July 5

On Saturday, we again took a late start to get downtown. Marie had a friend from high school, Anna, who lives in Baltimore join us for the day. We drove down near the White House and met up with Anna, who had also not been to the Nation's Capitol. Our first stop was the old post office which has the second best view of the city besides the top of Washington's Monument. DC offers great free entertainment.

After panoramic views and oohs and ahs, we walked down to the Capitol Mall, the big grassy field, not a shopping center, where a folk celebration was happening. Each year countries around the world and states are honored by celebrating their folk culture. This year it was Bhutan, Texas and NASA. There was no music or food from NASA featured (sadly) but we all enjoyed a Bhutanese rice dish and Texas "Dance Hall" music as we ate our lunch.

We walked toward the Natural History Museum and one of the worst crowds of the weekend. We tried to get to the minerals and gems, but instead found our way through the history of civilization and a section with mummies and artifacts from ancient cultures. It was interesting, except that it was shoulder to shoulder traffic. We finally found the minerals, and I was able to touch the moon rocks and a dust from Mars, on my way to viewing amazing gems and ore samples. The rooms were better organized here than in Harvard's Natural History museum, but some of the samples from Harvard were more impressive. The largest line was around the Hope Diamond, and Anna was the only one from our group who caught a glimpse. We then made our way to the National Art Gallery and viewed a room full of Van Gogh, room full of Monet, and the only Leonardo Da Vinci in America. It was two sided and very neat to see. There were also great statues and I wish we had a little more time there.
We then went to find a beer after a day full of tourists. We found a place called the Front Page and enjoyed some drinks and appetizers. Anna retreated back to Baltimore, but John traveled down to the capitol and met us there. We also ran into friends of Daimon and Kirsten's from college.
After a decision to meet up later in the evening, Daimon, Kirsten, John, Marie and I went on a mission to find Ethiopian food. We stopped a place and with much confusion finally got seated and served about an hour and a half after we came in. The food was tremendous. We then went to a bar called the Big Hunt and met up again with Daimon's friends. The walls were covered with Murals of men hunting mythical beasts and animals of giant proportion. It was quite enjoyable.