Our trip to Washington D.C. -- August 8 & 9 On Tuesday Elis and I headed for Washington D.C. to get to know the capital of the U.S. Our trip: New Jersey - Delaware - Maryland - Virginia - Washington D.C.

The drive to D.C.

Although we left Tinton Falls at 10 a.m. and the drive usually only takes about 4 hours, we didn’t arrive until 6 p.m. at Sharon’s dad’s house in Arlington (VA) where we stayed the night!! Well, as you can imagine quite a few things happened to us during the 8-hour-drive. First, we got lost for about 15 minutes, but we were lucky and soon found the right way again. Later, after we had taken a lunch break at a rest stop and wanted to continue our trip on the NJ Turnpike, we had to realize that our convertible had a flat tire!! Can you believe that?? There we were, 2 blond Austrians, standing on the shoulder of one of the most heavily traveled highways in the United States and trying to stop passing cars. Some of them waved at us, some honked at us, but most of them just ignored us. But then, lucky us, a friendly 50ish guy stopped and offered his help putting the spare tire on. If he hadn’t stopped and helped us, we wouldn’t have known what to do, as neither Elis nor I have a clue how to change a tire. In return for his help, we wanted to give him some candy, but he wouldn’t take them. However, at least we could give him a small bottle of water which he appreciated, since it was such a hot day and he was really sweating in the noon sun of NJ. The guy advised us to go back to the rest stop, because there was an upcoming bridge and having had a lot of experience with cars (as he told us), he didn‘t think that our Ford Mustang would manage to go to the next rest stop without another breakdown , so we gratefully took his advice. It was just a bit hard to go back, since I had to go backwards on the shoulder and there were so many fast passing cars and also huge trucks. Elis was walking right next to me and always told me when I had to stop because of an approaching car or truck. Although it was so unbearably hot and exhausting, the Mustang’s breakdown was also a bit funny for us -- the whole scene couldn’t be better in an adventurous road movie, don’t you think? : ) Finally, arrived at the gas station, we told the guys there what had happened to us and asked them to change the tire. Since the price for a new tire (and the service) was just crazy (almost 220 bucks, can you believe that??), I called Sharon first to ask her what she would do. But as there was no other chance to get a cheaper tire somewhere else, we had to accept this overpriced tire. The guy there could have been a bit friendlier to us, though, considering the high price we had to pay; additionally, he could have tried not to mumble so much, because it was a bit hard to understand him. But probably he’s not quite satisfied with what he’s doing; I wouldn’t want to be at a gas station all day long in the NJ heat either. But anyway, we could at least leave that gas station again as soon as the new tire was fixed and our other tires had enough air again. And believe it or not, we really managed to get to Washington D.C. without any more complications. We already passed the Washington Monument, but then we somehow took the wrong way again, since it was rush-hour and we didn’t know where to go exactly. Unfortunately, we landed back on the highway. Elis called Stan, Sharon’s dad, to ask him what to do. He just said that we should take the next exit, so we did that. Unfortunately, we couldn’t turn anywhere and had to follow the road that led us to Dulles International Airport 30 miles (and about 40 minutes!) from D.C.! But at least we could turn at the airport. More than exhausted and fed up by that time we went back to D.C. again. Then we followed Stan’s directions again, but, to make our little journey never-ending, we almost ran out of gas and only managed to find a gas station in the last minute . Then everything went quite smoothly. Stan who had been waiting for us at one particular spot got into the car and showed us the rest of the way to his house.

Meet the Homas Arrived at the house, we met his wife Cicci, who is probably in her 60ies and originally from Italy, but has been living in the States for about 40 years now. Nevertheless, she still has a strong Italian accent and occasionally changes some letters (for example, instead of “breakfast”, she would say “breaskfat”). Stan just turned 70, by the way. However, they both turned out to be very nice and hospitable and I’m sure we wouldn’t have had such a funny time if we had stayed in a hotel. Stan’s and Cicci’s house is full of wedding pictures, especially of their own wedding, which was 6 years ago, and many, many fish. (Elis and I even had one fish in our room. When I turned it on at night, since I thought it was just a night light, the fish suddenly started moving and singing “Take me to the river…. Put me in the water….” and “Don’t worry, be happy….”. It was really funny with the fish in our room : ) )

The city After we had taken a quick shower, we took a taxi into D.C. by 7 p.m. where we spent the time strolling around and looking at the impressive monuments. Then we decided to take a taxi to Georgetown where we had some delicious dinner in an Italian restaurant and afterwards some ice cream. We really enjoyed the rest of our evening in Georgetown. Arrived back at the Homas, Stan told us stories about the Austro-Hungarian empire and things like that, and Cicci always interrupted him to tell him “that the girls are tired”, but she would take the chance when there was a little pause and tell us what a “pretty slim girl she was when she was our age….”. I have to admit that I couldn’t follow all their stories, since I was soooo tired, but I’m sure they would have been interesting. Wednesday morning Elis and I found a nicely prepared breakfast waiting for us. Stan and Cicci were still sleeping. I think I have to mention that their sleeping times seem to be a bit odd, since they go to bed between 3 a.m. and 7 a.m. (as they told us) and get up sometime in the afternoon!! But anyway, we really appreciated that they had prepared such a nice “breaskfat” for us. : ) Then, after we had enjoyed the bagels, we headed back into D.C., first by bus to the Pentagon City metro station and then by subway to the city. Back in the city, we spent some time strolling around and looking at some of the many monuments again. We walked by The Capitol, strolled along The National Mall to the Washington Monument again, etc. Since it was so hot, we decided to get into a tour bus and explored the city that way. It was a good decision to take that bus, because we could always get off, go into the buildings, look at the monuments, and just get into the next tour bus that came about 20 minutes later to continue our tour. All in all, we saw 21 Washington D.C. attractions during this tour.

These were the main attractions:

- Air and Space Museum - U.S. Capitol - National Gallery of Art - Museum of American History - Washington Monument - Bureau of Engraving and Printing - Jefferson Memorial - Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial - Lincoln Memorial - Arlington Cemetery - White House - Washington Monument

Most of the time, we stayed in the bus; we just got out when we arrived at Lincoln Memorial (because we wanted to see Abe a bit closer : ) ), and at the Air and Space Museum, as they had a huge McDonald’s there and we were really hungry.

The drive back to NJ At about 5 p.m. we went back to the Pentagon City Station where Stan picked us up, and arrived at his house, we started getting ready for our trip back to NJ. Stan explained exactly the way (first to Elis, then to me); he even gave us a self drawn map which was extremely useful. We left at about 6.30 p.m. -- we just had to follow Stan and Cicci to get out of the maze of their surroundings, and then we had no more problems getting back. Well, to be honest, there was just one more problem, but this is not even worth mentioning, since it was just a tiny one compared to what had happened to us the day before: )

Oh yeah, I also wanted to mention that when we went back, Elis always had to tell me when I could get to the right lane again, since I didn’t see anything in the right side mirror. (Something must be broken; Sharon and I still tried to fix the mirror, but it didn‘t work so well the way we did it.) But anyway, everything turned out well and we fortunately had a shorter drive back to Tinton Falls where we arrived at around 11 p.m. Although I felt extremely tired after this trip, it was well worth all the efforts and I will never forget our little journey to the capital of the US. : )

We decided to go on our next city trip, probably Philadelphia, by train, though. : ) I took a lot of pics again and I really hope that you’ll enjoy them... Have a good week-end and cu soon!!! Love, Michaela

Tuesday pics Washington D.C. We are coming.../ Breakdown on NJ Turnpike A huge tunnel we went through/ Washington Monument At the Homas/ Pentagon The National Mall/ Korean War Veterans Memorial The National Mall again/ District of Columbia War Memorial National WW II Memorial Washington Monument Georgetown

Wednesday pics

The Capitol

National Museum of American History Bureau of Engraving and Printing At Lincoln Memorial

Abe : ) Our new navy friends : )/ The White House Arlington National Cemetery/ Our tour bus Department of Agriculture/ Gallery of Art Jefferson Memorial/ Smithsonia... Air and Space Museum At the Pentagon City metro station