Day 41: Washington DC

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Superbowl Sunday!!! But before the Superbowl celebrations begin, there is still some exploring to be done. This morning a few of us headed to the Holocaust memorial. There is no way to describe this museum. It is just so full on. Having been to Mauthausen and to Anne Frank's house, I had some idea of what to expect, but this was something else. It described how Hitler rose to power, and how he and his Nazi party systematically destroyed Jews and their way of life. There was some pretty graphic footage being shown in some parts of the museum, as well as video interviews with survivors and their stories. One surprising thing I found was that many countries were not accepting Jewish refugees as immigrans. One country however that did help out in the time of need was the Dominican Republic, who accepted 100,000 refugees. If only other larger countries helped out, the death toll could have been far less. At the end of the museum there is a memorial where you can light candles that are positioned under the name of death camps on the walls. I decided to light one corresponding to Mauthausen since my experience there changed me as a person, and it was the most surreal experience I have ever experienced.

After this Moe, Tom and I decided to walk over to the Capitol building to take some photos. On the way there we stopped at a street vendor to get some hot dogs. They were actually really good, the best hotdogs I've had while I've been here. Once we arrived at the Capitol, we took some photos and then decided to head home to get ready for the Superbowl. Once at the hotel I managed to watch a bit of the pre game talk before heading out to an Irish pub for dinner. They had the game on at the pub, which was good. Most people decided to leave after half time, which was a bit disappointing, but some of us stayed to watch the game at the pub. It was a close game so it was good to be around other people, it made the game even more exciting. The best part was the Patriots lost, which made me happy since I don't like the Patriots.

Tomorrow we have the last COntiki drive into NYC, but on the way we are stopping at the Annapolis Navl Academy and also in Philadelphia. I look forward to NYC, but it will be sad for Contiki to finish.

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