Ms. Given Goes to Washington in the Rain

Day One in D.C. begun nice and early. We woke up excited for the day and shortly after waking made our way down to the Metro Station. We were momentarily at a loss for how to go about getting the correct metro pass and which train to take when the gentleman working at the stop sorted us out in two minutes flat. He equipped us with a fool proof map and we were on our way.

Unfortunately this first day in D.C. was overcast and rainy. We knew it was going to be this way so we were lugging around a golf umbrella and a new box of gallon zip lock bags for our electronics. We had planned this day out to consist of mostly inside activities. On the list of things to do was tour the Capitol so we did.

We had read online that we needed to pick up tickets in advance and that there were a limited supply but upon arriving the line to tour was nearly empty. We had a short wait before our tour begun. I would like to mention that taking a tour of the capitol requires that you rid yourself of anything having to do with food or drink... Including water bottles. We not only had to empty our bottles out we had to throw the empty containers away! Outrageous in my opinion but we wanted to see the inside so we complied.

The tour was well set up albeit short. The way it worked was that every person in a tour group received a set of headphones and a little box that you plugged them into. The box received a signal from your tour guide's microphone and you had your personal tour guide in your head.

The inside of the Capitol was awesome and beautiful! I felt like a lot of the paintings and statues are symbolic and vary so greatly to be an awesome sight. Nothing inside the Capitol quite matched to the intimidating awing view it has from the exterior.

They seem to be doing a ton of construction on everything in D.C. It was a bit of a bummer that that was the case. After a tour of the Capitol we walked through the tunnel over to the Library of Congress. This was yet another impressive interior, with hand painted ceilings and walls. The artwork was everywhere, all of it of the best and finest quality.

There was a gap in the rain and I wanted to see Union Station. We power walked over to Union Station and made it inside. The place was huge and it was bustling with an assortment of people. In a lot of the taller buildings the city has installed or required a net protection from debris that had been dislodged in the recent earthquake. After walking around a little bit we decided it was lunch time.

We got back on the train and rode the metro towards the White House because this was a must see for me. When we arrived at the train station closest to the Mall we went on Urban Spoon to see what they suggested to eat in the area. Most of it was way out of our price range and dress code but we managed to find a hole in the wall delicious German food restaurant called "Cafe Mozart". We had some complicated name pasta dish that ended up being a fancy version of Mac and Cheese, yum! Sean went with a sausage sampler dish which turned out to be quite tasty as well.

After we ate we trudged through the puddles and the rain over to the Washington Monument and the White House. I managed to con some kind people to take pictures of us standing in the rain in front of these awesome structures. I would like to point out that me handing my new camera over to strangers happened very VERY often. I implemented a rule to hand the camera only to people I could outrun. I have held to this as best as possible.

A trade is also acceptable, you take my picture and I will take yours. I always make them take my picture first... Just in case.

After this excitement of seeing he White House I wanted to find myself back under cover so we chose to go to the Holocaust Museum. I didn't realize we needed tickets to see the permanent exhibit so we only got to see the ones that they change. It was a real good museum so we decided to come back the next day to see if we could snag some tickets.

It was my first time in D.C. so we got to do a lot of things that I want to do. I still needed something that would be indoors so I chose a museum, the Museum of Natural History.  I took pictures of all of the animals they had collected. My favorite was the fanged deer! My second favorite thing was a bit more famous and rather impressive was the Hope Diamond.

We left the museum and walked out front to a giant castle! It was the SMithsonian Castle and I loved everything about it. The dark red brick, the imposing frame/ feel, and the beautiful gardens they had planted in the front.

 My legs were rather tired by the end of the day but we had time to go and check out the National Archives before we got on a train back to the hotel. We took a short cut through a alleyway garden that truly was a nice change of pace from all the stone buildings.

 When we arrived at the building they were about to shut down for the day but they would allow the last few clumps of people to siphon through the main area where they had the good stuff on display. We made it inside where we viewed first hand the originals to the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, the Emancipation Proclamation, and a Magna Carta. It was humbling to be looking at documents so monumental, so old, and so meaningful to the country we live in. I wish we had more time but it just wasn't in the cards.

On a fun note one of the things we saw there was a bill of sale for a piece of property signed by the father of Laura Ingalls! Who happens to be the author of one of my favorite children's series, little house on the prairie. Sufficient to say that I was pretty excited to see this document. Unfortunately no pictures were allowed in the archive building but it was wonderful to see.

My first day in Washington may have been rainy but it was a lot of fun, and it was only the beginning! =]