Day six…our final full day in Washington DC. I can’t believe we’re already at the end of
our trip! What a fun week it has been!
We didn’t get back to our hotel until after midnight last
night, so we were all relieved that our appointment to “skip the line” at the
National Archives was at 10:30 this morning.
We made it in to view our country’s founding documents…we were
awestruck. It was very surreal to look
at the actual documents. We all marveled
at their size. We didn’t expect the
pieces of parchment to be so large! It
was a very moving experience. I didn’t
expect it to make me feel as strongly as I did.
The visit was an after thought, and I’m so glad we took the time to go
over there this morning.
Our next stop was the National Gallery. As soon as we walked into the building we
smelled delicious food. It happened to
be lunch time. We decided to go ahead
and enjoy lunch at the French inspired café.
We enjoyed the food on the buffet and headed upstairs to the main floor
of the gallery.
We could have spent all day there, walking slowly from room
to room and taking it all in.
Unfortunately, we were unable to stay too long, as we had other stops on
our “must see today” list. We asked the
docents at the information desk if they could suggest highlights. They gave us a list of artwork that is
considered “must see” and a map to follow.
Within a short time we were able to see everything they suggested, as
well as a few other pieces that we really wanted to find.
Leaving the National Gallery, we headed to the Natl. Gallery Sculpture Garden and walked through on our way to the Museum of American History. This museum was full of interesting information organized by theme. I was excited to see some pop culture items, and enjoyed the Food exhibit. I thought this was a great way to make this topic relevant to kids. Daddio and I enjoyed the sections that reminded us of our childhood, and Sunshine was intrigued by the early fast food section, particularly the photos of old fast food restaurants. She also learned about “t.v. dinners” and how microwaves revoluntionized the food industry.
Leaving the National Gallery, we headed to the Natl. Gallery Sculpture Garden and walked through on our way to the Museum of American History. This museum was full of interesting information organized by theme. I was excited to see some pop culture items, and enjoyed the Food exhibit. I thought this was a great way to make this topic relevant to kids. Daddio and I enjoyed the sections that reminded us of our childhood, and Sunshine was intrigued by the early fast food section, particularly the photos of old fast food restaurants. She also learned about “t.v. dinners” and how microwaves revoluntionized the food industry.
We stayed at the Museum of American History until we were
kicked out by the guards. No “Night at
the Museum” for us! J It took us a few minutes to decide how to
tackle our next list item: seeing some more memorials. We decided to walk down to the Vietnam
Memorial and then work our way around to the Korean War Memorial and the MLK Jr
Memorial. It was a long walk, but it was
fun and full of good conversation. I was
happy to see the Vietnam Memorial in the daytime, too. I think it made a huge impact on Sunshine,
seeing the names in the sunlight, the sheer number of people whose lives were
lost. We also passed by Abe Lincoln
again, and had to stop and say hi. It
was good to get some daytime pics there, too.
On to the Korean War Memorial…
The Korean War Memorial design is unique and really brings
the reality of war to life. As we were
standing there, a young man walked to the front of the memorial where the wreath
had been laid. He bowed his body and
then bowed his head, standing in silence for a moment or two. As he lifted his head and looked out at the
memorial, I could see tears streaming down his face before he quickly wiped
them away. Observing his private moment
was so intimate, and something I will never forget.
The sky was full of ominous clouds, and the thunder rumbled
not too far off. We were racing the
radar, so we had to quickly move on to the new MLK Jr Memorial. I love how they used the imagery of his quote
to bring the monument to life. MLK Jr’s
statue looks out over the Tidal Basin, which is a a beautiful sight with the
Jefferson Memorial in the distance.
Unfortunately, it was not possible to make it out to the
Jefferson Memorial. It was about to
start pouring, and after our rainy playtime earlier in the week, we decided it was time to head for
shelter. We called a cab company and
asked them to come pick us up, and then several huge gusts of wind came through
and we decided to try to hail a cab on the street. We flagged one down heading the other
direction and he made a quick u-turn and came back to pick us up. Whew!
We were on our way to dinner.
On tonight’s menu: Cuban food! We were excited to try a restaurant we walked
past a few days ago. Sunshine had an
alcohol-free, raspberry mojito. Daddio
and I had raspberry infused caipirinhas.
Delicious! We also started with
shrimp ceviche before our entrees came.
Daddio ordered the seafood paella, while I had Lechon Asado and Sunshine
had the El Cubano sandwich. We finished
our meal with their dessert tapas sampler (rice pudding, flan, tres leches
cake) and coffee.
We made our way back to the hotel and everyone has passed
out from a busy day. I’m looking forward
to seeing what we can cram into tomorrow!
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