አሜሪካ 2022 በረራ እና ቀን 1

Flight and Arrival

On Thursday, I finally started my journey. Once again, a big thanks to Jan for driving me to the airport.

Check-in and the waiting time were short, and before I knew it, I was already on the plane. After 11 hours, a few turbulence, and a manageable time, I arrived in Washington by bus. 

After a quick stop at the hotel and some planning on what to eat, we ended up at a Mexican snack bar. I had a huge delicious burrito and some tasty quesadillas. (Picture 2)

The jet lag wasn't too bad, so we took a little walk and passed by about 5 Starbucks. It's crazy how many there are on every corner.

Day 1 - Washington

Thanks to sleep deficit, I slept really well, but it was over by 6:00 in the morning (12:00 German time).

With a good breakfast in my stomach, we headed towards the Capitol. On the way there, we already got a glimpse of what fire trucks look like here. (Picture 4) and they were even working, helping to clean up after an accident.

Starting our sightseeing day at the Capitol, we walked towards the Lincoln Memorial on the Independence Ave side.

What did we see along the way: 

Of course, the Capitol, from the outside. I imagined it to be smaller, but it's huge. And it's hard to believe that it was stormed about a year ago.

We were approached by someone who wanted to tell us about Jesus and Good Friday. We kindly sent him away. 😉 And he wasn't upset either.

Arriving at the Washington Monument, we took some touristy photos. (Picture 7) and took a first look at the White House.

We made a little detour to the Tidal Basin, where the Cherry Blossom Festival was supposed to take place, but we were a week too late. Everything had already bloomed. 🌸

And then we arrived at the Lincoln Memorial. I have to say, very impressive, a huge building, a great statue, steeped in history. (Picture 8)

Then we continued to the White House. I have to say, surprisingly few people, in my opinion, very little security (I thought there would be more), and compared to the other sights, it's very inconspicuous. But seeing is seeing. 🙂 

What is very unfortunate is that all the lakes in the Mall (that's the area's name) are currently being maintained and not filled with water. That would have been an even more beautiful sight, all in all. But that's complaining at a high level. 

We had sunshine, including a little sunburn, plenty of great photo opportunities, and we were at historically significant places.

We didn't visit any of the museums on either side of the Mall, we just saw the buildings. Well, everyone has different tastes. But definitely impressive. And architecturally definitely worth a look.

On the way back to the hotel, we passed by a fire station. A lady who works there saw that I took a photo through the door. She simply asked if we wanted to take a photo from the inside. Just like that. Mega. We went in briefly and I was able to take pictures of the car, as seen in Picture 11. They have these small firehouses everywhere here, where the cars are parked. Just like you see in movies. 🚒

Back at the hotel, I took a slightly longer power nap and Egg looked up something to eat. We went to a tap house, where we tasted some beer (Egg can definitely say more about that, but what he picked was good) and enjoyed nachos, crab mac 'n' cheese, and a chocolate ganache tart for dessert.

Conclusion: we walked about 13 km, saw incredibly much, had very good weather, the people here are very friendly, and the food is delicious. 

What a perfect day! 🇺🇸🌺☀️🐿️🌮🍩🚓