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Smithsonian Offers More Than Just A Night At The Museum With New Expeditions

If you've always wanted to make the hike to Machu Picchu to see the Incan ruins, or snorkel alongside the fish at the Great Barrier Reef, Smithsonian Journeys is foaming at the mouth with the desire to plan your trip. Journeys—the official travel program of the granddaddy of all museums, the Smithsonian—launched a new blog series and photo gallery focusing on UNESCO World Heritage sites, those places around the planet that the group deems to have "outstanding value to humanity."

Of course, both the blog and the photo gallery are a way for Journeys to entice you to take its educational tours. But the blog does offer mini history lessons (what do you expect, it's the Smithsonian) for each featured site. For example, one post discusses how shifting commercial routes helped preserve the traditional Vietnamese trading town of Hoi An. And to ensure you're learning something, the Smithsonian enlisted historians, scientists and travel experts to do the blogging.

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Tags: Inauguration Travel / Barack Obama / Museums / Smithsonian / → All Tags

Smithsonian Gets In On Inauguration Mania

If you've found a place to rent in DC during inauguration, you've probably had to commit to a several-night stay, which means you'll be looking to fit in some museum time in between all the Obama-inspired eating and drinking.

Luckily, the Smithsonian Institute has jumped on this town's obsession with all things Barack, announcing 10 new exhibits tied into the inauguration. If you can't make it into an official Obama party, you can relive Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural ball with the new exhibit at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, while the National Portrait Gallery is showing off its vast collection of Lincoln images, and the National Museum of American History brings back its popular First Ladies exhibit.

All the museums plan to keep their regular hours on Inauguration Day itself, although details are still being worked out with the Secret Service and could change.

Related Stories:
· Smithsonian Institute [Official Site]
· For the Inauguration, 10 Smithsonian Exhibits [WaPo]
· Inauguration Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Smithsonian]

Tags: Museums / Smithsonian / → All Tags

Smithsonian Debuts Star-Spangled New Museum

DC's Smithsonian Institution has been without one of its biggest draws for two years now, ever since the National Museum of American History closed for a renovation in 2006. To be sure, the stuffy museum was ripe for a redo: The building felt like it was stuck in history itself.

So after a long wait, the spruced-up museum reopens today, looking not much at all like it's former self. The museum's diverse artifacts--from the manuscript of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address to Muhammad Ali's boxing gloves--are now on display in a soaring, five-story, sky-lit atrium.

And the museum's historical mega star, the original, 200-year-old Star-Spangled Banner, is the centerpiece of the new facility, housed in a spiffy new glass gallery.

Related Stories:
· National Museum of American History [Official Site]
· Natural History Travel: The Smithsonian's New Sant Ocean Hall [Jaunted]

[Photo: Smithsonian]