Hello ladies and gentlemen, Alex and Felix are about to give you a short summary of the first day in Washington D.C.

After a really hot and exhausting day yesterday, we woke up at 7 o’clock today and had a nice breakfast at the new hotel outside of D.C. We left at 8 o’clock, a little earlier than usual, to explore several memorials which among are The Lincoln Memorial and the Jefferson Memorial. Also, on the same area, we were able to see The Korean War Memorial and The Vietnam Memorial Wall which has names of over 58,195 fallen American soldiers on it. All those memorials had a very sad taste to it but it was interesting to see.

Alex (Denmark) at the Lincoln Memorial

 Me (Germany) and Alex (Denmark) at the Lincoln Memorial

Besides presidents and war memorials we were also able to visit the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. The memorial itself is a 30ft high statue of King and really impressing. The lake, where the statue is at, is surrounded by beautiful cherry blossom trees which were sent to Washington by the people of Japan in 1912 as a gift of friendship. Washington has approximately 3,750 cherry blossom trees and those trees are a huge magnet for tourists from all around the US and the whole world.

The cherry blossom trees in full bloom along the Tidal Basin

With a high temperature of 86 degrees, we crawled around Tidal Basin and every time when our great tour guide stopped in the sun to talk about sights, a sigh went through the whole group. Either way, the tour was really interesting and we shouldn't complain about the weather since we cried for summer all winter long. At the memorial ground we were able to spot a really beautiful girl. Many boys took the chance and asked her for a picture but everyone got rejected and sent away with a really low self esteem…

After walking around the Tidal Basin, we went to a mall for lunch and a quick shopping trip. Some people also took the chance to buy shorts at lunch time since they hadn't packed any (that would be myself, Felix).

At around 3pm, we went to George Washington’s Mansion at Mount Vernon. It was still very hot but then Alex left and suddenly it got all cold (just kidding…). The mansion itself was just really awesome and we all really enjoyed the beautiful gardens that surrounded the property. You got an authentic look in the life of America’s first president because all the rooms were left like they were when Washington died in December of 1799. All of us enjoyed the free time after the Mansion tour. I mean, when do you get the chance to hang out on GW’s back porch?

Asako (Japan) photographing us as we relaxed on GW's porch

Mount Vernon Mansion

We had a great dinner at the Mount Vernon Inn where we could choose between an entrée of turkey, ham or vegetarian lasagna. The food was truly amazing and the cherry pie afterwards was a nice treat.

Overall, it was a beautiful first impression of the United States’ Capital!

---Felix, Germany and Alex, Denmark