A visit to D.C. to see David and Brie and my granddaughter Esme. I bought tickets to go too the top of the Washington monument, but there was no one to scan them or to operate the elevator to take us, during the U.S. government shutdown. We'll have to go the next time. Click on any photo to see a larger image.
And so, we walked around the National Mall to the reflecting pool. Everything was closed, including the national Museum of African American history just behind Lorraine. Esme is growing nicely and is fun. This is the WW II memorial. It was open, because you can't close it.
Esme did not mind that the museums were closed.
When we visited right after Covid19 in 2021, everything was also closed after the "January 6" in front of the Capital, but this time, many more people looking for something to do.
One thing that was still open, in Hyattsville, Maryland, just outside D.C., where they live, Brie and David run every couple of Sundays a group of girl scouts.
We got to watch the girls for 2 hours, many activities, painting, answering questions, cooking and so on. Esme is the one with crazy blue and pink hair.
A great time to visit Washington when trees are changing colours. This was a block from our hotel, in front of the Commerce Department, a couple of blocks from the White House.
Our first night, we walked to a good Indian restaurant near the White House. it was COLD! I did not bring enough cold weather clothes. We wanted to say hello to Mr. Trump, but as you can see, he has barricaded himself in. Our hotel is one block to the left.
This was the view from our "Monument Suite" at the Hotel Washington. My second stay here ... I spent more than 2 months here in the summer of 1980, working in the Reuters bureau a couple of blocks away. "The Old Ebbitt Grill" next door is still there, as good as ever. With museums closed, restaurants were full.
David booked a very interesting walking tour of the old historical Alexandria, just south of D.C. on the Potomac River. Also lots of good restaurants.
On the tour, we saw the Christ Church of Alexandria. George Washington went there from his nearby Mount Vernon house, when he was not fighting wars or being president (the capital was first in New York City and then in Pennsylvania).
This is the Christ Church of Alexandria. Many U.S. presidents have visited it over the past 200 years.
