Washington, D.C. Day Two | Tour Bus, Bond, and Tapas

On day two, all four of us woke up later than expected. We rushed to get showered, dressed and readied to go down to the lobby to have breakfast. We then hopped one of those “hop-on hop-off” tour buses to go sightseeing. The BigBus first took us from Dupont Circle to Georgetown where we saw dozens of quaint houses that must have seen so much history in their time. We also decided that we wanted to try and come back to Georgetown before we left.

Rainbow ribbons for Gay Pride! 

Warring households during the World Cup

Then we got off at the Lincoln Memorial and I took a photo of Mom, Dad and Emma in front of the National Mall.

The Lincoln Memorial itself is awe-inspiring. It is huge and has so much meaning to so many people. People go there because of Lincoln himself, or because of Martin Luther King, Jr., or because of Forrest Gump. There were so many opportunities to take pictures, so be prepared for a bunch.

Since we had done the Vietnam Memorial the day before, we walked through the Korean Memorial and then to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial.

 When I came to D.C. in eighth grade, my favorite memorial was the FDR Memorial, so we had to make a stop there. I do not know why I love it, maybe because of all the waterfalls or quiet places. Mom, Dad and Emma had never been there, but they ended up liking it as well!

After walking through the memorials and sitting on the top floor of the tour bus, we were feeling pretty hot and tired. We definitely needed to stop somewhere for lunch. We got off the bus by the International Spy Museum and hopped on over to Gordon Biersch for some food. I can’t describe how wonderful it was to step inside the cool restaurant; we gulped down that first glass of water in seconds. I got the crab cake appetizer with a side of asparagus that was the perfect amount of food that left enough room for dessert.

For that aforementioned dessert, Emma got the kids Oreo ice cream cake and the rest of us split the dessert sampler. It consisted of strawberry cheesecake, apple bread pudding, chocolate brownie and the double chocolate cake. They were all absolutely divine.

Then we headed to the International Spy Museum where they had an exhibition on James Bond villains. Now I love James Bond and I love James Bond villains, so I saw the posters for the exhibit and freaked. As soon as we walked in, I saw the police suit that Raoul Silva from Skyfall and I fangirled. It happened. We also an Aston Martin DB5 (the coolest car ever), Le Chiffre’s (Casino Royale villain) outfit and Silva’s prosthetic teeth. For a Bond fan like me, it was amazing.

After getting back to the hotel, resting and dressing up for the evening, we took a cab through Chinatown to get to a Spanish tapas place called Jaleo. Dad and I have been there before with Ashley and we loved it. Mom has been to Spain several times and has very high standards about tapas, and she even liked it. The only complaint she had was that some of the dishes had too much paprika on them. The names of the dishes are underneath the photos.

The interesting floors in the bathrooms . . .

Manchego Cheese

Tomato bread with Jamon 

Liquified olives

Patatas Bravas 

Gambas al Ajillo 

Rabbit Confit with Apricot Purée

Pork roll stuffed with Jamon and Cheese 

Grilled Squid with Squid Ink and Rice

Paella with Shrimp and Calamari

We got cupcakes at Red Velvet bakery across the street (Red Velvet for Emma and I, and Devil’s Food Cake for Dad). Cupcakes are my weakness and these were no exception. They were AH-mazing!

YUM! 

That’s all folks for day two in Washington, D.C.! The next two days were orientation days for my school, so there are only pictures from dinner on the second night when I was back with the family.

Thanks for reading!