A Weekend in Washington DC!

I made a trip to Washington DC in January, here’s an overdue blog post about what I thought of the city!

Since coming into the New Year I’ve been getting the itch to go traveling somewhere new, and Washington DC seemed like the perfect place to begin with, what with it only three hours by bus from New York and a city full of historical monuments and moments in history.

I didn’t expect to love Washington as much as I did. There’s so much to do and see and coming from New York the atmosphere felt so laid back. Once we got off the bus, we went for a bite to eat before heading to a The Holocaust Museum, my housemate had heard a lot of good things about it and wanted to check it out. Naturally it was an intense few hours going around the different floors.

While studying abroad in Europe I visited quite a few Holocaust memorials and museums in Germany and The Netherlands. The biggest difference I noticed with the museum in Washington, is that they showed a lot more graphic and shocking content when it came to old archive footage and pictures. You always feel a sense of shock leaving museums like this, though it never takes away from how important it is to keep educating ourselves on the past. Afterwards it was a relief to go outside and get some fresh air, and by that time the sun had set, so we wandered DC for a while to get our bearings for the next morning.

The next day we did all our sightseeing. We began the day, making our way towards The White House. The streets were eerily quiet that early on a Sunday morning and most breakfast spots near us were closed, but we found a Compass Coffee, a coffee shop I really wanted to try out.

The National Mall is one big strip of greenery with the national monuments of Lincoln Memorial, Capitol Hill, and the Washington Monument at each end and at the center and all along the outskirts of the plaza are all the museums, and my God are there some length of museums. Any type you could think of, this plaza would have it. You could spend a whole day just doing museums, we managed to just do the Space and Air Museum, but mostly because we wanted to get our other housemate an Einstein bobble head (her ONE request).

Seeing The White House was cool, even though you can only get so close to it. When I showed pictures to my friends she said a few years back she was able to get even closer, so they must have heightened security.

Making our way up the Lincoln Memorial steps felt very powerful, especially as that Monday was going to be Martin Luther King Day. Under the pillars there was hushed chatter while everyone took in the presence of the Lincoln statue and read the writing on the walls.

 

 

We had planned to take a tour around the Capitol Hill Library but unfortunately it’s closed on Sundays, so we finished up the trip by exploring the the neighborhood in Capitol Hill and stopping by a traditional, no frills diner for some lunch.

The pictures don’t do justice to how beautiful and peaceful the atmosphere around Washington felt. There’s definitely things we didn’t get a chance to do this time round, so I wouldn’t hesitate coming back for a visit in the future.

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