Thursday, July 2, 2009

An Eventful Second Day in D.C.


My plan for the second day in D.C. was to get up early so that we could get tickets for The Bureau of Engraving and Printing, which is where the government is printing money. They are probably very busy right now so it would have been interesting to visit it.

Unfortunately, because of an extremely comfortable hotel bed, we did not get up very early. We were at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing at about 11 AM and all tickets had been sold out.

This was a minor disappointment but we had many other plans for the day. Next to it is the Holocaust museum, which was a place a wanted to visit. I had great expectations for this museum and my fiancée and I got tickets for the main exhibition.

The tickets we got were for the 1 PM exhibition so we had two hours to spend. We decided to visit the Washington Monument and The World War Two Memorial, both attractions being nearby the Holocaust Museum.

We also tried D.C. hot dogs costing $3 each. That is 300% more expensive than in New York so it felt pretty tempting not to buy it. However, we were hungry and as we have learned from being in Washington DC, it is not easy to find good and affordable food there.

The Washington Monument is a quite astonishing structure. It is very tall and people are actually allowed to go to the top of it, which I did not know. However, people who want tickets need to get in line early in the morning, which is why I never went up there. Usually I have no problem getting up early, however, I am on vacation and I really do not want to get up earlier than 9 AM these days.

Ones at the Washington Monument, people can also see The Capitol. The monument is actually located on a hill, which is why the view is so great. We walked to The World War Two Memorial after spending almost an hour at the Washington Monument.

It only takes about ten minutes to walk to the memorial. The architecture is beautiful and it is nice to see kids dipping their feet in the fountain. We also saw the Lincoln Memorial from there but we decided not to go there that day because then we would not have time to go back to the museum.

The Holocaust Museum was unfortunately not that impressive. I have heard great things about it but I was honestly disappointed. Some rooms are interesting but the main exhibition basically consists of pictures and videos. I was expecting more than that. However, it is a nice tribute to those who suffered or lost their lives in World War Two.

After a lot of walking, we went to Hard Rock Café. I had the ribs and my fiancée had the duo combo platter. I always like to go to Hard Rock Café to eat on my vacation. They offer great food and it is definitely a fun environment to be in.

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