Day 30 - Washington D.C.

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9am off to the coach to get a ride into DC. Michelle, Lauren and I decided to make our first stop the Holocaust Museum. It’s been said it is the best museum in DC, and after going there I have to agree. We were there for around 2 hours, and it was so well set up, and if you were to read everything and look at every picture you could just about be there all day. It was really heartbreaking though as well… A very touching tribute to the victims of the Holocaust.
Our next couple of stops were fairly rushed, we knew what we wanted to see so we kinda just walked in and out. We went to the American History Museum, where we saw the original Star Spangled Banner - the one the song was written about. It’s massive, and in a dimly lit area so as to preserve it. It’s also behind glass, with security, and you’re not allowed to take photos of it.
We also saw Dorothy’s Ruby shoes, from the Wizard of Oz, Oscar the Grouch from Sesame Street, Kermit the Frog, Seinfeld’s famous Puffy Shirt, and a pair of Ali’s boxing gloves.
We then headed to the Natural History Museum, where we saw some dinosaur bones, and the Hope Diamond. It was massive - 45.52 carats!
The National Archives was next. We went their solely to see the Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence, but by the time we found the room it was in (this place was a maze!) we also found the 45 min queue to get in. We did see the Magna Carta though!
We then met up with UK Mich, and headed on the metro to the Pentagon City shopping center. We didn’t see a whole lot of it… Just got some lunch in the food court and spent ages in Forever 21… Then we had to head back to the hotel so we could get ready of our last night of Contiki.
We went to an Irish pub in Arlington for dinner. Afterwards we headed out of the restaurant part into the bar, where they started karaoke… quite unsuccessfully in my opinion… So a few of us headed back to the hotel early - New York City was the next day - had to be fully rested for that!!

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