The National Mall is NOT for shopping!

Monday. August 9^th – Well, it seems a bit strange doing these posts the next day, because things do change quickly! We weren’t able to take the van in yesterday for the new rear door, however, due to the timing of things. By the time we managed to get things sorted out with MPI, we arranged to get the the van in first thing on Tuesday morning. Net result, we will be delaying our departure from Washington by one day. We are, however, going to change hotels, looking for something with internet and in a slightly better area. Not that we had any problems where we were, more that the location affected our level of comfort.

We had to veg out in our hotel for a good part of the day, while things were being sorted, and the nice lady from MPI was muttering something about “liability” and statements when we get back from our holidays, but all in all, they handled our claim quite quickly. From there, we went to 5 Guys Burgers & Fries, which has quite the reputation here in the Bay area (& elsewhere in the US). I thought it was rather expensive for burgers & fries, but then I discovered that each order was large enough to feed 5 guys (so that’s where the name comes from)! Then, we headed down to the National Mall and actually managed to find parking – right beside the Albert Einstein Monument. From there, the sights were coming fast and furious. The Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the National World War II Memorial finished in 2004, the Vietnam Memorial, the Reflecting Pool.....so much to see! We had a wonderful evening walk, and I am really glad that we didn't do this earlier in the day when the temperature was in the 90's! Driving around downtown Washington in the dark was a bit of a challenge, but we made it back to our hotel in one piece!