Highlights Washington DC Day 1

August 2014 - Washington DC

We flew Porter airlines from downtown Toronto to Dulles in Washington on Monday.
We had a surly flight attendant which is very unusual on Porter. She snapped at my husband when he went to the bathroom that the pilot had not turned out the seatbelt light. Most pilots don't these days and this one never did. After that she warned anyone going to the bathroom that they did so at their own risk.
While John was in the bathroom she passed out some snacks and was very reluctant to give me one for John even though she knew someone was sitting there.

We landed and were bused to the main terminal for Immigration. The lines were massive as many overseas flights had just arrived. We decided to try using our Nexus cards and were directed to the Global Entry machines, no mention of Nexus. John tried his passport and was told it wasn't valid. After we asked around I tried my passport, was recognized, asked to place my finger prints on the pad and was rewarded with a slip of paper which included a photo of my passport.
Then *facepalm* we realize that John has a new passport which he hadn't updated with Nexus. So, poor guy, he headed to stand with the unwashed droves. Forty-five minutes later he emerges.

We find our limo and are charged $24 extra as we had kept him waiting over the allotted time.

It is now around 5 PM when we check into our hotel on New Hampshire just off Pennsylvania, just 0.6 of a mile from the White House.

Armed with our cameras and a map we head out. This is Washington Circle which has six streets running into it.

We are in the heart of George Washington University and school has just started so the streets are buzzing.
This is a map of the campus.

 We are also near the Ronald Reagan Emergency Medicine Hospital where Reagan was treated after he was shot in the 1981 assassination attempt.

GW bust outside a university building. There is a duplicate of this outside the Foggy Bottom metro station just up the street next to the Reagan hospital.

As expected any government buildings have heavy security and are surrounded with bollards.

This is the United States Institute for Peace on the corner of Constitution and 23rd.

The Lincoln memorial is our destination and it is just down from the State Department.

I'll post all the sights in much more detail at a later time.

  

 In front of Lincoln and then if you turn around this is the view.

Everything is very well marked and we head towards the Korean War Veterans memorial.

 Simply stunning! In addition to the statues there is a carved wall running along side.

 It is HOT even at 6:30. We head back up the hill (did I mention that DC is shaped like a bowl with the Mall at the bottom??). Past the sororities of GWU.

A relaxing beer.

 This is a delightful bar/restaurant that one wishes one had in your neighbourhood.

Complimentary pretzel bread that we fell in love with. We plan to attempt one ourselves.

Grilled Creekstone Farms Skirt Steak, French Fries, Whiskey Peppercorn Sauce, Obligatory Green Salad

 Mussels: Blue Bay from Maine WHITE House Limoncello, Oven Cured Tomatoes, Lemon Thyme Cream