Washington DC - Day 2

Saturday morning in Washington DC, Marc and I slept in a little.  We were still up and ready to leave the hotel by 10:00AM.  It was a beautiful morning, and we knew it was going to be a HOT day.  We didn't have any "set-in-stone" plans until that afternoon, so we took the morning to see all the monuments/memorials.

We started with the Washington Monument.  We tried to get a tour to go inside, but the tickets have been sold out for weeks.  Next time we make the trip, we will pre-purchase tickets as soon as we know we are going.

The World War II Memorial.  This is only half of it.  I couldn't get a good angle to get the whole memorial.  The other side is a replica of this one.  One side says Atlantic, which were the states that fought on the European front.  The other side says Pacific, which were states that fought in the Pacific/Asia.  Each stone column represented a state.

Marc and I at the Pennsylvania column on the Atlantic side.  We were proud grandchildren of our grandfathers that were/are veterans.  My pappy was a chef stationed in Germany.  His grandpop was a sailor stationed on a submarine in the Pacific.

The Lincoln Memorial

President Lincoln inside the Lincoln Memorial.  I was so excited to see this.  Lincoln is my favorite president, and I love Civil War history.

Vietnam Veterans Statue

Korean War Memorial

The newest memorial to grace Washington DC.  The MLK Memorial.  This technically was not yet open to the public, but I was able to stick my camera through the fence to get a good pic.  The MLK Memorial was opened this past weekend.

Marc and I in front of a waterfall at the FDR Memorial.

Eleanor Roosevelt portion of the FDR Memorial.

After we say all the memorials, we went back into The Mall at Washington DC.  All the museums like The Mall.  We had timed tickets to the Holocaust Museum, so we went there first.  I wasn't sure how I would feel seeing this museum, but it was one I wanted to see.  The museum focused on Hitler's rise to power, Nazi Germany, and World War II.  Over six million Jews perished in the Holocaust.  Survivors of all ages shared stories of their experiences.  It was a museum I am glad we took the time to explore.

Once we left the Holocaust museum, we snagged a soft pretzel from a street vendor and made our way down to the National Air and Space Museum.

The air and space museum reminded me of Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh.  There were several models all over the place, and there were lots of hands-on activities.  We saw a whole room dedicated to all the Apollo missions, the increasing technology of war plans from before WWI to what is used today, and several exhibits of early exploration from the air.

The last place we stopped at this day was the National Museum of American History.  This museum houses all the dresses of the first ladies,  history of the railways, exhibits on US expansion, and evolution of money.

We were starving for dinner once we finished with all the museums.  Marc had picked a special place called Old Ebbitt Grill for my birthday dinner.  It was super-fantastic food, and we enjoyed a really great dinner and a few drinks.  It was a very packed day, and by the end, our brains were on information overload.  We got back to the hotel after 8:00PM, and we were pooped!