When we woke up our first morning in D.C., we walked a block or two to a deli and got some delicious breakfast sandwiches to go. We ate them in the comfort of our luxury suite, and then Jeddy went off to log in to his online algebra class, and the rest of us hit the books.
When Jeddy was done, we bundled up and took a long walk past the White House to the trolley tour welcome center.
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| Treasury Department |
The tour bus took us past the Capitol and the Supreme Court. At lunchtime we hopped off and walked to a mall food court for smoothies and sandwiches.
Next on The Itinerary was the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (where they print paper money) for a tour, but I was fortuitously warned by Google that the BEP was about to close for the day.
So we readjusted and rode the tour bus to the Jefferson Memorial instead.
We also visited the nearby and lesser-known George Mason Memorial.
George Mason is famous for refusing to sign the U.S. Constitution because it did not abolish slavery, and because it lacked a bill of rights. He also authored the Virginia Declaration of Rights, which influenced the Declaration of Independence and the eventual Bill of Rights added to the Constitution.
Way to go, George Mason!
After visiting Tom and George, we hopped back on the trolley and rode to the Lincoln Memorial, where we could switch buses to continue the tour at Arlington Cemetery.
Everyone was hungry, so I just managed to purchase snacks at a refreshment stand before we caught the bus. We shuttled to the Cemetery, where we learned that although we could carry snacks in our bag, any eating inside the cemetery is prohibited.
The tour turned out to be longer than I expected, including a required stop at Kennedy's Eternal Flame, which caused the Bangles song to be eternally stuck in my head.
We dutifully refrained from eating our snacks--even when the shuttle bus at the end waited and waited before pulling out of the cemetery--until the moment we exited the gates,.
After such a full day of touring, we did not intend to walk all the way home, so I took them into the Metro station, bought tickets, and gave a training speech on how to navigate turnstiles. Thankfully, they nailed it, and after some further instruction, also mastered riding the escalator single file on the right.
The Metro took us to within a block of our apartment, where I made spaghetti while Ada made salad and Lizzy set the table. It was lovely to sit down to a home-cooked meal, although I was so tired I was slumped against the wall. After cleanup and bedtime, I fell into my sofa bed and slept much deeper than the night before.
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