DC Trip Day 2

We woke around 8:30 and tried to feel hungry because we had breakfast reservations at Old Ebbitt Grill across from the White House.  This was a suggestion from Rita at church.  We stopped and got my first glimpse of the White House along the way.  It was from the back, I think, and we saw Michelle Obama's garden which she has spoken about quite a lot.

Breakfast was fantastic.  We took the waiter's suggestions and ordered the tilapia and crab cakes/eggs Benedict. Incredible.  Fun to eat sea food that's closer to the sea than it is in Kansas. 

The waiter said, "The art work in this room is very valuable.  

The piece above the bar is insured for, like, a bajillion dollars or something."

Me pretending to enjoy my morning coffee in this beautiful restaurant.  I actually had a diet coke.

After breakfast we headed to Newseum.  Since all the Smithsonian museums were shut down we had to explore private (costly) options.  We'd heard great things about Newseum so we headed there.  It was wonderful.  It really explores the journey that news and journalism has taken in the US.  I love artifacts and this museum was full of them (and another reason I was so disappointed to miss the Smithsonian).  

News bloopers on the walls of the bathrooms.

My hand on a piece of the Berlin Wall

A section of the Berlin wall.  This was very cool.  I thought the graffiti was beautiful.  

I have a lot more pics on the real camera but I haven't transferred those pictures yet so I'll post those later.  Trust me, there's a lot on my camera phone.  You'll get the idea.

After the Newseum we walked to the national mall.  It was a pretty exciting day to be there.  I had been disappointed that the government was still shut down and thought I'd miss out on everything that was on the mall, but that morning vets and tea party members removed the gates from the front of the World War II memorial and from the Vietnam wall.  They brought them to the gates of the White House where they then held a protest headed by Sarah Palin and Ted Cruz.  I do not align with the beliefs of the Tea Party and Sarah Palin and Ted Cruz are not my cup of tea, but I sure did appreciate what the vets did that day.  Because of them, we got to see the WWII memorial and the wall.  We walked to the Lincoln Memorial but the gates were up there so we couldn't get close.  It was guarded by about six policemen.  There was a medium sized crowd gathered and a handful of them were angry with the police men and with Obama.  It was exciting to witness it all.  While I do not agree with blaming all of this on Obama, I felt like I just observed what was happening without much emotion.  It seemed important to just watch and remember it all.  One man in particular got everyone's attention and asked them to leave the policemen alone.  This man was a vet and he recognized that the police were doing their service to the country and it was not their fault. He went on for a while about the injustice of keeping people away from these monuments and memorials and then started in on Obama.  That's when we decided to leave.  He's not blameless, but Ted Cruz, you voted to keep the government shut down on Wednesday.  After that speech you gave in front of the White House on Sunday?  Give me a break.  We were very hungry by then and really needed to eat.  We ended up at a bar in Foggy-Bottom by George Washington U.  Nothing fancy.  It was called Tonic and they served beer and hard cider.  That's what we needed.

The White House Christmas Tree with the Monument in the background. 

Great view of the Capitol from Newseum.

WWII memorial

The gates that were removed.

A view of the Lincoln Memorial from the WWII Memorial.

We went back to the hotel to rest before getting back on our feet and walking to dinner.  A friend had strongly recommended a pizza place in Georgetown called Pizzaria Paradiso.  Turned out there was one about 6 blocks from our hotel so we chose that location instead.  Great pizza, beer and hard cider.  

Drinking his Sweet Baby Jesus

Despite my disappointment in not getting to get close to Lincoln, it was a wonderful day and I was so wired that night over the political drama that I could not sleep.  The people we saw at the Lincoln Memorial were on the news that night in DC and then they said people had eventually moved the gates and were "roaming freely about the memorial."  I was so tempted to wake Brian and go check it out myself.  I did eventually fall asleep.  We walked everywhere that day....in loafers.  

Pictures I took off the news of the protests that morning.