Day 6: First day in DC... (Part 1)

We were a little tired the next day (okay I was the tired one) so we opted to start our excursion into DC a little later. That delay plus, a miscommunication on directions resulting in us not finding the train station... meant we got to experience notorious commuter traffic into DC. It.was.miserable. The experience wasn't made any better by my uncontrollable shriek that scared Brad while he was driving. I couldn't help myself... I got so excited when I saw my first glimpse of the Washington Monument peeking over the skyline!

Two and a half hours later, we were FINALLY at Union Station and could jump on our bus. We had a 2-Day pass for the "Hop On/Hop Off" Trolley and we were ready to start using it!! (By the way - if you are ever visiting a major city, these types of buses/trolleys are the way to go. I have now done them in NYC, Chicago and DC. You just can't beat it!) 

Union Station

Our first view of the Capital as we drive by.

Our first stop was the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

This museum had been recommended to us by many, many people. What we didn't know was that we should have gotten the passes for the main exhibit in advance. We were disappointed when we arrived at 11AM and the next available time was 4PM. Bummer. Because of this, the museum is on the TOP of our list whenever we go back. We still watched a movie about the release of some of the Concentration Camps and we went through a fantastic exhibit called Remember the Children: Daniel’s Story. While the target audience for this exhibit is children, the message is still just as poignant. It is told from the perspective a child named Daniel. You get to walk through his pre-war home and neighborhood and as you walk your surroundings change to war times and see how his life changed as a Jewish boy in Germany.

You followed pages in his diary as he was separated his father in the Camp and as he received news that his mother and sister had both been killed at another Camp. You read as he talks about being released from the Camp and trying to figure out life afterwards.

It is a very dark period of world history. It is heart-breaking, gut-wrenching and shameful. And yet, it is something everyone should know about.

After making our way through Daniel's life story, we walked over to the Washington Monument. This is when you KNOW you are in DC! All the movies and TV shows you see this in... and we were in front of it!!

As we walked towards our next bus stop, we stopped for a picture. As you can see, Brad cooperated wonderfully... 

As we waited for our bus, we grabbed some lunch from a street vendor. ONLY on vacation would I be eating a hot dog at a bus stop! 

Once we were on the bus, we headed to one of the stops I had been looking forward to since we started planning this trip... the War Memorials and Lincoln Memorial!