Julie and Tim's Travels

After a quick breakfast and coffee at the apartment, I headed back out for my last day of sights. This time, however, I was armed with personal tour guide and monument/memorial aficionado Shannon. Good thing too, as I likely would have gotten lost at some point. We started off at the World War II memorial. Though the fountain and waterfall were under renovation, the memorial was very impressive. Each state is represented, as well as the key battles. It was very crowded, but worth it to see all of the veterans that were present to pay their respects. There were also several war advertisement and propoganda replicas on hand this day to view, which were very interesting. Though seeing Superman telling you to "Slap a Jap" was a little off putting in today's context.

WWII Memorial

Home

Home home

Next, we headed over to the Vietnam Memorial. We stopped to listen to a tour guide explain the concept, which includes a reflective surface to remind us that it could have been anyone's name on that wall. It was also interesting to find out that to this day, names are added periodically, which requires them to remove a section of stone and re-do it. While there, my dad asked me to check for 2 names of people he had served with and who he had lost contact with when they were sent over. The names were not included, which according to my dad meant that they made it home safe. I was very glad to be able to share that info with him.

Vietnam Memorial

The Lincoln memorial was up next. This was the sight I was most looking forward to seeing out of the whole trip because let's face it, Lincoln was a bad-ass (even when he wasn't slaying vampires). The monument was amazing, with the views of the reflective pool, the detail of the statue, and of course the inscription of the Gettysburg address. Just the enormity of the building and the columns were impressive enough.

Lincoln Memorial

Reflecting Pool

At that point, Julie was finishing up work. So before we headed over to meet her, we stopped at the Korean War Memorial. Just like all the others, the thought and detailed put in are truly amazing. From there, we hiked it across to China Town to meet Julie. We grabbed some dim sum at a place called Ping Pong, a sort of "Asian infusion" style place. Our arrogant waiter gave us his suggestions which he "guaranteed and is right about 100% of the time." Our meal (consisting of virtually nothing that he suggested) was really good, even Julie's drink which I like to call a Tapioca Gummy Bear Fizz.

Korean War Memorial

Chinatown

Ping Pong

After lunch, the three of us headed back down towards the National mall & Tidal Basin. We made it to the Jefferson Memorial, FDR Memorial, MLK Memorial, and one more stop at Lincoln before we had to hustle back to the apartment to get ready for our dinner reservations. Luckily Shannon knew this speedy walk home which took 30 minutes and only felt like it took a day & a half.

Jefferson Memorial

Tidal Basin

FDR Memorial

MLK Memorial

Our Top Chef themed weekend continued at Mike Isabella's Graffiato Restaurant. The place is tapas style and though there was much left to be desired for the ladies, there were a few dishes I really enjoyed. Not to mention my Sex & The City style drink. "Hi, I'm Samantha!"

We closed the night and weekend out hitting a few bars, all with great beer selections. I would say my favorite was The Passenger bar, though The Board Room was very entertaining with all the games you could play right there at the bar or at a table. They had everything from Scattergories to Don't Break The Ice. Julie picked Marry, Date or Dump, I guess keeping the whole Sex & The City theme going. "I still get to be Samantha!" One last stop for a late night slice of pizza, and the trip had come to an end.

Had an amazing couple of days in DC, and can't thank Shannon enough for her hospitality. Can't wait to go back and see everything that I ran out of time for. Until then or until the next TIMMY TAKEOVER, this is Samantha...um I mean Tim, signing off.

Woke up to a gorgeous day in DC. Started off heading over to Dupont Circle, and grabbed a coffee at Filter. Their French pressed "morning brew" was a nice way to start the day. The streets of DC were filled with every urban cliché you could think of: the guy in a suit riding a Razor scooter to work, the construction workers cat calling as women walked by, and even the well dressed panhandler begging with his empty Starbucks cup. Yep, I actually kind of miss being near the city.

Filter Coffeehouse

I then started my trek through the National Mall towards the museums. I must admit it is almost surreal to see all of these buildings and monuments that I'm so familiar with but have never seen in person until now. My first stop was the Holocaust Museum. Though everything in DC is free, this museum requires a ticket so they can control the size of the crowds going through at a time. The ticket I received was good in an hour, so I looked around the other temporary exhibits in the museum while I waited. Once inside the permanent exhibit, it immediately became very humbling. The way the museum is designed and the path/timeline it creates is both brilliant and beautiful, amidst the subject matter of absolute horror and sadness. It took me almost 2 hours to view the permanent exhibit, but there is enough content here to easily have spent double that amount of time.

Holocaust Museum

It was already well into the afternoon at that point, so I decided to hike it up to Capitol Hill for lunch. I grabbed a few slices at We, The Pizza. This place is also owned by chef Spike, though I thought the food at Good Stuff was much more enjoyable. While eating outside, I got to see Spike's dad running the show for a bit. Then I grabbed another Good Stuff milkshake for the road, and walked around the Capitol Building for a while.

Some more good stuff

Creeper at the Capitol

Next up, it was time to hit up some of the Smithsonian museums. I started with the Air & Space Museum. It was SUPER crowded here, so I didn't spend a ton of time. Really cool to see remnants from the Apollo missions though, as well as an original glider plane from the Wright Brothers. After that, I strolled through one of the art gardens and then hit the American History Museum. This place had everything from the Star Spangled Banner to Julia Child's kitchen. However the highlight for me was seeing an original Kermit the Frog puppet that was donated by Jim Henson (I obviously have simple needs).

Air & Space Museum

American History Museum

My idol

After 8 hours straight of trekking, I headed back to the apartment and met up with Julie and Shannon. After a little r & r, we hit up the ChurchKey bar for some drinks. The place was cool, and had an amazing beer selection. Then it was time to call it a night since Julie had one more day or work ahead of her. The weather for day 3 is shaping up to be even better than today, perfect to see all the monuments and memorials left on my list.

Well, since Julie has seen DC before and this is my first time, this travel blog is about to have its first TIMMY TRAVEL BLOG TAKEOVER!

Let's do this!

I flew in Thursday evening and was met at the airport by Julie and Shannon. We immediately set off to the first stop of the trip, the Pentagon Memorial. Though very beautiful, at first glance the memorial seemed very simplistic. However upon further investigation, there was actually a lot of thought put into it. Each bench represented a person or family that was lost in the Pentagon attack on 9/11. The names were engraved on the sides of the benches, and the benches were facing 2 directions. For someone lost in the Pentagon, you would read the name facing the Pentagon, and those lost in the plane you would read the name facing the sky in the path of the flight. The benches were arranged by birth year of the victims, and a wall along the side starts at a height of 3 inches and ends at 71 inches, the age ranges of the victims.

Pentagon Memorial

Since I arrived late in the evening, there wasn't much time left for sights. So we headed to Good Stuff Eatery to grab some dinner, the burger joint owned by Spike Mendolsohn from Top Chef. The burger and fries were super tasty, and the toasted marshmallow milkshake was AWESOME!

Good Stuff Eatery

Didn't even get a picture taken before I devoured it

We had enough time to make a quick post-dinner stop to see the White House and drive past a few monuments/buildings, then it was off to Shannon's as she graciously let us invade her apartment for this long weekend. On to day 2, with a full day ahead of me.

White House

For our last day in Dublin we started off the morning site seeing. We walked over the Ha'Penny bridge, walked O'Connell Street, walked by the old Jameson Distillery, saw the church that inspired the story of Dracula, saw Christchurch, walked around St. Patrick's Cathedral and the cathedral garden.

Our hotel

Ha'Penny Bridge

James Joyce statue on O'Connell Street

Old Jameson Distillery

St. Michan Church

Christchurch

St. Patrick's Cathedral

St. Patrick's Cathedral

After site seeing we got all gussied up and went to the fancy-pants Shelbourne Hotel for high tea. The hotel bell hops wore throw-back uniforms and there were beautiful fresh flowers in the hotel lobby. The tea was a first for both of us and something we'd definitely do again! We started with tea and coffee, then they brought us an assortment of finger sandwiches, then an assortment of desserts. The sandwiches were good but the desserts were definitely the highlight of the tea.

Shelbourne Hotel

High Tea

Desserts

Across from the Shelbourne Hotel is St. Stephen's Green, a large park. Lucky for us, it stopped drizzling right after tea! The trees are just starting to bloom and there are beauuutiful swans in the ponds! I imagine the park is amazing in the summer.

St. Stephen's Green Arch

St. Stephen's Green

Swans

Tim wanted to have his OWN high tea, so we went to the famous Davy Byrnes pub for a pint and an Irish coffee.

Davy Byrnes

Tonight we went to the pubs again. Hooooly crap. The French have officially invaded Dublin. There is a France/Ireland rugby match tomorrow and I'm pretty sure all of France is here to support their team. The pubs that we were walking in and out of days ago were packed and flowing out into the streets tonight. I've never seen so many berets or heard so much French. There were vendors in the streets selling French and Irish rugby scarves. We managed to find a table at a local microbrewery and I finally had fish and chips! Then we went to O'Donoghue's for a pint and finished the evening back at The Temple Bar in Temple Bar. It was PACKED. Excusez-moi! We found a "secret" spot at the bar Tim had spied the night before and had the whole corner to ourselves. The house band was playing all sorts of interesting songs. The Irish must be huge Tracy Chapman and Bruce Springsteen fans. We heard them over and over at all the pubs. Then tonight they broke out "She'll be comin' 'round the mountain" which the ENTIRE bar of 600 French and other citizens sang at the top of their lungs. Interesting. Did we sing along? Of course we did!

Porterhouse Microbrewery

O'Donoghue's

The Temple Bar

Secret nook

"She'll be comin' 'round the mountain..."

Crazy crowds

It's sad to say goodbye to Ireland but we definitely enjoyed ourselves and I have a feeling we'll be back. Perhaps during warmer weather. Slán go fóill, Ireland.

We woke up this morning to the screeches of seagulls. This is slightly better than the screeching osprey that we're used to, as the seagulls seem to take breaks. It was a rainy day today in Dublin. Not a heavy downpour, but a steady drizzle/mist.

We had a "full American breakfast" at a local tea shop. The bacon was the best we've had so far and even though the "pancakes" were crepes folded in half, they were delicious. And I can't forget the fresh scrambled eggs!

Tea Shop

Full American Breakfast

We spent most of the day exploring Grafton Street, a shopping area, and the surrounding areas.

Grafton Street

Shopping Mall

Halfway through the day we came back to the hotel and napped. You know how you can stick your arm out in front of an elevator and it will stop and reopen? Apparently the elevators in this hotel don't have that feature. I was almost cut in half today.

After our nap we hit up the pubs. Our first stop was the Stag's Head Pub, founded in the 1800s. Our second stop was Brazen Head Pub, the oldest pub in Ireland. It was founded in the 1100s! We had a drink at each and then spent the rest of our evening in the Temple Bar.....in Temple Bar, founded in the 1700s. We had delicious goat cheese croutes and had our beers next to a window where we could people watch. We were also directly across from an ice cream shop. I eventually couldn't take it and I had to run across the street and bring an ice cream back to the bar. Not without being questioned by some weird man, of course. I'm a weirdo MAGNET!!!

Brazen Head Pub

Stained glass in Sag's Head Pub

Temple Bar

Drinking in Temple Bar

Tomorrow we have reservations for high tea! So excited!