Washington DC

We're back home after a week down in DC visiting with Matt and Vee who live in California but spent the summer in Washington. I'd only visited our nation's Capitol once when I was in the 7th grade so we did all the traditional tourist sites, memorials and monuments. Our first tour of the city was on Sept 11 - so that was kind of weird, seeing all the flags at half-mast. But the whole week was a blast. We stayed in Georgetown so there was no end to the fantastic restaurants and bars and there were plenty of fellow Red Sox and Patriots fans all around. The only thing Lori really wanted to see was the Holocaust Museum, I thought it would be interesting but it was way better than that. We were told most people take 2 to 2 1/2 hours for it. We spent four hours there and easily could have spent two more, there are still sections we never got to and parts we raced through. There was a lot of history on Hitler's rise that I didn't know and the emotional impact of the rest of the exhibits, photos and stories took me by surprise. We even got to hear a survivor give a talk while we were there. The next day we checked out the Newseum - which again was much more fun than expected. We spent four hours there and it would have been longer but they were closing. There was a big 9/11 section and we got to watch an interview with two photographers who worked that day, including the guy who took the famous shot of the firemen raising the flag at ground zero. Between 9/11 and the Holocaust it was a much more emotional weekend than I would have figured for visiting friends. I recommend both museums highly - and plan on spending the whole day at each to really experience it all. Once again proving our compatibility, Lori and I breezed through the entire National Gallery of Art in just a couple hours.