Emma may dig this

Here's a few suggestions outside of the Mall...

The Spy Museum --http://www.spymuseum.org/. It's closer to your hotel than anything Smithsonian. The museum is quite popular - so you might want to hit it early in the day.

Smithsonian Zoo -- you'll get two birds (ha!) with this adventure. First, you'll see a top-notch zoo, complete with pandas and other what-not (the Emu is my little one's fav). Second, you'll have to take the Metro (red line) to get there. In fact, even if you choose not to go to the zoo - take the Metro somewhere. It's pretty cool by itself.

A Nationals Baseball game -- I don't remember your travel dates but catching a game at the brand-new stadium is definitely worth it. The 4,500 sq.ft HD scoreboard is ridiculous! I personally love going to DC United soccer games as well....

That's it for now!

Thanks Alex of Catan! We'll be there May 19-22 arriving in the afternoon on Monday, May 19 (assuming the train is running on time) and leaving in the late afternoon of Thursday, May 22. I'll check the schedule for the Nationals. That could be a hoot.

HA! I shall be known forever as Alex of Catan!

The Nationals are in town for those days. As for tickets, here are your best options. Craigslist -- you'll get a great deal there (especially for mid-week games). Make sure that the seller can send you the tickets via email. Just print them out and viola!

You can also get tickets outside of the stadium. DC is scalper-free but there's place set up for ticket holders to unload their extras (without jacking up the price). Don't bother with Ticketmaster -- you'll simply pay too much.

Capitol of Punk: Punk walking tours: http://yellowarrow.net/capitolofpunk/

Well, for a really cool mini-tour of Israel, try the Mt. St. Sepulchre/Franciscan Commissariat of the Holy Land. Although the website only shows the outside (which is beautiful), the inside has a life-size reproduction of all the sites of the Holy Land: the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Golgotha, the Church of the Nativity, and also a reproduction of the Roman catacombs. For Romans who can't afford to go to the Holy Land, this counts as a pilgrimage (IIRC). It's a beautiful and holy place to go.

But knowing you, you'll spend the day in some small film shop feeding quarters into the booth to keep the loop repeating.... :D

I have to say out of all the monuments the FDR one is the most striking - it uses water as waterfalls and reflecting pools to represent the FDR presidency - also it is by the cherry trees that will be in blossom.

For a dose of The District reality, try to catch Free Speech Night at Dupont Circle. Sorta open mic but outside and political. Usually Fridays early evening until....

The Holocaust Museum. I took my daughter when she was about 10-11 years old, at her request. Very sobering.

A friend of mine recommends the Museum of National History.

My Dad took me to DC when I was about Emma's age. We hit most of the major museums and monuments, but the ones that stick out the most in my memory are the National Gallery (because I saw a Leonardo Da Vinci painting for the first time), the National Air and Space Museum (lots of cool stuff there), and especially the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture garden (all modern art). I remember it best because there was a camera crew filming a promotional documentary or something similar, and they decided to follow me and my Dad around for awhile. We had to sign releases and everything...I felt like a movie star! I'm pretty sure that was also the museum where my Dad got scolded by a guard for daring to set an Alexander Calder stabile into motion for me...and sneaking back through the gallery later, we caught that same guard poking the sculpture himself. I don't think he'd realized that it was *supposed* to move...

Definitely a favorite memory of mine. :-)