Washington, DC — June 2018

The National Museum of African-American History and Culture and the Washington Monument​

13 photos at the U.S. Botanic Garden

19 photos​ from some of the places I visited. (View each photo individually to see the captions.)

It's been more than 20 years since I was last in Washington. I wanted to visit the many new museums I had never seen.

The weather was hot and humid, but I was indoors most of the time. It rained one afternoon, but, again, I was indoors during the rain.

I'm a rapid museum-goer. I rarely spend more than a couple of hours in any museum. Here's a day-by-day rundown of what I saw:

Saturday:

• National Postal Museum — Better than expected.
• National Building Museum — Less than expected. A nice building and store.
• International Spy Museum — OK. Not much new to me. The most crowded place I visited.

Sunday:

• Dumbarton Oaks Museum and Gardens — Better than expected.
• The Phillips Collection — OK. The featured exhibit was good.
• National Geographic Museum — Less than expected. There is a small permanent exhibition in the back building, and that is free. But you don't know that when you enter at the front, where you pay for only two exhibits, one of which I was not at all interested in seeing. There are also some fine large photos in the display windows all around the front building.

Monday:

• The Freer & Sackler Galleries — A few exceptional items.
• National Museum of African Art — OK, but not much of interest to me.
• National Museum of the American Indian — Several very good exhibits, but the tribe-by-tribe layout of some parts of the museum gets to be exhausting.
• Newseum — OK, but too many parts were just about historical events, not so much about the reporting of the events. And little about the history of news organizations. Altogether, less than I expected. A huge space. 
• Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial — Strong.
• National WWII Memorial — Not much at all.

Tuesday:

• U.S. Botanic Garden — Small, but enjoyable.
• National Museum of African American History and Culture — Very good material. Nicely done.
• U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum — A difficult layout, but the exhibits are excellent.

Bank and card fees

Responding to a column two weeks ago, I wrote this letter, published in today's Los Angeles Times:

The “Credit Card Fee Game” [May 20, Money Matters, by Catharine Hamm] made me think of two peeves of mine, one longstanding and one brand new:

— I go to Mexico several times a year. Even though Citigroup owns Banamex, I still get charged a hefty fee for getting pesos at a Banamex ATM using my Citibank ATM card. Grrr.

— My United Airlines MileagePlus Explorer Visa card has a hefty annual fee, but at least the 10,000 bonus miles I get for spending at least $25,000 per year almost completely pays for the annual fee.

However, the card company recently notified me that the 10,000 bonus miles benefit will be disappearing. Grrr.

Even though I fly United frequently and use this card as my main one, I hate fees, and I may not keep it after this year.

Rodney Hoffman