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Tuesday, September 20, 2011

A partial Story : For Mom

We left Friburgo last Wednesday, Rio on Thursday, arrived In Houston on Friday morning and was there just long enough to run through passport control and to catch a very early flight to Washington DC.  Washington’s Dulles airport is small but pretty disorganized.  We got the impression that as it has grown, new wings and buildings have been added without really anticipating the flow of passengers.  For example, we were offloaded out on the tarmac, then walked and walked, and walked and dare I say walked some more to get to baggage pickup and the kiosk said conveyor 5 – about 10 minutes later the speaker said, “Houston...... CO.....  #^#@&^ two.  You know how you can’t hear anything they say, but I started walking from one end to the other to see if the bags were coming in on two or five..... finally arrived about 20 minutes later on two..... Needless to say, the ground crew at Dulles needs some training. 

The rental car and a drive of about 45 minutes, and one (the first) miss direction from Google Maps put us at our Hotel in Rockville by 2pm.  A full 24 hours from the time we left the apartment in Rio.  After a quick shower, we walked to Rockville’s city center had lunch, called the hotel shuttle for a ride, and crashed for an evening in front of the TV.  Just like home.

First day:  Washington DC, the National Mall. 

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DSC_0136   We walked from the Metro Center – over 3 blocks and down one – popping out  beside the treasury building.

DSC_9952  Camillo’s first comment, “At least its not flying the Chinese flag...yet!”

Walked past the white house, Camillo sat a few times while I went to take photos of the old federal building, .... etc..  In the end we only made it from the Washington Monument, past the WWII, the Korean War and the Vietnam memorials to the Lincoln memorial, and back but it was a good day and gave me a desire to go back for just Museums, maybe a capital tour. 

For Mom, the Lincoln Memorial in more detail.

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It rained, I got a sunburn on my chin, our feet hurt pretty badly, lunch was too heavy – the monuments spectacular - a 30 minute trip back to the hotel via the metro train and we were in the hotel in front of the TV for the night.

3 comments:

  1. Virginia,

    Washington DC is a must see during the Cherry Blosson festival, always on time between the last week of March and the first week of April. We made a reservation at the Hotel and called the hotel everyday near our trip to confirm if the Cherry trees were bloming yet or not, to adjust our arriving time.
    It was worth every second. :)
    I highly recomend it.
    The Holocaust Museum was amazing and shocking beyond belief.

    Ray

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  2. Great pics of the Lincoln Memorial. I grew up in Annapolis MD on went on dates to the mall and the museum with Midhsipmen. :-)

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  3. Washington is beautiful. And while you were there, it's average IQ rose consierably.

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