Today on our fourth day of the choir tour, we got some well earned break time, with the day planned to be spent in the nation’s capital, Washington DC.
The day started with Jonathan Weaver and I getting ready with our host family. Janet got a breakfast ready for us while her daughter Molly talked to us about very complex puzzles and Emmett showed us his lego collection. We say goodbye to the kids and drive to the church, and along the way Janet tells us about her favorite artists, revealing her intricate knowledge of hip-hop. Soon after, she drops us off, we meet with the rest of the group, load the bus and leave for the capital.
When we arrive, it’s a cool day, with not too many layers needed to stay warm. It’s a cloudy day, but a light cloudy, not too dreary. When we set off the bus, the Lincoln Memorial is just on our right and the Washington monument is only a walking distance away. Once everyone is at the meeting site, we check out the memorial and admire the view. Soon we make our groupings and depart to explore the city.
When we begin, we recognize iconic scenes from movies found in these spots (National Treasure, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Forrest Gump to name a few) and take in the view of these monuments. We continue to the streets with guide from a local GC student, Elijah Stoltzfus, and try to find our next meal.
We finally decide to go to Nando’s Peri-Peri, a well known finer dining restaurant not found in many midwestern locations. Their sauce and chicken were the biggest highlights of the food, and the restaurant added to my resentment of the choices we have here in Goshen.
From there, we decide to check out the National Gallery of Art, where we found many different styles, time periods, and artists throughout the museum, with my appreciation of art and its time commitment and precision. Some of the pieces had existed for centuries, and it’s incredible to be in the presence of these artifacts.
Afterwards, the day starts to warm up, and we decide to rest a bit. Soon we get the idea to go to different markets, so we go to a center by bus. It wasn’t my first time, but it’s always strange to use it in a big city again, with how relaxed yet stressed everyone is around us. Soon we arrive to a Japanese market, a record store (where I acquired merchandise from), an empanada booth, and a book store. Getting a taste of another part of the city was much appreciated and allowed me to take in city life better, which is something that I very much enjoyed.
But by then our eight hours of freed time were winding down and it was time together back to the Lincoln memorial to load up the bus. While we were waiting for everyone to get back, a local street performer was playing his sax to some good tunes, so we decided to join in and dance along. It was a calm time, and really made me appreciate the community that we have together. But then everyone arrived, we took our group photo, and left Washington DC.
On our way to the hotel, we were hungry and tired, so we made a stop to get food, with my option being Checkers. Some bathroom shenanigans occurred, we got our food, and loaded the bus again.
Finally we arrived to the hotel where me, Brenton, Seth and Jonathan shared a room. We winded down the day with Mario Kart, goofing off, and making a very strange Tik Tok. Overall, the best day I’ve had on the trip so far.
