Tourist time: Washington, D.C.

Since our hotel was right next to the Metro station, it was an easy place to start our tour of Washington, D.C. The first stop was the White House – it wasn’t very crowded when we got there first thing in the morning, so we were able to take a few pictures before heading to the mall. 

From the White House, we wandered over to the mall and as we got closer to Constitution Avenue, we saw the cops had the road shut down and there were bleachers on the side of the street – it took us awhile to figure out why, but more on that later. On our way to the Washington Memorial, we passed the German-American Friendship Garden and even though it was a little too early for the plants in the garden to be blooming, it has a beautiful memorial as well.

It was fairly cloudy when we were wandering around, but the blue skies tried to peek through at times and I was able to get the great picture below of the Washington Monument by sheer luck as we had stopped and as we did, a flock of geese flew in front of the monument.

From the Washington Monument, we headed over to the Lincoln Memorial. Unfortunately, the reflecting pool hasn’t been filled yet, but we were able to get close to the Lincoln Memorial even though it was the most crowded part of the mall.

After touring the mall, we headed back to Constitution Avenue to see the start of the St. Patrick’s Day parade! As I mentioned, it took us awhile to put all of the pieces together to figure out why the cops had blocked the road, added a set of bleachers and why there were so many people dressed in green all over the place! There were a lot of old-school police cars and firetrucks, several bands, including some bagpipers and Irish jig dancers. A very cool accidental way to spend the morning.

One of the final places we saw before heading back home was St. Patrick’s Church on 10th street – a fitting way to end St. Patrick’s Day weekend in DC!

What’s your favorite place to visit in Washington, D.C.?

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