Smithsonian Institution — Attraction in Washington

World class museums but extremely subpar mismanagement and handling of reopening. Don’t even waste your time trying to get a “timed” ticket for entry as they are impossible to get for most museums. First only a handful are released for each day a month prior. They offer “limited” tickets each day online at 11am but they are next to impossible to get. My wife and I have tried for several days during our stay in DC to get one. The technology behind their allocation system is broke. Two days in a row my wife and I simultaneously tried to follow the cumbersome instructions to get a ticket and we were both met with web page error codes and glitches that prevented our completing the ticket process. We were able to get tickets to the Air and Space museum with a last minute timed ticket and the museum was great however the reasoning behind the time tickets is fundamentally flawed and does little if anything to protect the patrons or employees from anything COVID related. They need to reopen completely and get rid of this timed ticket nonsense. For an institution staffed with the words best academics I would have expected a much better...

The Smithsonian Museums are great. I've been to Natural History, American History, African American History & Culture, African Art, Freer, Sackler, Hirshhorn (they just completed some renovations a few months ago), Air & Space (can't wait until they finish renovations in 2025) and American Indian (gotta try the Bison Burgers).

Now, I am getting away from the main topic. I live in the area, and I don't suggest eating from the food trucks. Think about this where do they go to use the bathroom? You have to have a free timed pass to get into the Air & Space and African American History & Culture. I know plenty of people who have gotten sick after eating from the food trucks. Last weekend, the health department did a random license inspection. The majority of the food trucks were evacuated and towed away because they didn't produce the proper licensing. Now, if they don't care about your health & they only care about taking your money. Do you really think it's a good idea to take a risk with your health, spend your hard earned money, and possibly jeopardize the time you want to spend enjoying yourself exploring...

We stopped in here around 8:30 A.M. while we were waiting for other museums to open. We were just in time for a tour, which covered the highlights of the displays and Smithsonian history. The tour was short and well worth our time, and we finished up looking at the various displays once it was done. The little coffee shop is a benefit, and a great place to stop and rest at any point during the day. One thing - the machine that takes your picture and then builds a composite picture using images of your area of interest (Science, arts, etc.) doesn't seem to work correctly. The composite image is supposed to be emailed to you, but almost a week later we have not received the email with...