WEEK 14 - WASHINGTON DC - friday 30 july 2010

today is big sightseeing day. we headed down to the smithsonian area, and took photos of the washington monument, but didnt get tickets to go up it, as we dont have the time to spare.

next stop was the natural history museum. we really enjoyed this museum and learnt lots about american history, which is pretty amazing since i dont know any of it, and nz is such a young country, we dont have history like this.

next stop was the lincoln memorial, joseph has been hanging out to see this since we go there and we finally made it! its so amazing! its so massive! the inaugural speeches are engraved on the walls and they are so great, i love them.

on the way to our next stop, we stopped to look at the war memorial, there are so many names...

we tried to go to the museum with the documents in it including declaration of independence, but the lines are always really long, we need to get there earlier!
we walked along the vietnam memorial and looked at the sculptures put there to remember the thousands that gave their lives to serve.
then we headed home to get ready to go out for dinner at one of dc’s most popular restaurants, Birch and Barley. We started off with drinks at the bar across the road [hooray for happy hour!],

then walked over with James and his friends to Birch and Barley. its a really pretty restaurant and you basically just order entree sized plates off food and share them, so you can try more than one thing. sooooo yum, my favourites were the tuna and the peanut butter and chocolate pudding, divine! also the prawns should get a special mention, so scrummy! i would definately go back there, and the wait staff are amazing, the atmosphere is buzzing with people excited about eating gorgeous food, everything is so well presented, and the quality of the food was second to none! thanks James!