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.