Visited during the 4th of July weekend, the weather is hot and humid in July.
Tip: You'll be doing a lot of walking, bring a comfortable pair of walking Shoes
Day 1
Airport, Arrivals and Transportation. Arrived at Washington Dulles International Airport from Austin Texas. From Airport to my hotel in downtown DC, I took a Airport shuttle or a shared van, the cost was $32. I choose to stay in Downtown DC for the first night so that I could walk to the 4th of July fireworks, seeing the fireworks with the Washington monument is the background is spectacular. My hotel was on 7th street and China town, a 2 mile walk to see the 4th festivities, before going I was told by many people, its going to be too crowed on the 4th, yes there were crowds though there was enough room to comfortable sit on the grass at the National mall to see the 4th of July (American Independence day) celebrations.
National Mall is basically a park with Memorials, Monuments and museums on both sides.
The night time view at the National Mall, of the Washington Monument on one end and the US state Capitol on the other are worth checking out, with the capitol all lit up.
Day 2
Checked out of the hotel, staying in Downtown DC can be expensive though it served well for me to walk back and froth to see the independence day celebrations, a friend let me stay with for the rest of trip.
My first stop of the day was the White house, wanted to take that selfie and get that out of the way. Took uber to get there.
After lunch at a Ethiopian restaurant, there are quite a bit of immigrants from Ethiopia in DC as per the owner as I was telling him about my trip to Ethiopia, I was off to the national mall. My frist stop the Washington Monument.
From there I walked to the WW2 Memorial, Picture below. You can also see the Lincoln memorial in the background.
From the WW2 memorial, I walked to Lincoln memorial, now I was there on a friday and the Lincoln memorial was really crowded. It is impressive and a must see in DC.
From Lincoln memorial I walked to Vietnam War Memorial, Korean War Memorial.
My last stop was the MLK Jr Memorial, another must see.
It is very impressive and you can walk down towards the water to see the Jefferson Memorial from far.
All the walking, I was tired, took a ride share to Downtown DC for dinner/drinks.
Day 3
The plan was to wake up early and go see the Supreme Court, the US Capitol and the Library of the congress, I was so tired cause of all the walking, by the time I left the house it was already noon.
Supreme Court - clicked a few photos, its a neat building. I didn't try to go inside.
U.S. Capitol - now I was told I needed a reservation, which I didn't have to see the dome from the inside, so basically I tried my luck, went inside to the reservation desk and was given a sticker which allowed me to be part of a tour of the capitol.
There are long line for the tours, the inside is beautiful. There is a gift shop and a reasonable priced cafeteria where I had lunch
From the US Capitol one can walk to the library of congress, through indoor walkways, so that you can bypass security as when entering the Capitol, one has to have security check done.
Library of Congress is very impressive and another must see.
One of the earliest publication in the world The Gutenberg Bible is also at display at the library.
Next stop Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, another must see. While at the museum see the hope Diamond which receives over 100 million visitors a year.
Photo of the dinosaur I took in the museum.
Decision making day on what to do, Arlington Cemetery or Old Town Alexandria Virginia. And the winner is Old Town, its on the shores of Potomac River. Just beautiful. One can easily spend a day in old town, and for those interested you can take a river cruise. Several eating places, can be a bit pricey. If driving from D.C. one passes past the pentagon.
Any DC suggestions?
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