From Cheesecake to Cheesesteak.

Last day in Washington D.C., dear readers! And today was a bit more relaxed, which was really nice. As a side note, every morning so far we have been dawdling, so that by breakfast Marie is pointing at the clock with her finger and giving us a lecture. We want to make the most of our day here, but waking up before 8 am every day on vacation is just not our lifestyle. But today, the alarm clock rang again at 7:30 am.

At 10:00 am, the ticket for Benny's ride to the Washington Monument was booked. You're probably wondering the whole time what the difference between a monument and a memorial is, right? A monument is built while the person is still alive. A memorial is built after the person has passed away. After this information from Benny, Marie finally understood that the Washington Monument is a tribute to George Washington. She thought it was just the symbol of the city. Sometimes, there's really only bread in her head.

Well, a little walk until then, and while Benny was standing in line and enjoying the view from the top, Marie was sunbathing. And if you look closely, you can see Benny up there (not). 😅

But when Benny came back, he showed us the really beautiful view from the top. It was definitely worth it and something you must see. All directions were photographed. But since Marie is not so good at geography, here are only the pictures with the respective important points on them. 😄

You really underestimate the distance! In between, we thought - oh, there's the Washington Monument already. We were still a 15-minute walk away. The distances covered in between are really challenging. But that doesn't stop us from visiting the White House. Unfortunately, you can't go inside at the moment, and it is really heavily fenced. It's not worth taking a picture of. But Benny took one from above! Awesome!

And before we went to the other side (the photo with the next monument with a rider), we definitely wanted to try the cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory. It was pricey and calorie-rich, but it was absolutely worth it. So we sat in the park and raved about this incredibly delicious cheesecake. It could be a flavor of our wedding cake 😋.

Now, we were already in the park on the backside of the White House and took some more photos before our first metro ride in Washington.

The next stop would have been an hour's walk away, and umm no. So we took 4 stops on the blue line to Arlington Cemetery. It was incredibly crowded. There were also a lot of school groups from a thousand kilometers away. By the way, little anecdote: on the first day in Washington, we literally had a certain school group in front of us in every museum or major monument. We thought they had stolen our itinerary. And the next day, they were suddenly there again. There are millions of people and visitors here, and we keep meeting them. We found it incredibly spooky. 😅

But now, for a sad occasion. Arlington National Cemetery is world famous and has around 380,000 graves since around 1864, and more are added all the time. In addition to all the tourists, we also saw truly grieving families, grieving for their loved ones just before Memorial Day. It was quite depressing, and you could see the different reactions in such a cemetery. We had a 10-year-old daughter finding the family name on a random grave and taking selfies with the headstone. We had a 25-year-old influencer posing at a memorial with a pensive look to the sky... and then we had a group of veterans in wheelchairs who wanted to honor their old colleagues, or the woman who took off her hat and bowed at John F. Kennedy's grave. We captured a few impressions for you, but we found it more shocking how many people had to sacrifice their lives.

For Memorial Day on Monday, a US flag was placed in front of each individual grave. We found it very impressive how patriotic the Americans are (except for those with the Trump 2024 baseball caps). But here, it means something to have served the country, and the honor bestowed upon you is truly worthy and touching. There is also a monument for all the soldiers, men and women, who have remained unknown to this day and have not had the opportunity to adorn one of the white infinite stones with their names. There is a guard at this monument that is changed every half hour. We were able to witness this changing of the guard once, and we found it to be a beautiful gesture for all the fallen.

Arlington is not the largest military cemetery, the largest one is in New York. Nevertheless, it was an impressive experience.

It was now shortly after 3:00 pm, and we were done with our sightseeing trip in Washington. So we had enough free time left and decided to make a short stop at the hotel and then chill at the National Mall. And so we watched fathers flying kites with their children. Or playing Frisbee or simply getting something to eat from a food truck and sitting on the grass. Here are two people also relaxing in the sun:

Our day ended with the search for something to eat. That wasn't so easy because we ruled out: Chinese noodles, burgers, spicy food, quesadillas... so the selection wasn't really big anymore. Since Marie wanted to try a Philly Cheesesteak in Philadelphia, it became a kind of sandwich again. But specially topped with sautéed beef strips (with bacon and turkey ham for Benny), all covered with cheese and some vegetables. The fries were topped with cheese sauce, bacon, and ranch dressing. It was heavenly. A little bit greasy, but really just a little bit. 😄

Tomorrow, we will have salad! At least Marie will. We're not so sure about Benny. 😋

When we arrived at the hotel, we really wanted to see the rooftop bar. The play of the sun with the clouds impressed us the most, otherwise it was a nice location. But since we still have to pack our suitcases (and iron), we went back to one floor below, the 12th floor. 🤗

We are now over halfway through our trip and having so much fun. We have seen and experienced so much, and so far, only three things have been annoying: not being able to go to Jimmy Fallon's show, the weather in Shenandoah National Park where there was nothing but fog, and Benny having to go to the Washington Monument alone. But the rest made up for everything... the next 10 days will be characterized by a lot of heat, more relaxation (hopefully), and even more amazing things. We're looking forward to it, and we're glad that you're joining us.

And because we love waking up early so much, the alarm clock will ring at 6:00 am tomorrow. Yay! 😐

Big kisses!

B ❤️ M