So it is a while ago now since I went to visit the capital of the United States - Washington D.C but I thought it was about time I updated you all on my trip! I had a three days off in a row and decided to make the most of them by exploring the city. Two of the other interns kindly offered to drop me off at the nearest Metro station and I took the metro into the city where I stayed in a travel lodge for two nights. It was a dramatic change to the scenery I have been used to during the majority of my time here in America - from mountains to sky scrapers, from hiking to metro and from horses to segways!
1st day... Madame Toussards, Natural History Museum and trip into Alexandria Old Town
When I arrived in D.C on the metro my first stop was Madame Toussards the wax works which I was really excited about because I have never been to one before! It was a surreal and almost creepy experience - the wax works are so lifelike you can definitely imagine that they all come to life at night after all the visitors have left in the style of 'Night at the Museum'! I learnt a lot about presidents of the United States in the museum because they had wax works of every president from George Washington to Barack Obama! I have to admit I had not heard of most of the presidents, but my favourite is definitely Abraham Lincoln; a pioneer for the abolishment of slavery and made lots of cool speeches!
2nd day... The shopping mall, the National Smithsonian Zoo and the river cruise
The second day I was in D.C I went to the Pentagon City mall in the morning to get some English pounds changed to dollars, but the trip was an experience in itself. The mall was 4 stories high and absolutely huge - it completely dwarfed the Trafford Centre! Whilst there, I got given a cheesy Washington D.C t-shirt for free - it is always a bonus having an English accent here haha!
After a very brief visit to the mall, I set off to the zoo. Again, it was amazing to me as this attraction was also free - I LOVE THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION! I had planned on spending around 3 hours in the zoo and then heading over to the Air and Space museum, but the zoo was absolutely huge (obviously), was not in central D.C and involved a lot of walking, so I ended up spending 6 hours there and STILL didn't see everything there! I had to give the air and space museum a miss but I thoroughly enjoyed the zoo and could have spent even longer there! The highlight for me had to be the pandas. I have never seen pandas before and they are every bit as cute as you can imagine and more - I fell in love with 'Bao Bao' - the baby panda that is an American treasure and nationally adored - I can understand why!
My final day in D.c was rather rushed and every moment I spent there I treasured - D.C is such a beautiful city and I never wanted to leave. In a way it is similar to London in the sense that it is highly diverse and very cultural, but it is nothing like London in atmosphere - it is more friendly and the people are generally welcoming and have time for you. It is also really easy to find your way around. My phone doesn't have the internet on here so I just used a map to get around and didn't get lost once - all the streets are in 'blocks' so you can just figure out which direction you need to go and keep walking! It's so easy! On the third day, I got up early and headed straight for the White House - I was surprised by how close you can actually get to it!
Next update will be coming as soon as I get chance! Hopefully in the next couple of days!
Take care everyone,
Love Charlotte
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