The Holocaust Museum Was a Powerful, Sobering Experiencing, but I’m Deducting a Star for Lack of Parking Options

Nothing could prepare us for the deeply emotional and thought-provoking tour that was the Holocaust Museum and Memorial. This place is an unforgettable and important preservation of history that everyone with even a shred of humanity should experience. But honestly, the parking situation here is pretty bad, which is partly why I will not be giving five stars on this Yelp review I’m writing at the Applebee’s next door.

The exhibits were informative and moving. What the Jews went through during the Hitler regime was nothing short of abysmal and a blight on humanity. Also abysmal and a blight on humanity was having to search for street parking for 20 minutes because staff refused to let you use the handicap spots. We have kids and my hubby can’t parallel park. That’s as handicapped as you could ever be!

“Never again!” I said to myself as we walked an extra 12 minutes just to get to the front doors (18 if you count having to go back to the car to grab my sweater as it was nippy out), only for me to argue with the ticket counter for another half an hour until they accepted my Groupon. Yes, I understand it expired in 2019, and yes, I understand it was for a different Holocaust museum, but come on! $48 for two adults and two kids is outrageous!

As we made our way through the thoughtfully-curated museum, I went through a plethora of emotions: sadness of all that was lost, disgust at the brutality of the Nazis, anger that there was no food court to be found. We were literally STARVING. We had snacks in the car, but the thought of even walking back felt like a death march.

I also learned that while humans are capable of extraordinary good, they are equally capable of extraordinary evil, like when they closed the museum early for Yom Kippur. We paid $36! EVEN with a Groupon for crying out loud! Not to mention the $1.80 we had to shell out for the meter. I hadn’t even got my fill learning about all the concentration camps and stuff.

But despite some of my misgivings, I’m glad I got to educate myself more about the history of this terrible time period and the horror that was inflicted upon so many poor souls. I’m sure the Jews would rate their experience at Auschwitz and Treblinka one star. I would rate it zero stars if I could, but of course we all know that Yelp does not allow for zero star reviews.

So all things considered, I’m giving the Holocaust Museum and Memorial a respectable three and a half stars. Which is a half-star less than the rating I gave to the Applebee’s I’m currently at. (If the Holocaust Museum served dollaritas, I’d give it an extra star.)

Also, we got a ticket for parking in front of a driveway in a school zone by a fire hydrant, so if the Holocaust Museum would be so kind as to reimburse us for the charge, we can maybe talk about boosting my rating.