Thursday, April 25, 2019

24 April 2019 - Washington DC

Our first full day in Washington DC. Our hotel is quite close to Capitol Hill and the National Mall so we headed there this morning. We walked to the Capitol Visitor Centre and were immediately able to join a guided tour of the Capitol. This tour takes you straight into the area under the central dome and is quite magnificent.
Mark took this photo standing directly under the dome and looking up. The room in which we are standing features many large oil paintings depicting scenes from US history.
It was a bit crowded as there are many tours happening simultaneously but eventually we got to see everything and with the help of our excellent guide came to understand the significance of many items in this 'sacred site' of US history. When this tour, which lasted about 45 minutes ended, we walked along the National Mall to find the Smithsonian Museum of Space and Flight. Like the Capitol, Rosa and I visited here with our friend the Hirs' some years ago, but it was great to once again visit the collection of history making aircraft and space vehicles. A highlight of the visit once again was to see the original Wright Brothers 'Flyer' the first aircraft ever to fly.
From there we continued on down the Mall and visited the Museum of American History, focusing mainly on the American Civil War display, and then on to the Holocaust Museum, which took us almost to the Washington Monument. We will continue our trek down the mall tomorrow. From here we walked back to our hotel for a bit of a rest (in my case) and a stretch on the treadmill in Mark's case.
This evening Mark used TripAdvisor to find a nearby Irish pub, The Alibi, for dinner.
Couldn't resist the opportunity to have a Guiness with my beef stew which was excellent. Mark had 'bangers and mash' with a side of steamed vegetables. Very nice meal. We continue our exploration tomorrow.

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