Washington DC - Day 4

Saturday was our last full day in DC. We started the day by grabbing a sandwich from Subway and eating it in Dupont Circle. Next we found a stop for the double decker sightseeing bus and got on. The bus drives by all major sights and tourists are able to get on and off the bus at 30 different stops along the way, as they please. The bus drove by such sights as: National Cathedral, Georgetown, Arlington National Cemetery, Lincoln Memorial, and Ford's Theatre, just to name a few. We started our tour at Dupont Circle, stop 11, and didn't get off the bus until stop 1, Union Station. We walked around inside Union Station for a short time and then got back on a bus and rode to Arlington National Cemetery, stop 20. At Arlington we saw the eternal flame at JFK's grave and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. At the tomb we watched the Tomb Guard Sentinels, who guard the tomb 27/7. Upon leaving the cemetery, we took the bus to stop 24, and walked to the Jefferson Memorial. Opposite the Tidal Basin in front of the memorial, people can rent paddle boats and cruise around the basin. Eric and I stopped to see about renting a paddle boat, and were approached by a friendly, single woman who offered to pay the way if she could ride with us. She explained that after numerous trips to DC, she had never been able to convince her husband into taking her. She had decided to ride the boat without him, but didn't think she could do it alone. We thanked her for the offer, but explained that we didn't have enough time to go for the ride. The truth was, we really preferred to go by ourselves. So to back up our story, we walked on over to the Jefferson Memorial to see it up close. Before we left the memorial we walked to the edge, along the water and watched the paddle boaters; planning to head back over to the rental counter to rent a boat of our own. We spotted our "friend" alone on a paddle boat and waved to each other. We didn't want to appear to be liars, so we left after that and missed out on our boat trip. We felt bad that the woman was alone, but we really didn't want to be on the tiny boat with a stranger, since it was sort of a romantic thing to do.
Since the bus had stopped running by this time, we walked to the nearest subway station and took it back to our hotel. We cleaned up and headed back to the area we had just came from to go to dinner. The restaurant we picked out of Frommer's was Oyamel. It is a Mexican restaurant that is also sort of a tapas place. We sat at the bar and each had a Oyamel margarita while we waited for our table to be ready. Instead of the traditional salt rimmed glass, this drink has a salt foam at the top. It was very cool. When we got to the table we ordered a pitcher of traditional margaritas and a bowl of guacamole that they make fresh at your table. After that we ordered a total of 6 dishes, consisting of: Mejillones al tequila con chipotle (steamed mussels with tequila, sautéed garlic and chipotle sauce), Albóndigas enchipotladas con queso doble crema (meatballs in chipotle sauce with crumbled ‘double cream’ cheese and cilantro), Chapulines (the legendary Oaxacan speciality of sautéed grasshoppers, served with shallots, garlic and tequila), Lengua guisada (braised beef tongue with radishes and a sauce of roasted pasilla chili, tomatoes, onion and garlic), Carnitas con salsa de tomatillo (confit of baby pig with green tomatillo sauce, pork rinds, onions and cilantro), and Arrachera con salsa molcajeta y nopales escabeche (grilled skirt steak in a sauce of grilled tomatoes, tomatillos, green onions, cilantro and green chile, garnished with pickled cactus paddle. Even though some of the dishes were a little out of ordinary, it was all outstanding. Our dining experience at Oyamel pretty much marked the end of our trip, since all we did after that was go back to our room to relax and left for home the next day.

Washington DC - Day 3

Friday marked day three of our trip. Eric and I slept in pretty late, like we usually do when we are on vacation. After we got around we walked to a nearby Chipotle and got some tacos. We took our food back to Dupont Circle to eat while relaxing on the benches in the beautiful weather. Following lunch, we purchased our day passes for the subway and then rode to the closest stop to our destination, the National Museum of Natural History. After wandering around inside we saw that there was an IMAX theater, so we decided to see a show. We reviewed our options of movies and chose Dinosaurs: Giants of Patagonia. While we waited for it to start we looked at some more of the exhibits and got something to drink and a cappuccino gelato from the cafeteria. The IMAX show was pretty cool. It was in 3D, and I sat back in my chair throughout a lot of the show since it felt like the dinosaurs were coming at me. Following the show we went back to looking at exhibits for a few hours. Some of the things that we saw were: the Hope Diamond, lots of dinosaur bones, numerous mammals, ancient Egyptian artifacts, various underwater creatures, and countless other items. While Eric and I were at the museum the weather took a turn for the worse. We stepped outside to leave and it was pouring rain. We waited around for it to stop, but it didn't seem like there was an end in sight. Since we had left our umbrellas in the suitcase at the hotel, we went back inside to the gift shop to buy ponchos. I think they were $5 each. They were pretty much large trash bags with arm holes and a hood and ended up being almost completely worthless. It was raining super hard, so the water soaked our feet in less than a minute and the began working its way up our jeans quickly as well. We stopped under some overhangs for breaks from the rain a few times on our way back to the subway. We went back to the hotel to get into some dry clothes since the stupid rain cut our sightseeing short again. Of course the rain stopped shortly after we got back to the hotel. Sitting on the floor in our room, I used my blow dryer to dry our jeans and shoes that we had been wearing. While we were drying off I consulted my Frommer's book and decided on Hank's Oyster Bar for dinner. We walked to the restaurant and had to wait quite a while for a table since the little restaurant was so popular. We ended up getting the corner table on the patio that we had been hoping to be seated at. The meal was full of firsts for me. I had the first oysters that I really enjoyed, my first ceviche, and my first soft-shell crab. We had a great time and enjoyed a delicious meal. We were going to get a few beers to take to our room, but the liquor stores had closed by the time we had made our way back to the hotel. We ended up having some over-priced drinks at the bar in our hotel before going upstairs to go to bed.

Washington DC - Day 2

Before heading out for sightseeing on Thursday, we went to James Hoban's for lunch. It is an Irish Pub across the street from the restaurant we ate at the previous night. To my dismay they were out of bangers and mash, so I settled for Chicken Pot Pie while Eric chose the Shepard's Pie. Both dishes were delicious. With full stomachs, we headed to the nearby subway station. We both found DC's subway system to be very nice; it was clean and easy to navigate. We ended up getting day passes each of the remaining days we were there. Eric and I took the subway to the nearest stop to the National Archives. We had to wait in line outside the museum for almost an hour before getting in. It was pretty hot, and there was no shade so it wasn't much fun waiting. Admission to the National Archives is free and there are lots of interesting things to see. Besides the Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights you can see a variety of documents such as the Magna Carta, a map of the battle of Gettysburg, Rosa Parks' police report, and a number of additional items. The lighting in the room where the Declaration of Independence is shown is kept very dim, and the temperature felt cooler than the rest of the building. There are beautiful murals on the upper portion of the domed room. The documents themselves are faded and somewhat difficult to read.

After we left the National Archives we walked to the Capitol Building. I had to take more pictures of the ducks in the pond in front of the Capitol. There is a clear view of the Washington Monument from the front of the Capitol. Unfortunately we were not able to go in the Capitol Building. Our sightseeing was cut short because a storm came up. We quickly made our way to the nearest subway stop and headed back to the hotel. Eric and I got cleaned up and went to dinner at Sala Thai, which was recommended by Frommer's. Frommer's is usually pretty spot on with recommendations, but was wrong about this place. We were not impressed at all. After our disappointing dinner we went back to James Hoban's for a few beers before calling it a night. We were pleasantly surprised to find that the bar had a talented live performer, Willard Dickie, who played guitar and sang cover songs.