The day after Christmas usually makes for ghost towns in other cities, and the same is true for many parts of D.C.

There’s a smattering of passengers on the Red Line headed to Shady Grove. Dupont Circle, one of the top five stations in terms of ridership, is empty compared to a normal weekday. Traffic is light, parking spots are aplenty, and pedestrians seem to be walking a step slower than a typical Thursday—even with balmy temperatures in the mid 50s. 

“I go on long walks often,” says Everett (he declined to give his last name due to “sensitivities around his government job”), who walked from his Georgetown home to Dupont Circle. “And I definitely noticed it being slower and emptier today.”

But he doesn’t enjoy it. “I like the hustle-bustle. It’s too quiet.” 

Things were a bit livelier a few miles south, on the National Mall, where both tourists and locals alike took the opportunity to explore the city’s sites. While crowds are far from peak summer levels, there were still lines to get through security at several of the Smithsonian museums. 

Toronto-native nine-year-old Lena Walker is one of those visitors in town for the holidays and spending December 26th going to the National Air and Space Museum. The museum is in the middle of major renovations, but Walker is enthusiastic even though the line is snaking down the building’s long exterior despite. “We want to see space!” she says with a grin.  

A day off gives locals a chance to be a tourist themselves (like those sometimes-infuriating Destination D.C. ads promote). Arlingtonian Lauren Hassel calls herself a “museum junkie” but hadn’t had a chance to visit the three-year-old African American History and Culture Museum—until today.

She works in the Arlington school system so time off when her kids are also not off can be elusive, but she found it today. “I have family in town so I had to escape them for a little bit,” Hassel says laughing. 

The museum normally requires tickets, but not this week.