The Newseum

We've been trying to visit some of the private museums in the area for some time now. You may recall that we did end up going to the Spy Museum not long after we moved to DC. However, the one museum that has always evaded us was the Newseum. You see, the private museums in the area have slightly offensive admission prices. As luck would have it, Groupon recently began running specials on some of the better known attractions around town including the Newseum and Mt. Vernon. We snatched up a few tickets and took off on Saturday.

The Newseum itself is a beautiful glass building just down the street from the capitol. We were almost more impressed with the building itself than we were with the exhibits inside. Like the Spy Museum, there were a few really interesting/cool exhibits. But overall, the Smithsonian museums are significantly better. 

The Berlin Wall, David Hasselhoff not included

The Communist section was one of the more interesting ones in the museum. They had sections of the Berlin Wall. Watchtowers from the East German side. The fallen, decapitated statue of Lenin. In short, it was a grim and grey reminder of the Cold War era. 

Oddly enough, the view was also one of our favorite things about the Newseum. Most buildings in DC are short, squatty, and stretch on for blocks. There aren't a lot of publicly accessible vantage points around town. So, when we do find a good one, it's always a treat. We told you earlier about the Old Post Office tower which was a secret few people actually knew about that offered the same view as the Washington Monument without the long lines. However, since our visit last summer they have closed down the Old Post Office Pavilion and sold it to Donald Trump who is turning it into a hotel. So, the Newseum might be the last "available" vantage point around for quite some time.

The last thing that really stood out was the 9/11 exhibit. The picture above was a communication tower from one of the buildings which was found among the rubble. They had copies of newspapers from around the world from 9/12. It was really interesting to see the worldwide reaction to such a catastrophic collapse. There were also several cell phones, shoes, cameras, handbags, and other personal items. Each and every one was covered in layers of thick dust from the collapse. It really put things back into perspective once again.

Overall we liked the Newseum. But you'll definitely want to catch a coupon. Entrance fees range between 15 and 25 dollars per person. It was cool, just not $100 worth of cool!