Sight Seeing

After the Air and Space Museum, it was a first-time visit to the National Holocaust Museum. If allowed to be, this would have been another foot race to get through, but that was not going to happen.

National Holocaust Museum

At the start of the museum each person picks an identification book. This tells each person who they "are," and as they go through the exhibit they read more about who they are. At the back of the book each person finds out if they survived the Holocaust. We were thrilled that we survived.

The information contained in the exhibit really touched our hearts and made it very personal. The room that held shoes that were taken from the victims held a very unpleasant odor of unwashed feet. They had two rooms of the most beautiful portraits, of people who would be targeted by the Nazi's for concentration camps and death. Short videos throughout the exhibit take you step by step through the war. I learned many facts that I had never learned at school.

One shocking fact was that many Jews committed suicide when they heard the Nazis had gained control over their country. Can you imagine knowing that death would be preferable to the life that they would have to endure under their own country's leaders? When leaving, my son mentioned to one of the workers that he wanted to take some materials back to his teacher, since they had just been learning about World War II. The man behind the counter was wonderful—he began to pull out pamphlets detailing many aspects about the holocaust and gave them to David. The man made David's day. The museums in Washington are wonderful and free!

David in front of President Bush's house

Next was a tourist trip to the White House. While taking pictures of the White House we heard an approaching helicopter that landed and took off again. A few minutes later we saw a man appear on the roof with binoculars and checking everything out. Then the sound of a helicopter could be heard and it landed on the lawn on the opposite side of the house. David was very excited! He was jumping up and down and got a picture of the helicopter as it was taking off. He can't wait until Monday to show the picture off at school.

On the way back to the hotel he realized that he was truly exhausted. But that didn't last long when we arrived at the hotel. It wasn't until well after 10:00 that Rich got back and we saw the photos he had taken that David would finally settle into bed. Due to a mix-up we had only one king bed that the three of us had to share. About an hour into the night I was being squashed and spent the rest of the night on the chaise lounge—not very comfortable.

The next morning was an excursion where we saw huge cranes build another crane for upcoming construction. David could just sit for hours and watch trucks, so this was a real treat.

It was a great weekend!