Washington DC – ThePassportPrincess

Day 33 Washington #3

September 15, 2015June 13, 2016SarahLeave a comment

My final full day in Washington DC.
To be completely honest I wasted half the day sleeping in and then didn’t get out of bed till like 12pm.

I missed the football game I had signed up for and instead had some wonderful shut eye. It was nice not having to run and catch the bus early that morning so I was making the most of bed time haha.

When I did get out of bed, I headed out for a big walk with Ethan again. We went and got Thai food from this place like 15 minutes away which had the best ever lemonade.

It was nice to have Thai food because I haven’t had it since I left home!
I got a curry which ended up being alright apart from the potatoes being under-cooked.
I don’t know why they do that in America but it’s like the second time it’s happened to me.

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After a late lunch, we headed on for our walk and ended up walking past the zoo so decided to go there.
It’s cool because so many things are free in Washington DC, including the zoo.

I even saw a fishing cat which was pretty cool!

This one above was sleeping.

I also saw lots of birds, a couple of elephants, zebras, cheetahs, gorillas haha. I even tried this American ice cream thing. It’s like these colorful small balls that look like tiny beans (like in a bean bag) but it’s actually ice cream and it melts in your mouth haha.

When we were done at the zoo we walked out a different entrance and ended up getting a bit lost.
The walk back to the hotel ended up taking forever!
My feet were so sore 😯

Eventually we made it though and I lost 10kgs from the walk. Haha!

That was the last night of Contiki so there was lots of t-shirt signing and everyone saying how much they were going to miss each other that night.
I thought I had a white t-shirt in my bag but I must have lost it along the way because when I went the get it I couldn’t find it. 😕
No t-shirt signing for me!
I was going to get one the next day and get everyone to sign it on the bus but I couldn’t be bothered in the end.

I didn’t end up going out that night, too tired! And as it’s nearly the end of my American trip I’m running out if American funds. 💲💸

Even though it doesn’t seem like it from what I’ve written, there is literally so much to do in Washington D.C!
All The Smithsonian Museums are really popular. I would have loved to go and see the National Air and Space Museum but I just ran out of time/got a bit slack towards the end of my trip.
There’s lots of memorials to look at like The Korean War Veterans Memorial and The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial and the Jefferson Memorial
The Newseum on Pennsylvania Ave is worth a look if you have the time. It has seven levels of interactive exhibits include 15 galleries and 15 theaters. One of the exhibits is the 9/11 Gallery which has the broadcast antennae from the top of the World Trade Center.
You can also see the Berlin Wall Gallery where eight concrete sections are shown from the largest pieces of the original wall outside Germany, and the Pulitzer Prize Photographs Gallery which features photographs from every Pulitzer Prize-winning entry dating back to 1942.

I might do a ‘What to do in Washington D.C’ Post at some point.

Day 32 Washington DC #2

September 15, 2015June 13, 2016SarahLeave a comment

The next morning, I got up and ready and headed down to use the Subway to meet my friend Ethan so we could go exploring.
After trying a pretzel for the first time (not terribly great to be honest) we went and learnt some stuff around Washington D.C

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I think we only saw one museum on that second day but it basically took up the whole entire day.
We went to see one of the many Smithsonian museums they have located around Washington DC.
We ended up choosing The Museum of American History.
It was actually pretty interesting reading about the ‘history’ of America.
They had everything from the toys kids used to play with growing up in America, stuff about Abraham Lincoln and the Star-Spangled Banner Flag.

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The Flag was the garrison flag that flew over Fort McHenry in Baltimore Harbor during the naval portion of the Battle of Baltimore during the War of 1812.
The flag has fifteen horizontal red and white stripes, as well as fifteen white stars in the blue field. The two additional stars and stripes, approved by the United States Congress‘s Flag Act of 1794, represent Vermont and Kentucky’s entrance into the Union.

They also had “The First Ladies Collection” which pays homage to the wives of many commanders-in-chief. There’s more than two dozen gowns, fine china and other furnishings from First Ladies.
There’s heaps more to write about but I might just put some pictures up instead.

After exploring the museum for many hours, we went and saw The White House!
It’s so bloody perfect I wish I lived there. I didn’t get to see Obama though, he was obviously critically ill or something and didn’t want to get me sick.

Once back at the hotel, I got ready for drinks at this Irish Pub.
I wasn’t sure what to expect but it was actually really good.
It was $10 at the door and you got unlimited drinks for the next 2 hours. No wonder so many people were there haha.

The drinks however got to some people a little bit too much…

Haha I love this guy.

I however did not spew so it was a win for me that night!

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(Bit of a short blog I know)

Day 31 – Washington DC

September 15, 2015June 13, 2016SarahLeave a comment

I didn’t really think about Washington DC when I signed up for this trip. I knew it was the capital but was kind of oblivious to how much history and museums there are here!

Washington was one of our longer stops. We arrived on Friday afternoon and didn’t leave until Monday morning.

When we arrived in Washington DC, we went to the Arlington National Cemetery which is the final resting place of more than 400,000 fallen heroes from the fronts of Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the veterans of World Wars I and II, the Korean conflict, Vietnam, the Cold War and America’s Civil War

We went and saw The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier which pays tribute to an unidentified American soldier from World War I and we also watched the changing of the guard.
The tomb is guarded 24 hours a day, every day of the year by tomb guard sentinels. They’re considered to be the best of the 3rd U.S Infantry Regiment headquartered at Fort Myer, Virginia.

It was pretty cool to check out the changing of the guards. They change every hour and it’s pretty intense to watch. I could never do their job because I get too impatient even sitting at my desk all day.

After watching the guards, we went and viewed the grave for John F Kennedy and his brother and deceased children.
When Mr Kennedy died, his wife Mrs. Kennedy had expressed a desire to mark the president’s grave with an eternal flame similar to that of the French Unknown Soldier in Paris.
A propane-fed torch was selected and lit by Mrs. Kennedy during the funeral of her husband. The Eternal Flame burns from the center of a five-foot circular flat-granite stone at the head of the grave. It’s specially designed so there’s a constantly flashing electric spark near the tip of the nozzle which re-lights if it’s extinguished by rain, wind or accident.

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After visiting the cemetery we checked into our hotel Days Inn and I got ready for our dinner.
We were all meant to wear ‘American themed’ clothing but I couldn’t find any clothing with the flag or colors on it when we had our lunch stop that day so just dressed normally.

Dinner was next door at the Italian restaurant. It was basically a buffet pizza bar and a bowl of salad which was fine but the pizza was only 3 different flavors. Pepperoni, cheese and one with olives all over it. So it was a bit un-interesting.

Once we’d finished dinner, we had a 4 hour tour around Washington!
Another old Contiki tour guide who lives in Washington came on the coach and took the tour for us.
Our first stop was Capitol Hill.

It didn’t look like the above picture though, more like this…

They’re re-do ing the dome part I think so they had lots of scaffolding up around it.
Here is where the Senate and the House of Representatives come together to discuss, debate and deliberate national policy and craft the country’s laws.
Apparantly the Pope is coming to Washington DC later this month and is going here. Oooo… exciting…

After that, we had more of a drive around the city and saw the Washington Monument which was built to honour George Washington the commander-in-chief of the Continental Army and the first president of the United States.

We then took around an hour’s walk around lots of memorials.
Such as the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial which was along the Tidal Basin, as well as the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial.

Jefferson Memorial and Washington Monument Washington DC Tidal Basin Blue moment Predawn Low light photography

My phone never takes very good pictures in the dark it seems…so that last picture I’ve added that someone else has taken.

We finished off our tour at the Lincoln Memorial which was really nice in front of the water. It was built in white stone with 36 iconic columns and honors the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln.

washigton_dc_lincoln_memorial_at_night — Lincoln Memorial at night time

And during the day (credit to Google for the pictures)

When our tour was over, we went back to the hotel and headed next door to the restaurant again to have some drinks.
Not too many people were keen to go out so I went with Rob, Johnathon and Geoffrey (the usual going – out crew) and took an Uber more into the city.
We found a club and went there for the night.
It wasn’t too bad but wasn’t terribly exciting either. I think I left around 1am after trying to be a good wing – woman for one of the boys and then having a late Mexican 2nd dinner haha.