The Nation’s Capital

Dec 31, 2013
Washington, DC

We left Liam & Gisela’s in Germantown to catch the metro to DC. We opted for the day pass at $14, which seemed like a decent deal. We disembarked right in The Mall, at the Smithsonian stop, then walked to the Washington Monument, and past the reflecting pool to see Abe at the Lincoln Memorial. We then set off in search of coffee where we got a snack and Gill enjoyed a pickle-to-go. Note: we have discovered that the “Find me coffee” app is NOT anywhere as helpful as one might hope. We have deleted this and will now be using Yelp. We also discovered (in NYC) that urbanspoon is not reliable for restaurant hours or…. existence so we have deleted that as well!

With our hunger suppressed and caffeine addictions temporarily satisfied, we strolled onward to the White House in search of the Obamas or at least Fitz & Mellie from Scandal but no luck (no Olivia Pope sightings either)! I (Leah) assume the Obamas were on their way to Oprah’s NYE party or something.

We then strolled to the National Museum of Natural History (Smithsonian) where we saw the Hope diamond, some amazing fossils, mummies, dinosaurs, a genetics exhibit, and an adorable entomologist. We were surprised to see that there were many street vendors around the entrance we went into and Gillian was looking forward to a snack on the way out through The Mall only to find that there were zero vendors on the opposite side of the museum (no street vendors allowed within the mall – constitution and independence aves). We wandered through The Mall on our way to another Smithsonian museum, the National Air & Space Museum, and saw the National Archives, the National Gallery and The Capitol. The Air & Space Museum was packed with planes, command modules, other objects that have been to and from space and a lot of Korean children. I (both of us in fact) learned that I’m too tall and weigh too much to have been a stewardess in the 50’s…. Our nursing degrees would have worked in our favour though as they prefer that you be a registered nurse… Perhaps due to all nurses’ sunny dispositions?

After the Smithsonian we jumped back on the Metro in search of NYE dinner which we found at a delicious Ethiopian restaurant called Kenebech Injera, just off Florida Ave at T-ish St (off yellow/green lines). It was my (Leah) first time having Ethiopian and it was just as delicious as I’d hoped! It was about $28 total including tip, which was the cheapest dinner we’ve had so far. With our bellies full we moseyed back to the Metro station, stopped off at a liquor store for NYE refreshments and headed back to Liam and Gisela’s to celebrate with them.

Overall, we’d give DC an 8.5/10. It was beautiful, clean, well sign-posted for navigation, had free museums, the metro was easy to use, and we found good food for cheap. The drawbacks were the annoyingly pokey little paving stones that line the mall, the scaffolding/cranes around the monuments and city, and just the lack of unique vibe that NYC gives off. We liked it a lot though!!

Happy New Year all!