New record: gerrod has gone without internet for 4 days, and lemmie tell ya somethin’, it wasn’t pretty. Anyway, here’s the summary of our first 2 days in Washington, with the other 2 days and photos to come soon (much as I’d love to do them all now, it’s almost 1 AM, I’m very tired, and have to work tomorrow – sorry)!
We’ve been planning for our trip to Washington for so long, it was hard to believe it was finally time to go! Of course, we weren’t too excited about getting up at 5 AM to catch our flight, but things were looking up when we arrived at the airport. A smooth flight later, and we landed in the nation’s capital! Kristy’s Dad was quick to say that it was just like “the Canberra of America” – so I’ve started calling it, Canberrica.
After checking in to our hotel (and scoring a free upgrade to the junior suite!), we headed to the information centre to pick up some maps and information about the town. Just like in Philly, it was raining for our arrival – I’m starting to think we’re cursed. Anyway, we didn’t have an umbrella, so Kristy tried (unsuccessfully) to steal one from a local.
Next, it was time to hit the town! The main “sites” of Canberrica are organised along the National Mall – basically a long strip of grass with the Capitol Building at one end, and the Washington monument at the other. Our first stop was to the Air & Space museum, which detailed the evolution of flight – everything from the Wright Brothers to space missions!
We took a scenic route home, taking lots of happy snaps at the Capitol Building and in the grounds around it. We finished up at Union Station – the main subway and train terminal in Canberrica. It’s just beautiful! Lots of arches, columns, high ceilings, etc – most impressive. By the time we got home we were pretty wrecked, so we grabbed some local chow and hit the sack.
Sunday saw another early start – we had to be back at the mall early to pick up tickets to go up the Washington Memorial. The early wait paid off though – the Washington Memorial is the highest standing, fully stone structure in the world at over 550 feet. Up top we got a fantastic view of the city, including George’s place (the White House), the Capitol building, the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials, and the Pentagon.
After lunch, we hit as many memorials as we could cram in, including Jefferson, Roosevelt, Lincoln, and World War II. The Lincoln memorial and the World War II memorial are separated by the reflecting pool, which I especially loved. (That’s the one from Forrest Gump, where he’s giving a speech about the war, and Jenny comes out of the massive crowd and runs across the pond.) It was a lot of walking! We made a bee line for home via George’s place – rather a nice house may I say, I could see myself living there. It even comes with its own snipers on the roof!
The Harvey contingent were practically asleep as soon as we hit the hotel room, so the Thomases ventured out to Adams Morgan for dinner. We ate at an awesome Indian restaurant – Eastern kind, not the native American kind – then headed back to the hotel room. Needless to say that after walking about 20km that day, we were most glad to get to bed… ready to do it all again on Monday.
6 comments
I’m exhausted just reading about it!
That’s not very nice of Mickey not to share his umbrella – clearly you can see he is not using it, and he has a raincoat on!
sound’s like an exhausting trip. A fun one by the looks of things though.
Sounds like you had a good trip and looks like you had at least a little bit of good weather. The only time I ever visited there it was just either overcast or lightly drizzling. So depressing! You should also try to get the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum It may get a little depressing after a while but it’s one that is really worthwhile visiting.
Hey Pat – Yeah I saw that museum, and was very keen to check it out; but unfortunately we didn’t get a chance
. There’s just way too much to see in Washington!
Yeah I agree. There are so many monuments, museums and buildings to and look at (and so much walking around to do!)