Washington – Day 3

Another day in Canberrica, another early start. For some reason, they insist on distributing tickets to various attractions on a first-come, first-served basis. Of course, there’s only a limited number of tickets, and they start distributing as early as 8 AM!

With that in mind, we grabbed a coffee and a muffin, and headed to line up for tickets to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, and then the US Capitol Building. Unfortunately, these two buildings are at opposite ends of the National Mall (almost 2km long), which meant by 9 AM we’d already walked about 4km! A sign of things to come, for sure.

The tour of the Capitol Building was a bit of a gip, as it only took us through 3 rooms of the gigantic complex. Still, without going on the tour, we wouldn’t have been allowed inside at all, so it was better than nothing. The Bureau of Engraving tour was much more interactive, taking us right through all the steps of how the US currency is printed. One funny moment from the tour came when the guide said that the printers always stay “ahead of technology” when it comes to printing money; yet when I asked why the US hadn’t moved to polymer notes like the rest of the world, she said she didn’t know! Americans, eh?

By the time we got out, it was about 1:30 PM, and we were all tired and hungry. It was at that point we discovered a peculiarity about the National Mall – there’s practically nowhere to eat! There’s a McDonalds attached to the Air and Space museum, a few museum eateries, and venders selling carnival style food (pizza, hotdogs etc) – but that’s it! No restaurants, no decent cafes – not even a Starbucks!

Finally we made it to Union Station where we ate at Johnny Rockets. The rest of the afternoon was pretty laid back with a trip out to Georgetown and Dupont Circle, both which were both a bit of a non (though rain prevented us from exploring more fully). Dupont Circle did have a lot of restaurants though, and we had some fantastic pasta and wine at a little Italian place before heading back to the hotel.

Whilst the rest of the troops got ready for bed, I headed out to check out the night sites, as everything is set up to be as remarkable in the evenings as it is through the day. I managed to get happy snaps of the Washington, Lincoln, World War II, and Korean War monuments in about 2 hours, with the assistance of a lot of running. If you’re ever in Canberrica, I’d highly recommend checking out the monuments in the evenings (as well as through the day), as not only are they most impressive, but there’s barely any people around. I just wish I had’ve remembered to bring the tripod!

I too was pleased to finally call it a day when I got back to the hotel around midnight.