Well hello again - is this another post filled with tons of pictures? Yes, it certainly is! I lumped all the pictures from Friday night into my Monday post... so today I've lumped the pictures from Saturday and Sunday morning into this post! It will probably be a lot like yesterday's post - not a lot of text but plenty of things to look at!
I should mention - because perhaps I didn't yesterday - when we arrived at the Willard on Friday night and made our way to our room, we discovered a mistake had been made. There was one King size bed... for three grown adults... even though the reservations were specifically made for two Queen bed. The Willard was fully booked, so we ended up with a cot in the room (joy!) and free breakfast at Cafe du Parc on Saturday morning.
So - we started our Saturday with breakfast and taking in the gingerbread display for 2019 - which is the Jefferson Monument, complete with a Tidal Basin filled with live fish! There was also a Cherry Blossom tree made entirely of modeling chocolate! Once we finished breakfast, we hopped a cab to the US Botanic Garden!
Yet again - I really think we got a boon where the weather was concerned - the forecast called for rain almost all morning and into the afternoon. Thankfully it was only misty while we waited in line to see the exhibits at the Botanic Garden (always worth the wait) and it seems like the majority of the rain came and went while we were inside the Botanic Garden, so that was excellent.
The US Botanic Garden always has a model train exhibit at Christmas and each year is themed differently - this year is was "America's Gardens" and along with the model trains rushing along here and there, it contain models from gardens across America - all the models are made from plant materials! For example - the roof on the model of the Biltmore Conservatory pictured below is made from cinnamon! Don't even ask me how - I just read it and took them at their word!
| The weather - and the US Capitol - in all it's glory! |
The model train exhibit funnels out into the rest of the Botanic Garden and it's always lovely to look around and see the other plant life - can you spot the dinosaur in the picture below? They also always have the poinsettia display during the month of December and I never knew there were so many different colors and varieties of poinsettia!
The large room on the opposite end of the Botanic Garden has a gigantic Christmas tree and - to our surprise there was also a large display of Biltmore done entirely out of plant materials! It was pretty fascinating to see and of course, we then rounded out this visit by seeing the main atrium - which is always filled with models of the monuments and museums around DC! I have to say - I think the US Botanic Garden is one of my favorite places in DC!
Once we emerged from the Botanic Garden, we noticed the rain seemed to be starting to slack off - thank goodness! We walked across the street to the Capitol...although I was the only one willing to brave walking across the soggy lawn in front of the Capitol to take some pictures, ha-ha! I stepped very carefully because I had on new shoes and didn't want them covered in mud - I managed to accomplish that and get my pictures! Success!
We grabbed an Uber to Union Station and had lunch at Thunder Grill after checking out the Christmas Tree that Norway send to the US every year - I swear, it's always the most perfect looking tree! Norway knows how to pick an excellent tree! After lunch, we popped down to the Metro, hopped on the Red Line and made our way to the DC Holiday Market for a snack, to peruse the vendors and then on to City Center DC to try and see the ice maze.
The ice maze was only open this weekend and the hours were listed as 10-9 on Saturday but when we arrived around 2:30 we discovered they'd closed the maze to go to lunch... I thought that was a bit of false advertising but we did get to see the lovely Christmas tree, the giant reindeer and grab some cookies at Milk Bar before making our way down the street and back toward the Willard.
When we arrived back at the hotel, we were sent to our new room with two Queen bed - but somehow they'd managed to move my luggage, my Dad's luggage... and not a single piece of my Mom's luggage. She was a little frantic in the twenty minutes or so it took them to find it and bring it up to the room. The Willard is an absolutely gorgeous hotel but they really just kept striking out for us this past weekend! After about an hour of relaxing, my Mom and I pulled our coats back on and walked down the street to see the National Christmas Tree!
We changed clothes and headed out onto the sidewalks, making our way about two blocks over to Elephant & Castle to have dinner before going to see Fiddler on the Roof at the National Theater. The food was good, it was incredibly windy outside and on the way back to the theater we popped into a couple lobbies to snap pictures of Christmas trees... because I just love a Christmas tree!
The play was excellent - I've never seen Fiddler on the Roof and honestly, I knew very little of the music but I absolutely enjoyed the show! It was funny, touching and the musical numbers were fabulous! I thought it ended a little sadly but otherwise, it was an excellent performance!
Sunday morning we grabbed breakfast at the Corner Bakery before heading across town to the National Cathedral to attend the Sunday morning service. We popped into the gift shop before the service to see the model of the cathedral that's being made of Legos - it was pretty fun to see, especially with the little Lego gargoyles all over the model!
Once we'd been seated and I began perusing the bulletin we'd been given - I couldn't help but think the Reverend that was speaking that morning sounded familiar to me but I couldn't think why.. where had I heard the name The Most Reverend Michael B Curry before?!? I googled him and my suspicions were confirmed - he's the Reverend who spoke at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding ceremony! Hey-o! What a treat to hear him speak and to be a part of the Episcopalian service - it's filled with such ceremony and liturgy and I always find that so fascinating!
After a quick few minutes trying to find the Darth Vader grotesque on the North Side of the Cathedral (that's the "dark side" of the Cathedral) without any luck, we headed back to our car and made our way home - with a stop in Manassas for lunch at Okra's - delicious Cajun food! And yes, you read that right - there is a gargoyle (of sorts) that looks like Darth Vader on the National Cathedral - I'm not making that up!
We arrived home around 3:15 and I had time to unpack quickly before going to pick up my pup from the kennel - he was wildly excited to see me! We had invites to a Christmas party at 5:00 in West Virginia but I bowed out because my introverted self needed a couple hours of quiet time to recharge before the work week started - I watched The Mandalorian, took a bubble bath, had dinner and just got my self together and organized for the week ahead!
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So there ends the recap of the DC Christmas Weekend - it seems like it was a bit of a whirlwind! I cannot believe we are a week away from Christmas Eve! I've got Christmas plans on Wednesday night, Thursday night and Friday night...then my younger sister comes into town for the holidays and before I know it, Christmas Eve will be here! Y'all have a good week before Christmas!
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