Chris' alarm went off as scheduled and probably scared the bejeebies out of all of us. It was 4 am local time and a rather rude awakening. Fortunately, the girls were able to fall back to sleep. Chris and I stayed up in order to acclimate to a new time.
We let the girls sleep until 7:30. Amy always has a hard time waking up, but she also does makeup and takes longer to get ready. Always a challenge to get her going in the morning. We had a continental breakfast, included at the Residence Inn, and were out the door a little after 8 am. Chris had purchased five Metro passes at the hotel's front desk while the girls and I finished getting ready for the day. Chris got his bearings, finding the metro station four blocks or so from the hotel. We got on at the McPherson Square stop and got off at the Smithsonian stop for the Bureau of Engraving and Printing tour. We missed our 8:45 am slot but were able to slip in for the 9 am tour. I would have to say that Talia, our tour guide, was most boring and had a monotone voice. The building itself was rather hot and musty, but a few of the workers enjoyed being on view.
Our early morning wake up call netted us 11:00 am tickets to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. The museum opened at 10 am which allowed us time to see some of the extra exhibits before entering for our scheduled time. We walked through Daniel's exhibit which followed the harrowing experience of a young Jewish boy at the beginning of the Holocaust. He kept a journal of his experience and shared the dismay at moving from a lovely home to the ghetto, of being ostracized, of life changing so immensely.
It was the beginning of a hard and sobering morning for us all, but especially for Kristen as this was really her first introduction to Hitler and concentration camps. We spent many hours in the museum, feeling overwhelmed at the end, but not really wanting to leave. For Kristen's sake, we hurried through the end a little faster than we might have otherwise. Her tender heart just couldn't take it any more.
I have always had a sympathetic fascination with the Holocaust. I had heard about the shoes in the exhibit, but when I finally walked around the corned and took in all of the shoes (which were just a minute portion of all that were collected), I was overcome with tears. This really happened. It was senseless. It was inhumane.
We exited the museum ready for some lunch and light and happy-ness. We walked around a bit looking for a place to eat. We finally took ourselves out of a sketchy area by walking up to the beautiful Mandarin Hotel to get directions. We exited a couple levels up and to a different area where we had directions to a couple of eateries. We found Potbelly's, which became a favorite. The sandwiches were delicious. Amy ordered hot peppers on hers and though she fanned her mouth the entire time and guzzled a couple glasses of water, she pronounced it good and that she would get it again.
We headed over to The Mall and started our tour of the monuments at the Jefferson Memorial. Kristen picked up papers to work on her Junior Ranger activities. From the Jefferson Memorial, we walked over to the Franklin D Roosevelt Memorial.
I watched this crazy squirrel enjoy chips by climbing almost in the chip bag. He was a little hesitant to continue his foraging as I got closer, but was obviously pretty acclimated to humans and went on munching away while warily listening for my footsteps to come closer.
Kristen had to pick up separate pages at each of the memorials for the Junior Ranger stuff. When we got to the MLK Memorial, I walked across the street with her to the visitor center. As we walked away, she realized that they had given her an extra FDR page instead of MLK. I waited across the street and watched her as she went in and asked for the MLK page. From the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, we walked to the Lincoln Memorial. All were beautiful--crowded but beautiful. We tried to find the bookstore at this memorial to get the Lincoln Junior Ranger page. As we walked past the bathrooms, we were assaulted with the smell of urine. Wow, it was awful. We chose not to use that bathroom. We were out of luck in using the elevator to get to the bookstore as well as it would have taken about ten minutes of waiting. Kristen wasn't happy but I suggested we just continue on to the Vietnam Memorial. Sadly, no one was in the information booth there.
As we walked toward the memorial, we happened upon a National Park Ranger. I suggested Kristen ask him if he knew where she could get Junior Ranger pages. He lit up and said, "You're in luck. I was just headed back to the Information Booth and I have them there." She mentioned that she was sad because she wasn't able to get the Lincoln page. He was happy to say that he also had that page. Kristen was thrilled.
While Kristen and I were Junior Rangering, Chris and the other two found the name of one of Chris' Dad's friend whose name was on the wall. It was a touching memorial, especially with the little mementos left along the way.
From the Vietnam Memorial we walked up to the George Washington Memorial obelisk passing through the World War II Memorial on the way. Kristen tried to turn in her Junior Ranger pages and went to ask the two rangers at the Memorial. They said she had to go back to the World War II Memorial and find the Ranger there to turn in her pages. Chris took Kristen the short distance back to the World War II Memorial.
Looking back at the Lincoln Memorial.
We were all worn out from a long day of walking.
World War II Memorial
Amy took the break in the schedule to have a little snooze. A group of interns were competing in a Scavenger Hunt and came up to Misha and I and asked if we would be willing to act as a famous star for one of the requirements and then they would surround her like adoring fans, and then take a picture for their scavenger hunt. I volunteered Misha. I wasn't able to pull my camera out fast enough to get a picture until they were all done. Misha pretty much just rolled her eyes. I know her thought was, "Unnecessary human interaction."
We found our way back to the Metro, waiting about 5 minutes until it was 7 pm when the fares went down. We were tired. Our feet were sore. Amy ordered pizza online to be delivered to the hotel. We thought the pizza would be brought up to our room, but received a call from the front desk, "Your pizza is getting cold." Amy took the elevator down to the front desk to pick it up. We enjoyed our dinner while putting our feet up and then rested for the remainder of the evening.