We're Home but the Blog still needs updates!!! Part 1

This is what happens when exhaustion sets in, or the Internet connection is poor - I get waaaay behind in writing about our trip. But because it helps us to remember what we've done and it helps to give our friends an overview of our experiences, I'll try to catch up here. Pictures may take a few more days to upload as they're on my teeny tiny mini laptop and I'm writing now on our home computer.

Day two of three in DC Friday, July 23, 2010

This next day was another early day, as we needed to get in line to get tickets to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Where the money's made! They have a system, that at 8:00, am, in the morning, they start handing out free tickets (every government building is free, but they limit the visitors by giving tickets). Since we rarely get out of the hotel before 10:00, this was going to be quite an accomplishment for us to make it on time. We arrived there at 7:50 and saw a relatively short line! What a surprise. We heard the tickets are usually gone by 9:00. So we, and about 12 others waited until we saw a sign that stated that the booth to hand out tickets was on the other side of the building. This entrance was only for your appointed time!!! All of us rushed around and saw the 2 block long line! Ugh!!! The humidity was already increasing, and we went through all the bottles of water we had within a few minutes. But like everything else, we survived this too, and got tickets for the 1:00 tour. I wanted to see the Holocaust Museum, just to the right of the BofEand P. however, that too required a free ticket, and they weren't handing out the tickets until 10:00 when it opened. So another 45 minute wait. However, it was in the shade, with benches, so I waited while I sent Russ and the boys to the air conditioned cafe nearby. I had a great time visiting with a couple from Oregon, who were teachers. Then, Russ came to relieve me and I got a break too. It is advised that those 11 and older visit the exhibits of this museum and the younger ones visit only the visitor's center that doesn't require a ticket. Russ took Jonathan through that part while Chris and I went through the 3 floors of the museum. No cameras were allowed.
Each floor was dedicated to a component: The propaganda and building up to the deception of the general population. was on the top floor. Then the Horror of Holocaust; the murder of Jews, and others that Hitler considered undesirable was on the next floor. And the freeing of the imprisoned people and end of the war was on the last floor. There were models and artifacts of the various parts of the camps, but the most touching part was where room where the survivor's' recorded their stories, and memories about their experiences. I had to skip some parts - like the medical experiments and gratefully came to the floor where the survivors were freed. It was sad to see the piles of shoes, and canes and other personal things. We were each given a "passport" of a person who actually was sent to a camp with a story about them. Then we could look on the wall of the names of those who survived. Sadly neither mine nor Chris' person's name was on the wall. The last part had a wall dedicated to the people who hid or smuggled the Jews out of the areas that were attacked. Their stories, sometimes their pictures were there for us to read. It amazed me to see how much they risked to help their fellow man. Of course, those who were caught, never could tell their story as they too became a victim. I wondered, would I have been willing to put my family at risk by helping a stranger? I hope I would have helped. Somehow.

Since it took Chris and me about 1 1/2 hours to go through this museum, Russ took Jonathan to one of the Smithsonian museums. They went to the Museum of American History. We then joined them there after we were finished. We've been here last year, but each time, there's something new to see, as it would take a long time to see everything in the museum. This time, we saw the original American flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write the song that would become our national anthem. The flag was missing 8 feet of it, as the people who thought it was important enough to save and preserved it for us, also allowed guests to cut off a small piece of it, until a third of the "broad stripes" were gone.

By this time, we were tired of walking, tired of the humidity and ready to relax. A quick subway ride back to our hotel (which really included a 20 min. walk to the "metro", a 15 ride, and another 20 min. walk) and then we made it home by early evening. Our hotel was right on the edge of George Washington University - which was a series of buildings along 4 blocks, mixed with other businesses. This made it easy to find some college hangout to get dinner - usually "Potbelly" sandwiches.

Day three of three in DC Saturday July 24th, 2010

From Boston to Washington DC, we saw huge groups of Boy Scouts, most of them in their uniforms, walking to all the tourist places that we also visited. There was a Jamboree celebrating 100 years of Boy Scouting that was to be held on July 26, with a parade the day before. The troops from all over came the week before so they could combine their celebration with visiting landmarks. So once again, we were behind the groups of scouts as we lined up (in the hot humid sun) to see the National Archives. There's just something .... almost emotional ... about seeing the Declaration of Independence, now faded because at first it was displayed outside the building for all to see, with the signatures of the men who set our country on the path to our dear USA. To see the constitution, that set up our government that we still have today, was also moving. Other documents; the Bill of Rights, the Emancipation Proclamation and a few others stirred up the feeling of patriotism as well.

From there, we went to another DDD place. Actually we returned to this place because on Thursday, we liked it so much that we couldn't think of a better place to go to lunch. The place is called "Tortilla Cafe" near Eastern Market, if any of you know DC. It's specialty is Mexican/Salvadorian food. this episode hasn't even aired on the show, although it was filmed back in May of this year. The owners daughter who was featured as the one who worked with Guy told us that it won't be on TV until January of 2011!!!!. We all had different things to eat the first time, but this time, we all had the papusas. These are homemade stuffed corn tortillas. They were DEEEElicious!!!!!

We went to one more Smithsonian museum; the air and space museum and then headed back to the hotel. However, that evening, we took a walk to the Lincoln Memorial, just a 20 min. walk from our hotel. It was beautiful at night. It's advertised to come here at night because it's cooler, and the crowds are thin. Neither of which was true this evening. But still we got some great views, and pictures and were satisfied that this trip to the nation's capital was complete. There's always more to see, but we felt finally, after two trips to DC (last year and this year) we've seen most of what we hoped to see.