How This Shutdown Might Affect Your Trip to DC

photo uploaded to flickr by Simon CocksYou've probably heard a far bit about the budget jostling on Capitol Hill recently. Now I imagine most of you don't hang out in bars where C-SPAN is on round the clock, so you may not be totally up on all the ins and outs, but there's a very real chance that by the close of buisness March 4th, the Federal Government will be operating without a budget.

To grossly oversimplify the issue, the Federal Government authorizes and appropriates funds on a yearly budget. Once that budget runs out at the end of the Fiscal Year (Sept 30), Congress and the President can approve a temporary extension, or Continuing Resolution (CR). This is what the Government has been operating under since October, and the current one runs out March 4th. On that day, thanks to Art. I, Section 9 of the US Constitution (look it up yoursefl!) and the Anti-deficiency Act, it is now illegal for the Federal Government to pay its workers, outside of essential folks. The Congressional Research Service recently wrote an excellent report (.pdf) if you're a government affairs junky.

Click to read more ...

The Nuts and Bolts of a Holocaust Museum Visit

Ok, we've talked about the Holocaust Memorial Museum in general terms, and we've gone into what we expect to see in the individual exhibits. Let's dig into those little logistical details that can make or break a visit anywhere, so we can dispense with this crap and spend our time focusing on what really matters.

First off, timing is important. No doubt, you're a faithful reader of DC Like a Local, and know to come to DC in the fall. However, perhaps due to circumstance out of your control, you happen to be visiting in the Spring. It's going to make a difference at the Holocaust Memorial Museum. Tickets to the Permanent Exhibit are required from March to August, and if you plan to be here then, try and order them ahead of time. Otherwise, no advance planning is required, other than making sure you have enough time.

Now, if all the tickets are sold out, don't despair. Only a portion of them are given away ahead of time; the remainder are available at the door starting at 10 am. A line will form an hour or so earlier, and if it's a very busy day (Cherry Blossom Festival, Memorial Day, etc.), you may consider joining it. However, I find that tickets are still available to 11, if not noon on most days. After the initial rush, ticket distribution moves indoors to the Information Desk in the main lobby (Hall of Witness on the maps). Either way, ask for the earliest tickets available (as you should do if you get them online as well). The great thing about the timed tickets at the Holocaust is that they're good for any time after the time on the ticket, as long as it's the same day. So if you score 11 am tickets, you can use them at 2 pm. No point on getting 3:45 tickets, then is there.

Now, it's important to note again that your tickets are only for the Permanent Exhibit. The Holocaust Memorial Museum itself does not require tickets, nor do the temporary exhibits, Daniel's Story, museum shop, or the cafe.

To get there, I strongly recommend the Metro, as parking nearby is scarce to nonexistent. The Orange/Blue lines stop a block away at the Smithsonian station. Follow the signs for the Department of Agriculture/Independence Ave exit, and when you get out walk straight along Independence one block (towards the Washington Monument), cross 14th ST, and walk half a block to your left. The general visitors line forms from one of the two entrances on 14th ST (hint: just get in the shorter one).

Tragically, we've all had a reminder as to why we need to go through security to enter. I personally find the security officers at the Holocaust Memorial Museum to be the most professional in DC, both in their thoroughness of ensuring our security and in the courtesy they extend to visitors. Help them out by having all electronic equipment (cell phone, cameras,etc.) out as well as any metal object. I leave change in my pocket and never set off the detectors. Incidentally, video/audio recording is not allowed, and photography is not permitted in the exhibit spaces.

You may wish to bring your camera for the Museum itself though, especially the Hall of Witness. It's an incredible building, and try to catch the presentation the staff puts together in the lobby. Look for the cart with the mock up of the building. It's a great discussion of how the design and architecture complements and reinforces your experience at the Museum. Be warned though, the design of the Museum is intended to jar you from your normal reality and separate you from your experience of walking the streets of Washington. At times, you will feel herded, crowded, and dislocated. This is not accidental, so be ready for it, especially if you are traveling in a group or with kids. Plan on meeting up back in the lobby if you get separated, and give everyone a time to meet.

If you plan on visiting the Museum around breakfast or lunch you have a couple of options. The Museum Cafe is quite good, if a bit pricey. It is vegetarian, and has kosher meals, naturally. To get there, exit the building through the rear entrance, walk across the plaza to the red brick building to your right, and go in. You will have to go through security again, but normally just takes a second. To return to the museum proper, you're supposed to go back to the 14th St entrance, but often a security guard at the rear, group entrance will give you a break. If you're looking for another option, I recommend the Department of Agriculture cafeteria a couple of blocks down C St, across 14th. 

And finally, let's touch on the most asked question of any tour to the Holocaust Memorial Museum: where are the bathrooms? Let me say this. I think James Ingo Freed is a genius. The way he uses architecture to heighten and enhance the telling of a profound story in many ways, both great and subtle, is incredible. No other museum in Washington is so sympathetic and compatible with its subject matter. But, for the love is all that is good, could the man just put a bathroom on the first floor? Would that have killed the art?

It's down the stairs to the left.

The Holocaust Memorial Museum - What You'll Be Seeing

Having already discussed my philosophical underpinnings of a visit to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, let's talk a little bit about what's there to see.

There's always some confusion about tickets to the Museum. We'll talk more about when and how to get tickets tomorrow, but for now let me emphasize that tickets are not for access to the building, they are for the Permanent Exhibit only. The Permanent Exhibit is the comprehensive exhibit covering the Holocaust, from it's roots in post-war Germany, through the liberation of the camps and the aftermath. It starts on the fourth floor, with visitors handed an identification card and herded into a very industrial feeling elevator. A short into film later, you're dumped into a cramped exhibit hall, pushing through with the crowd to see the early exhibits concerning the rise of Nazi Germany. You are meant to feel frustrated, dislocated, harried; I still do after dozens of trips. Absorb it, and move on. As mentioned before, you're not going to see everything, so I often encourage folks to skim in the beginning and spend more of your time further on. It's easy to get dislocated through the exhibit, so remember a couple of items. You will see three floors, so remember which floor you are on, and the box car used to carry Jews to the camps is roughly at the halfway mark. A final note, the Permanent Exhibit is officially known as The Holocaust, but no one ever calls it that.

Only exit the exhibit when you are sure you are done, as no reentry is permitted. At this point, if you need to reflect, and you  really should if you've done it properly, you may visit the Hall of Remembrance. This is a solemn, contemplative space where you may sit and think things over if you need the chance. And yes, to answer the question from last week, this is where the only eternal flame I know of in Washington, DC is.

Now, bringing children into a Museum such as this is a decision only parents can make. I routinely take middle schoolers here and have reactions varying from bored indifference (honestly!) to crushing grief. You know your kids and what they are ready for. Most importantly, if you choose to come here, prepare by reading ahead and discussing it (good advice for all of DC!). At the Permanent Exhibit, the more stark and graphic exhibits are generally behind screens or out of the way, to allow younger visitors and their parents to bypass them. I also recommend Daniel's Story, a "temporary" exhibit on display from 1993 that views the Holocaust through the eyes of a prototypical young Jewish boy. It's appropriate and crafted for young teenagers, and maybe even a little below that in my opinion. Daniel's Story is on the ground level, and many groups only visit this exhibit.

Finally, there are two exhibits in the basement level that are worthy of attention. They hold a rotating series of temporary exhibits and highlight specific lesser told stories of the Holocaust as well as discussions of other genocides. A Dangerous Lie: The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a discussion of one of the most pernicious anti-semetic tales has been on display for some time. Additionally, I highly recommend State of Deception: The Power of Nazi Propaganda, which can help to begin to answer one of the most common questions about the Holocaust: "How could so many people allow this to happen?". It's also particularly good when you missed similar sections in the crowded first portion of the Permanent Exhibit. We'll post updates when new exhibits come.

Hopefully, this is enough to fill your time at the Holocaust Memorial Museum. Join us tomorrow when we handle all those pesky little logistical details like tickets, how to get in, where to eat, bathrooms, and so on.

How to Approach the Holocaust Memorial Museum

Tower of Faces: This three-story tower displays photographs from the Yaffa Eliach Shtetl Collection. Taken between 1890 and 1941 in Eishishok, a small town in what is now Lithuania, they describe a vibrant Jewish community that existed for 900 years. In 1941, an SS mobile killing squad entered the village and within two days massacred the Jewish population. Credit: United States Holocaust Memorial MuseumIf there's one museum I catch myself urging people not to go to, it is the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Not because everyone shouldn't see it at some point, but because the Holocaust Museum is different from other Washington area attractions. How you visit it is more important than if you have time to visit it, in my opinion. If you want to dash into the Air and Space Museum to catch the WrightFlyer , have at it. But squeezing in the Holocaust is almost profane, and I'd encourage folks to either make time to do it right or plan on visiting it on your next visit to Washington.

But now that I've warned you off, let me give you some pointers on how best to approach your visit. First off, let's focus on the name, somewhat unwieldy that it is. I often get the question, "Why here?" Why, indeed? The Holocaust is not an uniquely American experience, so why build a "United States" museum to it? The report of the Commission that proposed the Museum sums up the answer to that question nicely:

Americans have a distinct responsibility to remember the Holocaust. Millions of our citizens had direct family ties with its victims, our armies liberated many concentration camps and helped rehabilitate their inmates, and many thousands of survivors have since made their homes in this country. On the negative side although the United States assumed a leadership role in rehabilitation after the war, our failure to provide adequate refuge or rescue until 1944 proved disastrous to millions of Jews.

But the second part of the name is perhaps even more important. Note the use of the words "Memorial Museum" in the title. The Commission I quoted above was instigated by President Carter to find a suitable memorial to the Holocaust, not a museum. The President's Commission on the Holocaust, chaired by Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, felt that a static display would not be sufficient to remember what had happened. Even more than a mass killing of people, the Holocaust was attempt to destroy the memory of them. A Memorial Museum would be not just a Memorial to those who died, but a final nail in the coffin of Nazism, which so many Americans died to defeat. By remembering it, and teaching future generations, we serve as a final triumph over the "Final Solution". Again, from the Commission report:

While a monument alone may commemorate the victims, no structure can fully reveal the process that culminated in extermination; nor can it document the awesome dimensions of the crime or analyze its causes and implications. While no monument in and of itself can speak to the present or inform the future, the Commission does recommend the erection of a physical structure as a setting for a living memorial.

Why do I bring all of this up? Because I encourage people to approach visiting the Holocaust Memorial Museum less as a museum and more as a memorial. Plan on spending a some time there and, more importantly, commit to the experience. I'm never a fan of just punching tickets when visiting Washington, and even if I was, this really isn't the place to do it.

I'll cover more of the logistics, best practices, and other nuts and bolts stuff in a follow up post, but for now, let me wrap up with a quick discussion of how long to spend here. Obviously, there is no one answer, and even the most dedicated museum-goer will have to accept the impossibility of seeing everything. A docent and I did a back of the envelope calculation once that it would take around 20 hours to view every exhibit, read every plaque, and watch every video in the Permanent Exhibit alone. That's most likely out of the question, but I'd say a good amount of time would be 2-3 hours for the Permanent Exhibit, with another hour thrown in to see the other exhibits, get a bite to eat, and reflect on the experience.

The Best Time to Come to DC

Recently, Melanie E. wrote and asked:

Is it necessary to go through the "procedure" to get a self guided tour time to the National Archives for the last couple weeks of October? I'm hoping the lines are not long this time of year and that the National Archives will be a spot we can just drop in on anytime.

The short answer is, of course, heck no. You might run into a few minutes of a line from time to time, but it'll be a pale shadow of what we see in the Spring and Summer. And while it certainly doesn't hurt to get a self-guided tour reservation, it's not something you will need to plan around, like a Washington Monument ticket.

All of which got me thinking: when is the best time to visit DC? I thought I'd write a long, thoughtful post discussing the pros and cons of each season (that's when the weather changes, for you California visitors), but really, I couldn't do it. Why? Because hands down, the best time to visit Washington is the Fall. I'm not even going to try to defend the others.

And it's not as if you should run out and cancel if you have a Spring trip planned. It's not a bad thing to come in the Spring, Summer, or Winter; it's just overwhelmingly better in the Fall. Certainly, some events make each season worth visiting for. Cherry Blossom Festival has a well earned reputation as a great time to visit DC. The Fourth of July and Smithsonian Folklife Festival are highlights of my summer. And I enjoy Christmas in DC as well. Even if it's no Rockefeller Center, the National Christmas Tree is worth seeing.

So why come in the Fall? Two reasons: crowds and weather. Not much of the first, and just the right amount of the second. As far as crowds go, you're going to run into a smattering of school groups, but it'll be nothing like the Spring. They will almost be quaint in comparison, a few eager beavers snapping there pics and oohing and ahhing in wonderment. I love giving fall tours with school kids. You can relax and spend time really exploring the city, not herding them like masses of cattle, pushing them to get in line in front of the other groups, all the while trampling small children and old people. And while the Summer sees a noticeable drop off in eighth grade field trippers, it's replaced with local day campers, as well as families visiting Washington. Totally understandable, the Summer is when kids are out of school and families can get time to travel. But it does little to lessen the crowds.

Summer is also difficult for another reason. DC is hot, humid, and miserable. Make no mistake, I love this city, I love living here, and I plan to do it for many decades to come. Except in the Summer, when I literally wilt into a puddle of my own sweat and tears. I am not a pretty sight come August.

Winter is not a bad time to visit Washington, and our winters are quite mild compared to many Northern cities. Snow is an occasion for celebration, and you only generally a few good snows a year. Unfortunately, what you do get is the dreaded "wintery mix", which is a dispiriting crappy combination of snow, rain, and slush that is neither picturesque, nor fun to play in. It is dangerous to drive in, and unpleasant to walk in. And, for an added bonus, it will tend to freeze on the sidewalks making a walk down the block a perilous journey. I'd take a good solid snowfall any day of the week.

So that leaves Fall, in all its golden glory. I've always loved the fall, so perhaps I was biased in its favor to begin with, but in DC it's a wonderful mix of less crowds and jeans and a sweatshirt weather. You can swing by the Washington Monument at ten and stand a decent shot at getting a ticket. Many attractions, like the Holocaust Memorial Museum and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing no longer require advanced tickets. But, perhaps best of all, the Fall is when ghosts come out to play...