Day 4 - Museums - Pt.1

"Travel is fatal to bigotry, prejudice, and narrow-mindedness.  Broad wholesomeness and charitable views cannot be acquired by vegetating in one tiny corner of the globe."  Mark Twain

The Smithsonian Institution—the world's largest museum and research complex—includes 19 museums and galleries and the National Zoological Park. 
The Smithsonian Institution was established with funds from James Smithson (1765-1829), a British scientist who left his estate to the United States to found “at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge.”

Today, we chose to tour the Air and Space Museum which has 23 galleries exhibiting hundreds of aircraft, spacecraft, missiles, rockets, and other flight-related artifacts including the 1903 Wright Flyer, Spirit of St. Louis, SpaceShipOne, Apollo 11 command module, and Hubble Space Telescope test vehicle.  Time for a brief stop in just one more, we opted for the Natural History Museum with its

exhibitions on earliest human origins; development of world cultures; ancient and modern mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, insects, and sea creatures including geology, gems, and minerals as well.

 

There is so much to see and do, but I think we hit the highlights...