part of me just wasn’t thinking at the time to take pictures.)

The first outdoor gallery visited was the Chinese Pavilion, which displayed the Chinese penjing collection. According to the internet, penjing is the ancient Chinese art of displaying artistically formed trees, plants, and landscapes in miniature. Before visiting the museum, I didn’t even know that penjing existed, I’ve always heard of bonsai, but penjing is new to me. The miniature landscapes are quite majestic, and the inclusion of small figurines in some of the penjing made the whole scenery even more appealing.

The next area was the North American Pavilion, which displayed bonsai and penjing created by people living in North America. Some of these bonsai  were created using plants native to North America. Following, I ventured into the Japanese Pavilion, which featured traditional bonsai. Bonsai is a Japanese art form using miniature trees grown in containers. (I’ve heard of bonsai before, and it’s my first time seeing in real life. They are relaxing to look at, and I would like one, but I don’t think I can care for it.)

I spent about an hour in the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum, and it was nice escape from the rushed lifestyle to stop and take in the nice and relaxing bonsai and penjing. I highly recommend visiting the museum, even if you know nothing about either bonsai or penjing, because you will enjoy the experience (unless you hate nature). So take the train and the bus (or drive) to the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum, and just enjoy the relaxing atmosphere.

Smithsonian’s National Zoo

The Washington DC adventure goes on… I’ve only been to one zoo in NYC, and the admission was costly. However, when you are in DC, even the zoo there is free. So not missing the chance to see something for free…

Smithsonian’s National Zoo, located in Washington, D.C.
(No photo of the entrance because I couldn’t capture the whole entrance from the street curb)

Coming from NYC, where it is much easier to travel around by public transportation than driving, I have a special fondness for public transportation, therefore I’m always eager to take a bus or train to go somewhere. Lucky for me, Smithsonian’s National Zoo is not next to the National Mall, thus I got  the chance to check out the DC Metro system (only the rail system).

The DC rail system consists of five train lines, labelled by color, so it’s not that confusing to use and you probably won’t get lost, even if it is the first time your taking the train. The way to pay for the train ride was quite interesting to me. In NYC, the fare is a set price regardless of how far you travel, however the DC rail fare is based on the distance traveled. So you swipe your card (or ticket) to go in and swipe again when you exit, and viola, the fare gets calculated and is deducted off your card. (Don’t try to cheat the system and not swipe out, because there is an exit fare that gets deducted the next time you swipe to take the train. How do I know this? I think it is mentioned somewhere, and also because one of my traveling buddies tried that. The exit fee got deducted the next time we took the train.) And that is the basics of the DC metro rail system.

Smithsonian’s National Zoo is accessible by both car and public transportation, but seeing how excited I am about public transportation, we took the train. The zoo is located on the red line, and according to the zoo website, the zoo is located equal distance from  the Woodley Park/Zoo/Adam Morgans stop and the Cleveland Park stop. However, the fares differ slightly (around 25-50 cent), Cleveland Park being  the more expensive one (coming from the National Mall area). The zoo website said that it is an uphill walk from the Woodley Park stop,and advised travelers that want an easier trek to the zoo to take the train to the Cleveland Park stop. Therefore we took the train to the slightly more expensive Cleveland Park stop and walked our way over to the zoo. (When we left the zoo, we walked to the Woodley Park stop, and I did notice we were walking downhill, so the website was correct. Take the train to Cleveland Park, if uphills aren’t your thing.) Also, don’t worry about not knowing the exact way to the zoo, there are plenty of people heading towards the zoo, so just follow the crowd and you’ll get there fine.

After arriving at the zoo, we found out that there’s a fee for the guide map (I think $2), so we decided to forgo that and just follow the path. For those of you who are short on time and wish to see specific animals only, there is an app you can download onto your phone for a small fee ($1.99) to guide you around the zoo. For others who don’t wish to spend the money at all, but have sometime beforehand, there’s a guide map pdf on the zoo website that you can print and bring with you. For all others, following the path is good enough, you can check the maps that are posted at the zoo. (That’s what me and my buddies did, and we saw everything.)

Smithsonian’s National Zoo is really big, so you’ll want to arrive early and plan to stay for the day if you want to see all the animals. They have the standard animals found at most zoos, but there are also have various others. For example, the Giant Panda. (I was hoping to see the pandas do other things besides eat and sleep, but it was good enough to see one in person.)

As mentioned, the zoo is really big, so we spent around 5 hrs to see the whole thing. I really enjoyed the visit, thus I highly recommend anyone visiting Washington D.C. to take the train and go visit Smithsonian’s National Zoo, because it’s free and who doesn’t like the zoo. Just remember to wear good shoes and put on sunblock, because you’ll be outside all day and walking around nonstop.

National Air and Space Museum

Continuing the adventure from DC… The Smithsonian has these two museums that are really similar, and I have always thought that I visited the one in DC, but turns out, I visited its twin in Virginia. Hence, it’s actually my first time seeing the…

National Air and Space Museum, located in Washington, D.C.

Another museum belonging to the Smithsonian Institution, thus free admission. (Yay!) Since we went during the summer, we were able to take advantage of the extended hours and stayed till they closed at 7:30 (regular closing is at 5:30). We had about two hours to explore the two floors of of the museum. The museum is well laid out, with individually themed galleries uniting around the main theme of spacecrafts and air crafts. There are about 20 themed sections  that are free to everyone, with an additional 3  sections that require money (the IMAX movie, the planetarium and the flight simulator). Since we only had two hours, we barely had enough time to see all the freebies, thus we didn’t even venture into the paid sections.

The first, and only, section that was geared towards kiddies, was the gallery entitled “How Things Fly”. The gallery was interactive, so there was lots to touch and play with, thus the area was overflowing with smaller children. Next we were “Looking at Earth” through satellite images, so if you enjoy satellite images and the devices used to capture these images, this is your section. For all the space nerds out there, (I am!), we “Explore the universe” through the evolution of telescopes. This section proceeded in chronological order by showing us how our understanding of the universe changes based on what we use to examine the universe. In the beginning, we used only our eyes, thus we believed that the Earth was the center of the universe. With the invention of simple telescopes, we realized that we were wrong, the Earth is not the center, but the sun is the center of the universe. As more complex telescopes were made, we realized that the sun is not at the center of the universe, the universe is actually much bigger than we imagined. Following the exploration of the universe, we saw  some very nice model replicas of various space crafts. There was a replica of the Apollo Lunar Module and another of a space shuttle. For those who have ever wondered how astronauts use the bathroom, there’s an answer on display. (I’ve wondered about that.)

 

As much as I enjoyed the gallery on the universe, my favorite section was the one entitled”Early Flight”. I like the extravagance of these flying vehicles and the science-fiction element that is seen in them. Since the first flying vehicles were just invented in the early 1900s, people didn’t understand all that much about what can fly, and what cannot, so their imagination ran wild. Flying houses, boats, hang gliders, anything that cross the mind was a possibility, and it was exciting to see all this creativity.

 

Next up, we saw the exhibits on “Jet aviation”, “Golden Age of Flight” and “America By Air”. Let me be honest, I am not being the biggest fan of air crafts, thus I don’t really remember too much about these exhibits. However, there were a lot of various air crafts on display, so air craft enthusiasts will definitely want to pay more attention than I did at these sections.

 

Reaching the second floor of the museum, we explored exhibits on air crafts used in combat. These exhibits included “Sea-air operations”, World War II aviation” and “Great War In the Air”.  Once again, I breezed through these sections because of my own bias, however, a great deal of thought and effort were put into these galleries.  When you walk into the “Sea-air operations” gallery, it was actually as if you were walking into an aircraft carrier. In addition, there were some intricate replicas on display.  I actually enjoyed the “Great War in the Air” gallery because of the vibrant colors from popular culture during the World War I era. It transports one to the an idealized version of the era.

 

On to “exploring the planets”, we saw  various space craft replicas that were used to explore the solar system. In addition to space crafts, there were details about the planets. (I could go on and on about the planets, but let’s not get side-tracked.) After we saw “Pioneers of flight”, which displayed various air crafts that pushed the boundaries of flying further.

My second favorite exhibit was the one about the “Wright Brothers”.  When you walk into the gallery, you are transported to the time of the Wright brothers, with their 1903 Wright Flyer being the centerpiece. The layout of the gallery told the story of the Wright brothers right before my eyes, of how they invented the first airplane.

The last two galleries to be explored were “Apollo to the Moon” and “Time and Navigation”. “Apollo to the Moon” had many artifacts relating to the Apollo mission that took man to the moon. “Time and Navigation” was an interesting gallery detailing the revolution of timekeeping. Unfortunately,  little time was spent in these two galleries because our time was running out and my travel buddies really wanted to go spend money at the gift shop.

Two hours is not really enough time to look at everything in detail (especially if your party has the need to buy souvenirs at the gift shop), but that was all the time we spent there. My opinion of the museum is sort of mixed, but leaning more towards the I enjoyed it side. The museum is devoted to air and space crafts, so if that’s your thing, you will love every second of it. However, if you’re similar to me,(I like colorful exhibits), there will be some galleries that you won’t want to leave, and others where you walked through the whole gallery and couldn’t have walk out of there faster. Nevertheless, all the galleries were really well thought out, so definitely give the National Air and Space museum a chance, who knows, you might end up really liking the whole museum (or at the least a few of the galleries).

International Spy Museum

February has been a super long month, even though it has the least amount of days. With all the snowstorms blowing through this month, I’ve had quite a few snow days, but because of these snow days, I had to put in a lot of OT, therefore I’ve neglected writing and visiting museums. Luckily, I have my backlog, so back to the summery days in Washington, D.C…. The Smithsonian museums are awesome, and they are definitely must sees if you visit, however if you want to stray away from traditional-type museums and visit something a bit more on the quirky side, then visit…

International Spy Museum, located in Washington, D.C.

(The Spy museum doesn’t allow photography inside, so I didn’t take any, but I did see people breaking the rule.)

The International Spy Museum is within walking distance from the National Mall, so it’s easy to stop by when you need a break from art and history. When we visited in the summer, the museum was opened from 9am-7pm. Prior to visiting, I had checked the museum website, intending to buy the tickets online so we wouldn’t have to wait in line in the heat. Luckily, I didn’t; the free DC visitor’s guides, which are usually located in hotel reception areas, had a coupon for $3 off. So I ended up paying $17.97, after taxes and all,  and we somehow managed to get to the museum when it opened at 9am, thus avoiding any lines.

After paying for admission, we took the elevator up to the third floor to see the exhibits. The museum has three floors, but the second floor is designated for the special admissions offered by the museum, not for general admission tickets, so the museum really consists of two floors.  When arriving on the third floor, be prepared to strike a spy pose and get photographed.  You can also adopt a cover identity while exploring the museum; basically, you pick an identity, memorize the facts, and pretend to be that person during your visit. Later, you can see how much you remember about who you are pretending to be on the interactive stations.

The museum has a plenty of hands-on exhibits to give visitors a taste of what being a spy is like. One of the highlights of my visit was definitely crawling through the air ducts. You probably have seen people crawling through air ducts for a variety of reasons on TV. It is something that I have always wanted to try, and well, now I have, and it was a fun experience. (Not difficult, but not super easy either, crawling can be tiring.)

In addition to the interactive exhibits, the museum has a rather large collection of items on display. During the earlier section of the museum, there was so much on display, that I felt the organization was a bit messy and cramped. So I breezed through the earlier section, since I couldn’t really focus because there was too look it. However, I really enjoyed  the section about the history of spying. I liked how it showed various cultures and their spying histories. If you are big James Bond fan, than the first floor is where you want to be. The museum has practically the whole first floor dedicated to Bond, with various items from Bond films on display. I’m not a big James Bond fan, but I did enjoy the Bond gallery. You can try making your own villain lair, and hanging onto a plane at the interactive stations. (You don’t really hang onto a plane, but you grab onto to a pole and you try to hang on for as long as you can.)

We spent about 2 hours at the International Spy Museum, but we could’ve have spent more time if we looked more closely at everything and tried out all the interactive sections. For the price of admission that I paid, I felt that it was worth it. There was a lot to see, and there were many interactive stations that it warrants the admission price. (Electricity is expensive, and when you have more interactive stations, it costs more money to operate.)  All in all, I enjoyed my visit to the International Spy Museum, it was fun, and brought out the child in me with all the hands-on exhibits (I wanted to touch everything).  If you happen to enjoy quirky museums, like spy-related stuff or be a big Bond fan, then visit the International Spy museum, you’ll enjoy it (but be sure to look for a deal or coupons, you’ll enjoy it even more).

National Postal Museum

With the cold winter upon us, I haven’t stepped out to a museum in almost two months, but that’s okay, I have enough backlog to last for a bit, so let the warm summer memories begin… This past summer, my traveling companions and I visited Washington D.C., or as I like to phrase it, the city of free museums. Washington D.C. is the place to visit if you really like museums or are on a tight vacation budget. With over 10 free museums (collectively known as the Smithsonian Institution), there’s plenty to see. First stop on the Washington D.C. museum tour is…

National Postal Museum, located in Washington, D.C.

The National Postal Museum is located right by Union Station, the central hub of transportation in Washington DC.  Admissions for the museum is free (who doesn’t love free), and was opened from 10am to 5pm during the summer time. The National Postal Museum is not located at the National Mall, where a majority of the other museums are, so lucky for us (and maybe not so lucky for the museum), there wasn’t a huge crowd or there would’ve been a lot of pushing involved.

The National Postal museum is one big spacious floor, located on the lower level of the building. It is a well organized museum, with individual galleries all uniting around the central theme of the postal service. The floor map that is provided has a suggested order to visit the museum, but being the tourists that we are, we just gravitated  to the nearest thing in sight, hence, we ended up doubling back at one point. We started at the “Systems at Work” gallery, an interactive gallery demonstrating the process of mail sorting. In this area, you can cancel a stamp on a postcard (you may keep the postcard as a souvenir).

We then saw “Customers and Communities”, which demonstrated how mail has impacted city and rural routes; in this area, there is a really nice diorama showing the various effects that the postal system had on urban city streets. (These first two galleries, we went through backwards, as in we went in through the exit and come out at the entrance. The other galleries, we saw them the proper way.) Next, we traveled through a small forest path, which had lots of fun trivia, that mail carriers from the 1600s had used. I really enjoyed the forest path, even though it was super short, because for that small instance, it felt as if I was transported to a different place. In this gallery, we saw the exhibits on how the postal system united the nation, such as the use of stagecoaches and steamboats to transport mail to the country’s frontiers as the nation was expanding.  There was even an exhibit on the famous Pony Express.

For more recent exhibits concerning the postal system,  there was an interactive exhibit on postal crime  where you can learn how to catch a mail criminal. There was also a  smaller gallery dedicated to mail and the military. The rest of museum is devoted to stamps.

The museum has the largest collection of stamps I have ever seen, to say that its just a large collection would be an understatement, the collection is gigantic, enormous, immense. There was one exhibit that related stamps and the alphabet , another for USA and international stamps, and finally, an ever changing exhibits gallery; when we visited, the items on display were from the Hindenburg and Titanic, entitled “Fire and Ice: Hindenburg and Titanic”. Of the three stamp exhibits, I found the Hindenburg and Titanic exhibit to be the most interesting, as they were other things to marvel at, besides stamps. (I’m just not that into stamps.)

Last, but not least, (it should’ve been first according to the floor guide) was the atrium, where all different types of mail vehicles are on display. It was my favorite part of the museum, I like the mash up of the different types of vehicles from different eras together.

The National Postal Museum took us about an hour and a half to go through, but one can easily spend a longer time here; especially if you are enthusiastic about stamps, then you can spend forever at the museum, it has panels and panels of stamps. The National Postal Museum is a nice museum, well organized, not too crowded and has plenty to see. I enjoyed my visit, however when I think of the museum, all I can remember is that it has a lot of stamps. So if you really like stamps, or enjoy free museums, or would like to visit a Smithsonian museum without being pushed around, visit the National Postal Museum.