Monday morning Andy informed us that we were having breakfast at Paul, a lovely French bakery/patisserie that's been around since 1889—who were we to argue? I spoke French to the Ethiopian employees (well, I don't know Amharic).
From there we headed straight over to the International Spy Museum, which is private, not government-owned, and therefore not free but also therefore not quite as crowded as the Smithsonians. It was fun and interesting and there were interactive activities—for instance, you're given a spy identity when you start out, and you have to memorize all these facts about yourself, then you're quizzed at certain points later in order to pass into the next room. Most of it was about real spies, with cool spy artifacts under glass, but there was also a whole floor devoted to James Bond stuff.
From there we went to Arlington National Cemetery, which is really just such an emotional sight, even before you look closely at anything—just acre after acre of identical white tombstones, all in neat rows. (When we got closer and read some of them, we couldn't figure out how there could be stones from entirely different eras right next to each other in any given row. Anyone know?) We walked up to see JFK's grave, which was moving, but I was totally unprepared to break down completely when I saw the plain white cross stuck into the grass to mark Bobby's grave, and then an identical cross for Teddy just a few yards away. Then we went to the Tomb of the Unknowns and watched the guard walk the mat for a while, then the changing of the guard. It's hard to imagine anyone not being moved by this sight.
It was a very hot day and we had done a lot of walking already, so we did not go see the Iwo Jima statue and instead headed back to our hotel, then had a nice dinner al fresco at Grillfish across the street. This photo is lousy, but it's the only one I have from this day, so here you go:
Terrific photo of a handsome family! Great travel ogre as well! Dc is an amazing family travel destination... no end to all there is to do and learn. I love that city!
Posted by: Lori B Gans | April 28, 2014 at 10:12 AM
Our nation's capital is one of the best places to visit on a vacation. I was fortunate to have the chance to be a chaperone for more than a dozen trips with eighth grade students in the spring of each year.
We never ate at any fancy bistros. Imagine 150 noisy kids at any one of the spots you mentioned.
The last trip for me was in 2010 and there were some photos we put on a web site. Take a peek. http://runeman.org/kp-in-dc/
Consider visiting some of the off-the-mall places on your next trip.
Posted by: Algot Runeman | April 29, 2014 at 08:49 AM