July 4th in Washington, DC

Today we continue our touring of the Capital. We have a tour of the Capital Building pre-booked for 11:40. On arrival we encounter the inevitable security check.

I am told that I can’t bring in fruit. I have three beautiful green apples in my daypack. I can’t bear the thought of throwing them into the trash can so I put them on a ledge, hoping a poor homeless type might come along and appreciate my offering.

Unfortunately, a stern faced security officer with the build of a jungle gorilla, isn’t so thoughtful and repeats his demand that I throw them into the trash!

Once inside the building we need to go through an airport type screening. My backpack gets red flagged. After searching frantically through the 14 pockets I have in my backpack, they find my weapon of destruction - a small, but very dangerous pocket knife. They don’t want it. They insist that I go back outside and throw it in the trash can along with my apples. Apparently, they don’t allow knitting needles either!

By now we are ten minutes late for our guided tour. Luckily, they sympathize and allow us to join the 11:50 tour. We start with a very informative video on the history of the USA and how the current system of government came to be. We then go through the beautiful interior of the building. Our guide is very knowledgeable and we learn some more historical facts. I’m impressed with our guide’s knowledge. But I suppose I’d know a lot too if I did this numerous times a day time for years.

After the formal tour ends we continue on our own to the Library of Congress. It too is a spectacular building. And contains millions of books and documents, many rare, many dating back to the 1800’s.

It’s now time to go for lunch. We find a nice little, organic restaurant serving prepared sandwiches and wraps. It is just a short walk away which takes us through a beautiful, historic neighbourhood with heritage houses dating back to the late 1800’s.

From here we decide to head back on the Metro to Arlington, where our hotel is located, to check out the Arlington Memorial Ceremony where JFK and 100’s of thousands of servicemen and their families are buried. It’s extremely hot but we make the pilgrimage to JFK’s gravesite.

Back at the hotel, some of us go for a swim or workout and then enjoy the 5:30 - 7:30 Happy Hours. Around 8:00 we walk to Longbridge Park to take in the July 4th fireworks. They were spectacular, however, we were a bit too far away to get the full effect.

Our day ends with a stop at Whole Foods near the hotel for cold and healthy beverages.Read more