First Day in Washington DC

I arrived late in Washington DC because of the exploding tire. However, I still had time to do everything I had planned to do and it was a very eventful day.

My first stop was Georgetown. I really did not have a clue about what to expect from the neighborhood but my fiancée had told me that it was a beautiful area. She turned out to be right and I think the right word to describe it would be cute.

There are plenty of small shops, stores, and restaurants. The shopping is popular but not spectacular, especially compared to New York. We spent about one to two hours there, mostly by walking around and exploring.

The hotel was great. It was a little too far away from the downtown area but the subway was only ten minutes away so I did not complain about it. I would usually be looking forward to the king-sized bed but I did not this time since I have my own one now.

After visiting Georgetown, we took the train to Arlington. I wanted to visit Pentagon and the Arlington Cemetery. The Pentagon is astonishingly big. I almost got in trouble because I missed a “no photography” sign.

As soon as I raised my camera to snap a picture of Pentagon, an alarm sounded and two guards came out from a huge gate and told me to put the camera away. They were actually not too aggressive and just warned me that the police could confiscate my camera if they saw me trying to take a picture.

I did not take any pictures at Pentagon for this reason. However, there is a September 11 memorial just next to Pentagon where people are allowed to take pictures, so I did. It is actually a very beautiful memorial with water reflecting several monuments portraying the wing of an airplane.

After our Pentagon visit, we travelled to the cemetery just one subway stop away from Pentagon. It is quite amazing how big the cemetery is. The tombs are perfectly lined up honoring those who served the country and sometimes their families.

I did not go all the way to the top but I walked quite far. They have one-hour trolley tours costing only $7. However, I wanted to walk because I thought it would be less binding and easier to take pictures.

We were pretty hungry on our way home and found an American diner called Johnny Rockets. It looked like an old traditional American diner with pictures of old coke advertisements and jukebox machines. The food was not spectacular but the environment made the stay worthwhile.