I felt so European this weekend.

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I got in from D.C. about five hours ago and I had to quickly put together a project for class, had I not had to do that I would have got this up here sooner. I spent the entire weekend and most of last week walking through our nations capital. I ate some pretty good food. I recommend Zaytinya, especially on Sundays. The omelet and the lamb that I had were both amazing. The food was a bit pricey but me and Josh made out pretty well considering he got two Turkish coffee's. The table service was absolutely amazing. As soon as one basket of bread was gone, we quickly had another. And once you were done with your dish it was whisked away if by magic. Great place if you are in the area down around the Virizon Center. Also in that area is the International Spy Museum. I dragged my friend Shibley down there on Friday because I really wanted to walk through and see the stuff they had. Admission was $18, which I thought was a little steep but it is D.C. and the exhibits were really interesting. I would recommend that WWII buffs stay away from the museum. Most of their exhibits deal with efforts to crack the German code and general intelligence during the era. They also devote a large portion of the tour to the Cold War. Once again if you are really well read about these time periods, you won't fell like you got your moneys worth.

I did get a chance to visit the National Portrait Gallery, the National Art Museum, the Native-American History Museum, and the the Museum of Natural History. I recommend them all, especially the food at the Native-American museum. It is a bit pricey but it is worth it, especially the blue cornbread. The museums offer something for everyone really. I saw a lot of interesting landscape paintings that were simply amazing. I do not think they get the credit they deserve though due to the twenty-seven rooms of Renaissance art that focused mainly on the two stages of Christs' life that we know very much about; his birth and his death. In the National Portrait Gallery, I recommend the second floor. I would take extra time and look at the exhibit from Lincoln's inaugural ball and the Presidential Portrait Gallery. Moving on to the other museum I visited, the Museum of Natural History, I got to see the hope diamond but the really great exhibit is the dinosaur one. Yes, I sound like a kid but it was really fun to get to see the recreations of the skeletons.

I also learned how to use the Metro while I was in D.C. I come from Nashville, ya'll. All we have in the way of public transportation is the city bus. And if I was not feeling European already, this greatly added to the experience. We went to see the Washington Nationals play on Thursday and Saturday night and we took the Metro from Foggy Bottom to Navy Yard and to be squished into the train with tons of supporters and standing in the queue to ride the escalator up to get to the park was awesome. If that was not amazing enough, you get to the top of the escalators, go through the turnstiles to the Metro and when you exit the station, there to your left is this image. The gates to Nationals Park. The team lost both nights but it was amazing to get the experience of following your team in the European way with the metro stations built right next to the parks and grounds.

All in all, it was an amazing weekend despite the stubbed toe, scared knee, and sunburn I got. I'm not sure if I would ever want to live in D.C. but I would surely want to visit again and I plan on doing so as soon as possible.