Roadtrip Part XI - Washington D.C.

06/15-06/19/2018 Before we finally arrived in McLean at Bella's host family from her au pair days, who kindly offered us shelter for the duration of our stay (thank you again at this point), we had to endure a few traffic jams. Even though the roads in the States are generously sized, it gets congested during rush hour in the mornings and afternoons. I wonder if it's due to the locals' foresighted driving? One does not know.

With a bouquet of flowers and two bottles of red wine as a gift, we arrived in McLean on the late afternoon of June 15th. Bella's host father, Craig, greeted us and showed us our accommodation for the next few days. He disappeared back into the kitchen as he was in the middle of preparing dinner, and we prepared our resting place. Bella saw her host children again after 5 years. They had grown older and taller... what a surprise. Nick was now in the rebellious teenage phase and Sophia was more of a calm disposition and spent her time crafting. We had dinner around 6:00 PM and Claudia, Bella's host mother, arrived just in time at home. Thanks to the traffic jam. There was smoked chicken with various salads. Yummy. After I indulged in my role as a food machine and devoured almost all the food, we took a stroll through the neighborhood and later ended the evening on the couch.

The next morning started with thin crepes and the corresponding side dishes. Then we watched some football (it was the Football World Cup after all) and afterwards went to the nearby Farmers Market with Craig and Claudia, which enticed us with fresh vegetables, bread, and other delicacies. After buying dinner and a few small snacks, we went back home. Because summer in Virginia means sunshine (with high UV values) and high humidity. You don't want to stay outside for long. So we watched another game of the World Cup. A moment of joy for a football fan. After the game, Bella and I went to a 'nearby' mall to buy some things (like contact lenses and Disney stuff). To reward ourselves for the hard work, we went to the Cheesecake Factory and treated ourselves to two slices of cheesecake. One slice was only about 900 kcal, so basically just a small snack in the US. In the evening, we returned to our vacation home and took a little nap. We woke up just in time for dinner. We had wraps with buffalo meat, chicken meat, and various vegetables.

The day before, Claudia suggested that we definitely should visit the Lincoln Memorial at night. Of course, Claudia drove us there, accompanied by Nick, Ben, another buddy, and Ben's mom, whom Bella knew from earlier. On the way, we almost had an accident, but that's normal in America. After a short walk from the parking lot, we quickly realized that we weren't the only ones with this idea, but rather felt like one million other people. The stairs of the Lincoln Memorial were populated and it was difficult to pass by. So we zigzagged our way to the 'top' of Lincoln. Once we arrived, we had a beautiful view of downtown Washington D.C. - but we had lost most of our group. Claudia gave us a little history lesson and then we moved on to the next sightseeing spot: the Vietnam War Memorial. After we had seen that too, we walked back to the car and drove back home, where I played a game of Fifa 16 against Nick, the family's son. Then it was time for bed.

Sunday started, of course, with blueberry and chocolate chip pancakes. After everyone else had eaten their fill, I once again fulfilled my role as a vacuum cleaner and ate everything. Yummy. And then it followed just like the day before: watching a World Cup game. Unfortunately, 'the team' played incredibly poorly and rightfully lost against the Mexicans. As revenge, I will be drinking Mexican beverages in the coming weeks. That's what you deserve. After we had processed the embarrassment, we went on a family outing to Alexandria, southwest of Washington D.C. We actually wanted to go on a little sailing trip there, but the wind foiled our plans by taking a day off. So we quickly made a new plan. Off we went kayaking. We paddled along the Potomac River near the Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve. During our tour, we also saw egrets and tried to get closer to them to see them better. But the birds didn't want that... well. After we had exhausted ourselves there, we drove to downtown Alexandria, where we did some sightseeing and had Greek food. But that wasn't the end of the evening. In addition, we took a ghost tour through the 'Old Town' of Alexandria. Various strange and sometimes slightly creepy stories about residents and buildings of the city were told during this tour. In most of them, several people died independently of each other, with many years in between, in the same place and in the same way. Or ghosts haunt the inhabitants of a house. Something like that. The tour ended after about 1.5 hours. both children were exhausted and so were the adults. Quickly home, quickly sleep.

On Monday morning, we were on our own. The family was out... either at work or at summer camp (it was summer vacation after all). After a small breakfast, we first went to the Great Falls. A waterfall in the Potomac River. Since it was extremely hot, we didn't stay long and headed to the 'nearby' metro station, parked our car, and took the metro to downtown Washington D.C. Once in the center, we first went to the Library of Congress and admired the great architecture of the building and a few of the many bookshelves. The great advantage of all public buildings in Washington or generally in the USA is that everything is air-conditioned and sometimes free. In the capital of the USA and its surroundings, it is damn hot and humid. So you're happy if you can cool off a bit. After we were able to lower our core body temperature a bit, we headed towards the Capitol. After taking a few photos of the building, we walked along the National Mall, the park between the Capitol and the Lincoln Memorial. To escape the heat as quickly as possible, we decided to go to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum... to see airplanes. We found it very interesting. Especially the old wartime planes had their own charm. Unfortunately, we had to realize that there were no dining options in the form of a food court in the museum (in Germany, something like this might seem strange, but here it's normal). So we quickly left the museum again. We had been there long enough... about 90 minutes.

We walked north and grabbed some delicious vegetarian food at a protein bar. After we also had a few cans of cold refreshments, we walked towards the orangutan enclosure... that's right: the White House. Unfortunately, the barriers and security measures have become more and more severe over the past few years. One of the most famous landmarks of the capital of the USA is hidden behind three fences and various heavily armed police officers.

Since you can hardly see anything of the building itself or its peculiar inhabitant, we went to the nearest metro station and rode back to Virginia. After all, it was the last evening in the greater Washington area and with Bella's host family, and the last supper awaited us. We spent the rest of the evening packing our suitcases and conversing with the family members. We went to bed early because the next morning the alarm clock rang early to avoid the rush hour in and around Washington.

After a quick breakfast on Tuesday morning, we invited Jim Bob, said goodbye to everyone, and set off towards the highway. Next stop: The Big Apple!