A Day Full of History, Nature & Art

My day started pretty healthy with a delicious avocado toast at the Yotel Restaurant.
After our tummies were filled, we hopped onto the bus again to drive to the National Museum of African American History and Culture. It turned out to be - hands down - the best museum I've ever been to. It was absolutely stunning, inside and out. We were lucky enough to get a VIP tour through the different exhibitions, but I would have gladly spent multiple days just exploring things. Its architecture is beautiful and has lots of symbolism to it already, the exhibitions are interactive, and share personal stories that are very touching. It definitely is a heavy topic, but in the upper parts there are ways to lighten up your mood via music, dance and art from the black people. I'd say it's a must-do on any DC itinerary, especially for people who don't have too many options to speak to black people themselves.
After an actually good lunch at the Sweet Home Café inside the museum, we made our way to the Zoo of DC, where we'd start our tour to Rock Creek Park. That Park was actually the 3rd ever created National Park in the US, and is the 2nd longest existing (due to the original 2nd NP now being a State Park). It's basically a normal forest where a river flows through and was formerly used as a passway to get from the lower income Eastside to the wealthier Westside of DC faster. Nowadays, no cars are allowed inside the park. There have been some mills in the 19th century that the Americans seem to be pretty proud of. For Europeans it's just a normal mill, though.
But what I found funny was that Teddy Roosevelt, the president who kinda invented National Parks after being a very sick child that wasn't allowed to go outside at all, was a real adventurer who brought his colleagues to regular meetings into the Rock Creek Park. The first time he met the French president, he invited him to a stroll through the park. As he usually just points to a random place and then goes in a straight line towards it (his motto being "Over, under, through, but never around!"), they had to swim through the creek. Roosevelt liked skinny dipping, so he just stripped his clothes off and went through. The Frenchman did the same, but he kept his white gloves on. When Roosevelt asked him why, he answered "Well, if a lady comes by, I want to look in check". They became good adventure-loving friends after that.
Fleeing the heat, we went back to the hotel to freshen up before dinnertime. I just jumped under the shower quickly and met Stef and Alex to go for a souvenir hunt on our way to tonight's location. We did not only find some souvenirs but also very nice murals to take pictures of. We met the others at the Calico where I had a pouch. Apparently, it's trendy now that you drink alcohol from a Capri Sun like plastic thing... Not that most people don't think that alcohol isn't as bad already, make it even more childish. The gin kicked me out of my shoes very fast, so I drank 4 glasses of water afterwards. I really should stick to the mocktails. Afterwards, we walked to Nina May, a brilliant restaurant with amazingly good food and a great Cucumber Sparkle mocktail. Already full, we went all in for the last night and got some great ice cream at Dolci Gelati, only a five minute walk away from Nina May. And to top that great evening, Stef and I went to sit directly opposite the Capitol afterwards. It was such a nice location, we couldn't believe nobody was there. It looked just as if there could come out cameras every second, recording our first date on a dating show. We both sat there on a statue, looking at the Capitol and enjoying the cooler weather. Unfortunately, Stef was quite tired (the poor woman is 33 already, cut her some slack) and she didn't want me to push her into the pool in front of the Capitol, so we went back to the Yotel to get a good night's sleep before flying back tomorrow.Okumaya devam et