DC Trip - Day 1

Our first real day in DC was Saturday, March 23.  We got up in the morning and ate at a cute crepe place near Keith's house.  They were really yummy.  The shop is small, so you can watch how they make the crepes while waiting for your food - entertainment and good food!

This was really only my second time having a crepe and this time I went with a savory one instead of sweet.  I got egg, cheese and spinach - it was delicious.  I got to try a bite of Lindsey and Keith's (and mom's) too Lin and Keith both got sweet crepes with nutella - they were yummy too.

Then we headed to the subway station to head down to the mall.  It was really nice that Keith knew the system - made us feel more comfortable.

We left the subway and headed up to the mall.  One of the cool things about getting out at a station like that is you get off the escalator and you are right there around all these memorials and buildings you seen in movies and TV.  We then started the longest walk of my life (dramatic much) - we walked toward the Washington Memorial

That looks familiar!

Looking back you can see the US Capital Building

Way back there in the distance.

The Washington Memorial is currently being worked on due the the earthquake that happened awhile ago.  You can't get up close to it right now... but that was something I did when I was there the first time waaaaay back in the nineties (1995 I believe)

Then we saw the World War II Memorial.

This memorial is quite jam packed... they have a section for each state

Hey, we're from there!

And sections for D-Day, women's role in the war and a memento to those that died.


This explains about the wall of stars for all those that died or went missing.  One star for every 100 - and there was a lot of stars 4,054 to be exact.

One of the best things about visiting this memorial is there was a group of honor flight veterans there experiencing their memorial for the very first time.  I've actually written about honor flight before, but it's a wonderful program.  As the post tells you my grandpa got to participant in it and he still talks about what an amazing experience it is.  Over the weekend at Easter I talked to him about seeing his memorial and he got all choked up about it.  It really does mean a lot to the WWII Veterans!

Next we headed over to the Vietnam War Memorial.  That one really puts in perspective that war as well.  It's just a sleek black granite wall with all the names of those soldiers that died or went missing (the difference is marked).  There are volunteers and park guides standing around that will help you find a name of the wall.  There were also flowers and other items left by family members and friends near their name.

Next we headed across the street to see the Albert Einstein Memorial - let me tell you how challenging it was to get this picture!

Back away other families!

Then we made our way over to the Lincoln Memorial.  There is so much Lincoln around, and we've done so many Lincoln related national parks, so seeing the big guy in his memorial on the mall was pretty great.

So many people everywhere!

Pretty amazing view looked at the Reflecting Pool and the Washington Monument

Next we went to the Korean War Memorial.  I really like that all the memorials are unique.  This one had statues in military ware marching together.

There is also a wall with etched faces in it.

Can you see my reflection?

We then headed across the street to see the new Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial.  You walk up to this wall - which I think was the wall of inequality.

Then there's another big stone in the middle and there he is - the one that broke down the barriers. 
The memorial is also filled with many quotes from Martin Luther King Jr.

 

Next to MLK's memorial is the VERY big FDR Memorial.  I guess there was a lot to cover since he was president for so long and did some many wonderful things for this country.

Hey, another one of mom!

There were many different statues there - you know people like posing with statues.

There's got to be something better on...

Waiting for those government handouts :)

There was a part with all this iron work - with hand prints on it - so we TCL Chinese Theatered it

my hand fits!
 

Then we made the walk over the the Jefferson Memorial.

Are we ever going to get there?!?

There's the man himself - I already knew some about him and westward expansion from working at the Arch.

Looking up at Jefferson

Picture not staged at all :-/

What a view - only time we saw the White House... sadly...

Waaaay in the distance

After the Jefferson Memorial we walked a bunch to find something to eat.  We ate at Pot Belly Subs, which was good and we luckily got there 15 minutes before they closed... whew - we were happy to site down for awhile.  After we were full and rested a bit we headed to the subway to go to our next stop.  When we exited the metro there were some street performers - a guy playing drums on buckets and a dance crew.  We checked them out and then headed over to the International Spy Museum.

The museum was pretty great.  It had a lot of interactive exhibits and lots of things to read and see.  Some of the interactive exhibits were identifying the person in disguise and code breaking.  It was a bit on the crowded side (but what's new we were in DC) and probably less crowded than it could be.  They do try to steadily release people into the museum so not everyone goes in at once which is nice.  There were some good videos to see - our favorite was at the end which had real life spies talking about their 'Bond' moments.  You couldn't take any pictures in the museum part - but here's a photo of a James Bond villain car from the lobby.

Showed the video of the car on that screen - one of the Pierce Brosnan ones in some ice scene.

Speaking of the James Bond thing - they had a whole exhibit of James Bond villains - which was pretty neat even though I've only seen Casino Royale and Quantam of Solace.  I will say that Keith got us discounted tickets, but normally this place costs $20 a person - I'm not sure if it's worth that since 4 adults (like us) would have been $80... but it was a very good museum especially if you think spy history is cool (which duh, it is!)

We were really REALLY beat by the end of the day and headed back home.  We ordered delivery from a nearby Thai place and went to bed early.  I know I was very sore (stupid hips) as were everyone else... but Keith since he's used to walking so much.  Goes to show I need to get into shape!