By the time we got to Grand Central Station, my camera's battery had run out, which is why I have no photos to show sadly. But, it was such a grand (pun intended) station. The mural on the ceiling was lovely and watching the hustle bustle of all the people from the upper floor was interesting. It was also cool because I've seen a lot of movies and television shows that filmed scenes in the station. 

Looks kind of like a post apocalyptic world, doesn't it? Well, don't be fooled by my photos. That's not what it looks like at all. Haha!

I had no idea what to expect from our trip to Washington D.C. As much I might've seen photos of the Capitol or Lincoln's Memorial or the Washington Monument, it didn't occur to me that I was going to see those things in person until I walked out of the train station. We had caught an early train from Baltimore to D.C. and we got off right in the middle of the Mall. Sadly, it was being redone so it didn't look as majestic and grand as the post cards, hence the post apocalyptic photos. Haha!

After a good walk around the WW2 memorial, we continued walking down the strip towards the Lincoln Memorial. The walk was pleasant, there were baby ducks swimming in the water next to the strip and the view of the memorial was stunning. However, just when I thought the WW2 memorial was crowded, the Lincoln memorial was even more packed. There were tour groups from all over the place, Asia, Europe, school groups within the States. It was crazy. I could tell that the security guards were tense too because of the amount of people not following the quiet rule within the chambers of the memorial. Besides that, I thought it was delightful to finally see the Lincoln statue in person after all these years of seeing video footage and photos of it. Now, I have my own personal pictures of it!

The Vietnam War Memorial was our next stop. I didn't know that much about this memorial either, so it was interesting to see what it looked like. It's a long black wall with names of all the soldiers that gave their lives in the Vietnam War. This one was the most peaceful of the three memorials, even though the number of people wasn't that different. Everyone walked by the wall slowly and quietly, looking at the names of the people and seeing their own reflection shown back at them. This particular memorial was well designed in my opinion, as it had a larger impact on me.

After some much needed rest on a bench overlooking the memorials, we stood up, slapped the sleep out of our eyes, and were off to the Natural History Museum where the Hope Diamond resides. We weren't completely sure we wanted to go visit that museum at first, but in the end, I think it was worth it. There were so many exhibits in the museum. We meandered through the crystal and rock exhibit and I was so captivated by the wondrous amount of unique rock crystals. The Hope Diamond wasn't all that amazing, I wasn't too taken by it. But, that might be because I prefer the raw ores and minerals.

Finally, my favorite part of the visit, the National Gallery of Art. It holds so many beautiful pieces of artwork from artists I adore. I wish I could've spent more time exploring the entire museum and absorb all the paintings and sculptures through my eyes. While checking out the museum, we got to meet up with a couple of family friends from Hawaii. It was such a coincidence that we happened to be in Washington D.C. at the same time. We got to check out the various galleries together, but after what felt like a short time, we had to catch the train back.  

Our train was scheduled to leave at a certain time so as we slowly made our way out of the museum, we realized we had to start picking up the pace. In fear that we were going to miss our train, we had to run past the Capitol (which was being redone) and towards the train station. We were so exhausted, but we managed to make it even with the hot sun bearing down on us. 

Going to Washington D.C. was a very tiring but wonderful experience. I will definitely come back to visit again in the future and go back to the Natural Gallery of Art to admire everything that museum holds. 

Thanks for reading!

☁