DC trip - day 1

After a long, long drive (split into two parts) we were very happy to arrive safely in the country's capital. We spent the first few days at the Hilton Alexandria. On our first morning we decided to have a little adventure and take the metro into the city. We'd read that the metro is very clean and safe and the children have never taken the subway before. They LOVED it. We took it all they way to the mall - destination: the Smithsonian museums. We had initially planned to visit two that day but it was hot hot hot, the hottest day of the year so far.





We arrived at the Museum of Natural History to a packed house. It seemed like there were boy scouts everywhere! The children loved seeing all of the stuffed animals, the massive dinosaurs and the Hope diamond, the highlight definitely being the dinosaurs.





We were advised by a friendly lady that the best (and much much cheaper) place to eat was at the Old Post Office with its clock tower on Pennsylvania Avenue. So down the street we trudged only to run into a huge parade. It was the 100th anniversary of boy scouts - which explains why we saw them everywhere, over 10,000 of them! The old post office was such a beautiful building and a good place to get lunch and cool off.



After walking back to the mall (which is actually not a mall for my European readers), it was so very hot and we were all exhausted, so we decided to call it a day and head back to the hotel to swim. After working up an appetite, we ate dinner at the Bombay Curry Company. Totally delicious and well worth a visit for great, authentic Indian food.