Washington DC - October 2009

The US capital city offers many free stuff to do. I was treated to a nice view of DC's main attractions during the landing at Reagan National airport. If you happen to fly into Reagan airport, book a window seat on the left side of the plane to get the view (of course, this assumes the plane lands from the north side of the city).

I stayed at the Renaissance DC hotel, located a few blocks from a metro station. This hotel is also centrally located between Chinatown, the Smithsonian, and Capital Hill. It has a great fitness center with extensive work out equipment - by far the best hotel gym I've ever used.

My activities in DC:
1) Capital Hill area, to visit the US Supreme Court

2) Joined a tour group to see the monuments at night, when they are lit up. We went around on bikes, which is much quicker and easier on the legs than walking.

3) Visited the Washington Monument, including a trip to the observation deck 500 feet above the ground to enjoy a bird's eye view of DC.

4) Visited Ford's Theater, where Abraham Lincoln was shot and Peterson House, where Lincoln died 9 hours after being shot.

5) Visited National Community Church - this church doesn't have a dedicated building but meets in various places throughout DC, including a theater in the Union Station and in Ebenezer's coffee house. I attended their Saturday night service in the coffee house. The sermon was about the Sabbath, which emphasized that the Sabbath is a time to celebrate God's creation, provision, freedom, and salvation. And celebrating the Sabbath should be fun. For me, celebrating the Sabbath includes traveling to experience God's creation in other places.

6) Museums I visited:
a) National Postal
b) Portrait Gallery which has a section with portraits of every US president from George Washington to George W Bush
c) National Archives, which has the original copy of the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights. These documents are enclosed in heavy glass and stored in a dark, cool room to preserve them. This museum also has immigration records and letters written to presidents. Some of these letters are on display. In one letter, this middle school boy's room was so messy his mom called it a disaster area, so he wrote a letter to Ronald Reagan (president at the time) asking for federal funds to hire a crew to clean his room.

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