The house we're staying in is right near the Catholic University campus. We caught the Metro there with plans to head to the zoo. I have to say, navigation around town was one of my biggest concerns. Tony and I managed like old pros the first trip, and we arrived safely at the zoo.
The Metro stop for the zoo must be waaay underground, because here's the out escalator:
The boys were very impressed by the height. I'm not so sure Sophie loved it, given that she rides all escalators tipped back on two wheels in the stroller. It was about 3 or 4 block from the Metro to the zoo. It wasn't bad, though, and the weather was gorgeous. Mid- to upper- 50s and sunny as could be. As we were walking, we found a sign with Aidan's name on it.
We finally arrived at the zoo. I have to admit, we were a little underwhelmed. We are so spoiled by the Louisville Zoo that the National zoo almost didn't compete. However, the National zoo has panda bears, which was the entire reason we even considered spending precious time there.
We ended up staying about two hours or so at the zoo, and with the exception of walking in circles to see everything, the kids had a great time. Here's what we came to find:
The zoo has two pandas, and we were able to see both of them being very active before too big of a crowd arrived. So cool!
Another zoo highlight was the baby lion cubs. There were about six of them, I think, just laying around in the sun with mom and dad. It looks like papa lion's roaring, but in reality he was just yawning.
By the time we left the zoo, it was about one. We were all starving and lucky for us, there was a McDonald's right next to the Metro station. Even better, DC McDonald's have dollar menus. The kids loved eating there because it was in the basement of the building and required going downstairs to eat. We were all revitalized after lunch and decided to head downtown and just see what we could find. The Metro ride downtown was exciting. As we approached the tracks, a train was just arriving. They are farther between on the weekends, so we were determined to catch it. We made a huge run for it, dragging the kids with us, only to find we were on a train going the wrong direction. We got off at the next stop and squeezed onto a train going the other direction. It was packed tight! We rode uncomfortably the rest of the way, but we managed to stay together and get where we were going.As much as I love to organize our schedule, Tony is so good about helping me stay flexible. Some of our best moments have been because he's convinced me to go off the beaten path. Today that proved true again. We took time to let Sophie listen to a street performer. She adored it and danced away. She makes everyone happy!
Another unscheduled stop was the old post office building. It now houses shops, but you can "tour" the tower for free. I agreed (hooray for trusting Tony, even though he chose the wrong Metro earlier) and we took off.
The top of the old post office houses the bells of the Capitol. They are too heavy for the architecture in the Capitol building, so they hang in the tower and are used for special events. They were enormous and really neat up close.
Here we are at the top of the tower:
When we came back down, we decided that all we really had time to do this afternoon was a kind of self-guided walking tour. We wanted to be sure the boys saw the White House and they really wanted to see the Washington monument. We ran into the unexpected at the White House, but it turned out to be really educational for the kids. As we approached 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, there was police tape and lots of people. I was a little put off that we couldn't get any closer than across the street. Then we also noticed the police presence, and the yelling. We had stumbled upon an anti-war protest. We stood on the corner mentally debating, but remember who you're reading about, here. Two political junkies - so of course we waded right into the middle of it. Andrew was very nervous and I had to explain exactly what was going on and warn him to keep his mouth shut so he didn't start spouting off about his uninformed, seven-year-old opinion or about his soldier uncle and get us dirty looks or worse.
Of course, Tony took bunches of protest pictures. I tried to explain to the boys that regardless of our opinions, everyone has the right to peacefully protest to state their opinion, and that the opportunity for them to say they'd been on the outskirts of one in front of the White House was something few, if anyone, they know could claim to have done. I think it's awesome that the next time we watch national news and see something like this, we've got a starting point for discussions. They thought it was awesome that the police were on horses and they saw a couple people get arrested. So much for that lesson.
We walked on around the White House and the boys waved to President Obama (or at least they did on the off chance that he was home). We stopped near the Mall to take a picture of the back side of the White House as well. No police tape visible this time.
For whatever reason, Aidan has been obsessed with the Washington monument. I wanted to try some cool shots we saw on a travel blog. Andrew's worked out. Aidan just couldn't get the hang of where I wanted him to stand.
Sophie fell asleep right in the middle of the protesters - no joke. Of course she's well trained and it was nap time, capital center or not. Here's her view of the monument:
Traveling by ourselves doesn't give Tony and I a lot of opportunity for pictures of ourselves. We had Andrew take our picture in front of the monument. It turned out unintentionally artistic. We look more like we're next to the leaning tower of Pisa.
The boys needed a rest, so I suggested they sit at the base of the monument and look up. It's pretty amazing, and I ended up with a great picture.
We walked around the monument and headed down the other side near the capitol to start our journey back to the Metro station.
The culture of big cities amaze me. That, and we always attract odd occurrences wherever we go. After the Metro mix-up and the protest, I thought nothing would surprise me. I was wrong. As we were crossing the park, we heard lots of sirens. Andrew, again, got worried. I reminded him that it was a big city and there were constant sirens. Unfortunately, these got closer and closer. I was hoping for a motorcade, so we starting walking quickly toward the corner. Just then, police cars came barreling in our direction from all angle - three of them right through the grass in the park. We froze as police officers starting jumping out, hands on weapons, looking as though there was a huge emergency. Then, they just looked puzzled. They jumped in their cars, sirens blaring, and tore off to another corner a block or two away. Now, I'm not sure what bothers me most about this situation. Is it the fact that the police had no idea what was going on? Or, is it the fact that no one in the vicinity flinched or even stopped what they were doing besides us? It's like we were the only ones who saw it happen. Weird.After that incident, we decided an ice cream break was definitely needed for our return hike to the Metro station. This picture cracks me up because Sophie isn't looking at the camera - she's looking to see where her ice cream went. Play Where's Waldo and see if you can guess where it is:
Give up? It's in my hand - I'm opening it over the trash can in the background. That's me in the pink jacket. Sadly, Aidan's $4 Sponge Bob was not so well made. It fell right off the stick. He was bawling his eyes out, but I couldn't resist the irony of the situation and the great photo op:
Luckily, Aidan's very witty and appreciated my picture - Sponge Bob out of the ocean and melting on the sidewalk. (Letting him eat the rest of Sophie's sherbet also went a long way to stop the tears).We managed to make it out of downtown, but barely. One of the NCAA tournament rounds is being played here this weekend, and the Metro was packed. I held on to the boys for dear life and Tony fought the stroller. There were several times I was afraid we were going to be separated.
The kids have been awesome tourists so far. We walked miles today - I'd guess 10, at a minimum. They did get tired and a little whiny about their feet hurting, but no temper tantrums and lots of smiles. They are so smart and shared things about the zoo and downtown Washington that I didn't know. That amazes me - that they're old enough to learn things that I haven't taught them.
We made it back "home", where Fr. Paul was cooking a wonderful dinner for us. (I'm not just saying that because I know you'll check, Paul!) We had salad, marinated mushrooms and peppers, potatoes and steak complemented with red wine and finished off with cheesecake and coffee. The kids had hot dogs and cookies.
Tony and I got the kiddos bathed and he headed out to join 'the guys' for cigars and conversation while the kids and I watched a little tv and are now headed for bed. Tomorrow we're excited to be celebrating Sunday Mass at the National Shrine.
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