Yesterday afternoon Burke and I met up with his parents in Georgetown for some light shopping and dinner plans. Our dinner plans were for a wonderful Italian restaurant called Filomena. Originally I heard about it while at Drury (I was watching the Travel Channel) and thought it would be a good experience to have. So yesterday morning Burke called ahead and made a reservation. It was definitely a good plan to do that. Before that we just wandered around the streets a little to see the shops (we did not go in anywhere but it was nice to explore). Then we found a little place right next door to Filomena which was a Chinese Tea House. We decided to go inside and see if we could get some tea before dinner. We all had different teas because it was sold on an individual portion size. I had Harmony tea (it was apples, oranges and passion fruit) it was really good and the color was similar to red wine. Burke had a jasmine tea which he enjoyed (I did not like it, because I don't like the flower teas). Marc had a variation on traditional green tea, it was apparently refreshing. Kelly had an Oolong tea which was really good, but a little strong for me. After our tea, and taking a few photos with it, we walked next door to Filomena for dinner and I was very excited.
Our dinner was absolutely amazing! I was so excited to be there and have the food. Our meal was amazing, although the portion sizes were huge. I ordered a dish called La Familia it was a twist on the traditional meatballs with rotini pasta and an amazing pulled beef and sausage meat sauce. Burke had a lobster dish that apparently tasted like lobster bisque but with noodles. His parents shared a penne dish with a meat sauce. The food was amazing, and then we all shared a piece of the Oreo cake they had. It was also really good, light and fluffy but tasted amazing and such a strong flavor. It was a good evening and I will be putting some photos on Facebook from the tea, I did not take any in the restaurant because the lighting was limited and I did not want to disturb other guests.
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Newseum
This blog post is long overdue, I will be the first to admit it. On July 15th Burke and I went to the Newseum, which was very informative. I have a few pictures that I need to add to Facebook, but not many, the Newseum was more informational heavy as opposed to a museum that people can take pictures. We read so much information about all different things. I of course saw the newspaper where it read "Dewey beats Truman" which everyone should know that we had President Truman, not President Dewey. We also saw the remembrance area for September 11th, and it was interesting because they had newspapers from all over the world with the front page being a story on what happened to the United States that fateful day.
Other than that I have been rather busy getting my portfolio completed, and professionally bound. Class is almost over, have one more on Tuesday which I just have to attend, but do not have anything to do. Burke's parents are currently here and I will have another post soon about our exploration with them yesterday. But Washington DC has been amazing although I am excited to get home to my family and my house!!
:)
Other than that I have been rather busy getting my portfolio completed, and professionally bound. Class is almost over, have one more on Tuesday which I just have to attend, but do not have anything to do. Burke's parents are currently here and I will have another post soon about our exploration with them yesterday. But Washington DC has been amazing although I am excited to get home to my family and my house!!
:)
Monday, July 9, 2012
Spies and Wax Figures.
On Sunday the plan was to hit a few places before lunchtime so that my Dad could get home at a decent time to have some time to relax before going in to work on Monday. Burke and I also needed some time to do some laundry and homework. We decided on Saturday night that we would spend Sunday morning together going to the Spy Museum and Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum. Let me tell you, it was so much fun!
The Spy Musuem was really neat and informative, but my god there was so much stuff everywhere! We spent over an hour walking around and we may have seen 50% of it all. There were just so many nooks and crannies and everywhere held information to read or things to look at. It was neat because it progressed through history starting with early spies from around the world and ending with the new threat of cyber spies and cyber security. One quote in the museum that I really appreciated was this one from James Woosley a former CIA Director referring to the Soviet Union's collapse, "We have slain a large dragon but we now live in a jungle filled with a bewildering variety of poisonous snakes. And in many ways the dragon was easier to keep track of." After checking out the Spy Museum Gift Shop we headed toward Madame Tussaud's.
Upon entering we immediately were placed into the presidential section. It was really cool to see the "presidents" mostly because you don't ever think about things like how tall they were. Thomas Jefferson was extremely tall, but then James Madison was like my height! We walked through the whole museum constantly stopping to look at the figures (many of whom were VERY lifelike). A corny moment was when I had Burke take a picture with Richard Nixon because we love Futurama and in the TV show Nixon becomes president of Earth in the 3000's. Although Burke's favorite was his photo with Ronald Reagan. My favorite was my photo with Teddy Roosevelt. We also took photos with some other people such as Johnny Depp, Bob Dylan and I got a photo of the heads of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI (again history major showing). My Dad also got a photo with Muhhamed Ali. It was a really cool experience.
After we left Madame Tussaud's, I saw a really cool Catholic Church, so I wanted to go inside. Luckily it was open. The church's name is St. Patrick's Church, apparently it used to be a parish but got so many members that they needed to rename it. It was really big and the architecture was beautiful, especially with the added benefit of the stained glass. I took some photos of it and walked around inside for a bit. Then we all headed back to the Metro where I had to say bye to my Dad (I didn't cry, although I was really sad). Then Burke and I returned home to an afternoon of laundry and homework. But this weekend was probably one of my favorite weekends here in DC because I got to spend it with some of my family at least. And I believe my Dad enjoyed it almost as much as I did.
:)
Now I only have 25 days standing between me and heading home. (I have so many places left to visit, I don't know if I'll get them all in!)
The Spy Musuem was really neat and informative, but my god there was so much stuff everywhere! We spent over an hour walking around and we may have seen 50% of it all. There were just so many nooks and crannies and everywhere held information to read or things to look at. It was neat because it progressed through history starting with early spies from around the world and ending with the new threat of cyber spies and cyber security. One quote in the museum that I really appreciated was this one from James Woosley a former CIA Director referring to the Soviet Union's collapse, "We have slain a large dragon but we now live in a jungle filled with a bewildering variety of poisonous snakes. And in many ways the dragon was easier to keep track of." After checking out the Spy Museum Gift Shop we headed toward Madame Tussaud's.
Upon entering we immediately were placed into the presidential section. It was really cool to see the "presidents" mostly because you don't ever think about things like how tall they were. Thomas Jefferson was extremely tall, but then James Madison was like my height! We walked through the whole museum constantly stopping to look at the figures (many of whom were VERY lifelike). A corny moment was when I had Burke take a picture with Richard Nixon because we love Futurama and in the TV show Nixon becomes president of Earth in the 3000's. Although Burke's favorite was his photo with Ronald Reagan. My favorite was my photo with Teddy Roosevelt. We also took photos with some other people such as Johnny Depp, Bob Dylan and I got a photo of the heads of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI (again history major showing). My Dad also got a photo with Muhhamed Ali. It was a really cool experience.
After we left Madame Tussaud's, I saw a really cool Catholic Church, so I wanted to go inside. Luckily it was open. The church's name is St. Patrick's Church, apparently it used to be a parish but got so many members that they needed to rename it. It was really big and the architecture was beautiful, especially with the added benefit of the stained glass. I took some photos of it and walked around inside for a bit. Then we all headed back to the Metro where I had to say bye to my Dad (I didn't cry, although I was really sad). Then Burke and I returned home to an afternoon of laundry and homework. But this weekend was probably one of my favorite weekends here in DC because I got to spend it with some of my family at least. And I believe my Dad enjoyed it almost as much as I did.
:)
Now I only have 25 days standing between me and heading home. (I have so many places left to visit, I don't know if I'll get them all in!)
Walking to Arlington.
On Saturday I was very excited, why you may ask, well because my Dad visited for the weekend! So in the morning I ran out and did my grocery shopping so I would have as much time as possible to spend with my Dad. (I've been missing all of my family, so a visit from my Dad was AWESOME). He arrived around 1pm and we stopped at the Marriott so he could check in and leave his backpack there. We then went to Potbelly for lunch, sandwichs are always good, Dad ended up buying a large pickle to go with his sandwich. We ate and chatted about what has been going on. Then we headed to the Metro, because I wanted to take him to the White House! We got to the White House and took some photos in front of it. Then we headed for the National Mall to see the memorials. We planned to meet up with Burke there, he had been having a lunch with a friend. By this point it was getting to be pretty hot, but I am incredibly stubborn, so we continued on. The Metro dropped us off in the middle of the National Mall and we headed toward the Washington Monument, sadly due to the earthquake last year people still aren't allowed inside the monument. So we headed toward the WWII Monument which is the next closest. By this point it was getting a lot hotter, but we had water so we continued on. We stopped to take some photos at the WWII Monument and then decided to go toward the Vietnam Memorial. We decided against getting too close to it, considering it is a black rock wall. Next stop was the Lincoln Memorial which we climbed to the top and took some photos (this time there was not scaffolding in front of Lincoln's head). By then I was really hot and tired, so I nominated that we head back to the RAF and just spend time indoors until we head out for dinner.
Burke pulled out his cell phone and told us that the nearest Metro station was Arlington. I found that hard to believe but he said it was only .73 miles away, whereas the next closest one was .83 so Arlington it was. We started walking in that direction and man was it hot, the walk there did not have a lot of shade (we had to wander to the side of the road and such to find any). I needed to stop a few times because I was getting too hot and needed to get a breeze or something before I could continue on. But we did make it to the Metro stop in one piece. It's just funny because we all walked from Washington DC to Arlington (I know they are relatively close together but when the temperature is 102 and the humidity is at 75% it seems like an eternity). Everyone else was fine and I was fine was we were done walking although apparently I was worrying my Dad because apparently my face was extremely red (due to heat, not sunburn). But we all made it to the RAF, Burke took my Dad to his room because I really needed a shower after that walking excapade. So I showered then went to Burke's room where we watched the end of Wimbleton. Then we decided to go to a restuarant in Chinatown for dinner, Asian Spice. It was nice because it was an Asian fusion place, so we all got different foods. Burke had sushi (of course because he loves it), I had a Chinese dish called Refugee Noodles, and my Dad got a Thai dish that looked to be some sort of soup that had curry in it. I tasted my Dad's dish (he claimed it was not anywhere near spicy) and it made the tip of my tongue numb for a minute so I took one piece of Burke's California Roll (with the avocado which cooled my tongue down). Dinner was really nice and we all talked about all different kinds of things, and then we went and got Rita's for dessert which was extremely refreshing because it was still rather hot outside. We then walked to the other Metro stop in Chinatown so that my Dad could see the street performers, there were only a couple out (one gentleman playing an acoustic guitar and another further down the street playing an electric guitar). It was a really fun day (even with the heat) and I was so excited to have my Dad here.
:)
Burke pulled out his cell phone and told us that the nearest Metro station was Arlington. I found that hard to believe but he said it was only .73 miles away, whereas the next closest one was .83 so Arlington it was. We started walking in that direction and man was it hot, the walk there did not have a lot of shade (we had to wander to the side of the road and such to find any). I needed to stop a few times because I was getting too hot and needed to get a breeze or something before I could continue on. But we did make it to the Metro stop in one piece. It's just funny because we all walked from Washington DC to Arlington (I know they are relatively close together but when the temperature is 102 and the humidity is at 75% it seems like an eternity). Everyone else was fine and I was fine was we were done walking although apparently I was worrying my Dad because apparently my face was extremely red (due to heat, not sunburn). But we all made it to the RAF, Burke took my Dad to his room because I really needed a shower after that walking excapade. So I showered then went to Burke's room where we watched the end of Wimbleton. Then we decided to go to a restuarant in Chinatown for dinner, Asian Spice. It was nice because it was an Asian fusion place, so we all got different foods. Burke had sushi (of course because he loves it), I had a Chinese dish called Refugee Noodles, and my Dad got a Thai dish that looked to be some sort of soup that had curry in it. I tasted my Dad's dish (he claimed it was not anywhere near spicy) and it made the tip of my tongue numb for a minute so I took one piece of Burke's California Roll (with the avocado which cooled my tongue down). Dinner was really nice and we all talked about all different kinds of things, and then we went and got Rita's for dessert which was extremely refreshing because it was still rather hot outside. We then walked to the other Metro stop in Chinatown so that my Dad could see the street performers, there were only a couple out (one gentleman playing an acoustic guitar and another further down the street playing an electric guitar). It was a really fun day (even with the heat) and I was so excited to have my Dad here.
:)
July 6th (another day off)
As my last official day off of work this past Friday was pretty nice. Burke also had off work that day so we got to spend it together. The plan was to visit the National Archives and the National Museum of Natural History again (to see what we didn't see the first time we visited). It seemed like a good plan, we left early in the morning so as to avoid the heat of the afternoon. We arrived at the National Mall and began to walk to the National Archives, we walked through the butterfly habitat garden, which was really pretty but lacking butterflies, probably because it was so hot and humid. We reached the outside of the National Archives and saw a line longer than any I have seen since our arrival here, we debated whether we wanted to wait in that line and decided against it, so I took a photo of the outside of the building, and we plan to get over there to go inside some other time.
The Natural History Museum was amazing as it always is, that could be the history major talking, haha. We explored the upper floors, including the gemstone exhibit, and Burke saw the Hope Diamond for the first time. We then went through a photography exhibit on nature, and the photographs were amazing. After that we went back in time to a time before humans and explored both the ocean life and the creatures of the land. It was pretty interesting. We also walked through an area devoted to butterflies, they even had a butterfly garden/tent thing you could enter but we did not want to pay the $7 per person to go inside, so we just looked into the window to see the butterflies. After that we headed back downstairs and made our way home to the RAF where an afternoon of video games, movies and homework were waiting.
The Natural History Museum was amazing as it always is, that could be the history major talking, haha. We explored the upper floors, including the gemstone exhibit, and Burke saw the Hope Diamond for the first time. We then went through a photography exhibit on nature, and the photographs were amazing. After that we went back in time to a time before humans and explored both the ocean life and the creatures of the land. It was pretty interesting. We also walked through an area devoted to butterflies, they even had a butterfly garden/tent thing you could enter but we did not want to pay the $7 per person to go inside, so we just looked into the window to see the butterflies. After that we headed back downstairs and made our way home to the RAF where an afternoon of video games, movies and homework were waiting.
Sunday, July 8, 2012
My Trip to the National Holocaust Museum.
So on Thursday (July 5th) I did not have to work, but my friends did, so I decided to go exploring. I have wanted to get to the Holocaust Museum for awhile now and I decided that is where I would go. The reason? Because it is a very sad place and Burke did not want to see it, so I figured it would be the appropriate day to go, because I would be by myself. I managed to find it without a problem and arrived relatively early. I then found out that I would have to wait until 11:45am to enter the permanent exhibit (where you get a story and see what happened). It was around 10:30am at this point, so I went through a couple of the smaller exhibits and then did what any sane young woman does when she has a good amount of time, I called my mother. We chatted for awhile and I told her what I was doing for the day, she was very excited about it, and I told her I would keep all the informational brochures I received so that she can see them when I return home in August.
I then entered the permanent exhibit and chose at random an identification card, for the rest of the time I was there my name was Alice Karkauerova Seelenfriedova. I was born in Czechoslovakia in 1903. I attended secondary school and graduated marrying my childhood sweetheart. Sadly in 1934 my husband died, so I moved home to live with my parents once more. In 1939 the Germans came in and imposed strict rules, I was eventually deported to Theresienstadt Ghetto in western Czechoslovakia, I spent only a few days there and was sent on another transport to Poland where I either died in a Nazi work camp or an extermination camp, no one is sure.
After going through the permanent exhibit, which was very solemn, especially the room with all of the collected shoes which were on loan from the remembrance museum in Auschwitz. Seeing all the shoes, with the amount of variety from little children's shoes to men's work shoes to ladies sandals. It was a very strong experience. I then went to the remembrance hall and lit a candle in honor of the woman I had become for a few hours. After paying my respects to the many lives that were forever cut short I returned to the RAF to complete some homework and ponder on history (as I usually end up doing, even though other people don't always follow).
One quote that really spoke to me in the exhibit was this one: "Where books are bunred in the end people will burn."
~ I thought about this quote for quite a while and I believe it to be more true than false.
I then entered the permanent exhibit and chose at random an identification card, for the rest of the time I was there my name was Alice Karkauerova Seelenfriedova. I was born in Czechoslovakia in 1903. I attended secondary school and graduated marrying my childhood sweetheart. Sadly in 1934 my husband died, so I moved home to live with my parents once more. In 1939 the Germans came in and imposed strict rules, I was eventually deported to Theresienstadt Ghetto in western Czechoslovakia, I spent only a few days there and was sent on another transport to Poland where I either died in a Nazi work camp or an extermination camp, no one is sure.
After going through the permanent exhibit, which was very solemn, especially the room with all of the collected shoes which were on loan from the remembrance museum in Auschwitz. Seeing all the shoes, with the amount of variety from little children's shoes to men's work shoes to ladies sandals. It was a very strong experience. I then went to the remembrance hall and lit a candle in honor of the woman I had become for a few hours. After paying my respects to the many lives that were forever cut short I returned to the RAF to complete some homework and ponder on history (as I usually end up doing, even though other people don't always follow).
One quote that really spoke to me in the exhibit was this one: "Where books are bunred in the end people will burn."
~ I thought about this quote for quite a while and I believe it to be more true than false.
4th of July in Washington DC.
It's been awhile I know and I'm terribly sorry for the delay although I have not had much free time to blog. Okay let's see 4th of July was absolutely amazing! The plan was to find a good spot along the parade route in the morning, and then head back to the RAF afterward to cool off before fireworks. So the group of us headed out moderately early, left here around 9:45am to get a good shady spot to sit in and watch the parade. The parade was set to begin at 11:45am. We arrived at the Metro stop closest at around 10:30am, so we still had some time to wait. Luckily Burke found us an amazing spot to sit and watch the parade, it was literally the window sill of the American History Museum. Nice and shaded, even moderately cool compared to the rest of the area. So we had some lunch and water and waited for the parade to start. It was a pretty cool parade, lots of bands from the surrounding area came out and played (I felt so bad for them to be in full uniform when the sun is out and school colors are all black, navy blue, red, green, etc. and the uniforms were all long sleeved and pants.) Hopefully they were getting enough water to stay kind of cool. I even heard the piccolos of one band which was impressive because back when I was in parades I never knew if the audience ever heard us, since the rest of the band can be so loud. The parade also had some over sized balloons being tugged around which was interesting to watch. And of course there were veterans from all the armed forces. The part I thought was the most interesting though was the section of the parade devoted to Chinese immigrants and Chinatown, they had a float all to themselves and even had a group of girls following it doing a traditional dance. It was really beautiful to watch.
Then since we were sitting in front of the American History Museum Burke and I decided to go inside and see the exhibits. It was a pretty good museum, I definitely give them points on trying to relate things back to every day life, although sometimes it got a little corny. Overall though definitely a good museum, as all the Smithsonian's are. After that we headed back to the RAF to cool down and relax. We just did a little homework and hung out and we ordered a pizza for dinner. Then at about 6:45pm we headed out to meet up with our friend named John whose work was opening up the penthouse for employees and friends to watch fireworks.
Once we arrived we spent time hanging out with a group of people all from the RAF and just chatted because as everyone should know fireworks need to be set off in the dark. The shows started around 8:45pm, but these shows were really far away. People were getting upset because they didn't believe they were going to see good fireworks, a few even suggested leaving. I convinced the group to wait a few more minutes, and I am happy I did. About 5 minutes after my suggestion HUGE fireworks started going off about 2 blocks away from us, we probably had one of the best views. It was absolutely amazing, the show lasted about 45 minutes, but it felt like a lot longer. The show was done so well too because you were constantly expecting the finale because everything was so impressive. After that we returned to the RAF which was fun because even in the family neighborhoods people were shooting off their own smaller fireworks so we got to watch them as well. July 4th in Washington DC is an experience I won't soon forget.
Then since we were sitting in front of the American History Museum Burke and I decided to go inside and see the exhibits. It was a pretty good museum, I definitely give them points on trying to relate things back to every day life, although sometimes it got a little corny. Overall though definitely a good museum, as all the Smithsonian's are. After that we headed back to the RAF to cool down and relax. We just did a little homework and hung out and we ordered a pizza for dinner. Then at about 6:45pm we headed out to meet up with our friend named John whose work was opening up the penthouse for employees and friends to watch fireworks.
Once we arrived we spent time hanging out with a group of people all from the RAF and just chatted because as everyone should know fireworks need to be set off in the dark. The shows started around 8:45pm, but these shows were really far away. People were getting upset because they didn't believe they were going to see good fireworks, a few even suggested leaving. I convinced the group to wait a few more minutes, and I am happy I did. About 5 minutes after my suggestion HUGE fireworks started going off about 2 blocks away from us, we probably had one of the best views. It was absolutely amazing, the show lasted about 45 minutes, but it felt like a lot longer. The show was done so well too because you were constantly expecting the finale because everything was so impressive. After that we returned to the RAF which was fun because even in the family neighborhoods people were shooting off their own smaller fireworks so we got to watch them as well. July 4th in Washington DC is an experience I won't soon forget.
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