Hello all! Today, we'll tell you about
our embassy hopping adventure a few weeks ago. This is a bit of a
delayed post, but we're all facing a time constraint here in DC.
Anyway, on May 11, many of the European embassies opened their doors to the public. In all, we visited Bulgaria, Estonia, Denmark, Italy, Great Britain, and Belgium. The group favorite was a close call between the Italy and Denmark. Both were sprawling, gated estates, in modern styles and lots of windows and natural light. The Italian Embassy was bustling with masquerade volunteers, entertainers, mannequins with 18th century style dress of the Italian nobility, and a ton of info and promotional booths. We loved the Belgian Embassy almost solely due to the culinary options.
Anyway, on May 11, many of the European embassies opened their doors to the public. In all, we visited Bulgaria, Estonia, Denmark, Italy, Great Britain, and Belgium. The group favorite was a close call between the Italy and Denmark. Both were sprawling, gated estates, in modern styles and lots of windows and natural light. The Italian Embassy was bustling with masquerade volunteers, entertainers, mannequins with 18th century style dress of the Italian nobility, and a ton of info and promotional booths. We loved the Belgian Embassy almost solely due to the culinary options.
A few things we have learned:
--
- “Free food” doesn't mean free food—nearly every embassy we visited did not, in fact, have free food, but instead sold it at Potomac prices. For example, 5 USD for a can of soda and a slice of pizza at Italy or $7 for fish and chips at UK. Bonus points to the Belgian Embassy, for giving out free chocolate, beer, and waffles, and the Italian Embassy did give out free gelato and espresso, though.
- DC's weather is as tempermental as Ohio's—one minute it was raining, the sun was beating down, the next it was windy and cold. The only constant was the extreme humidity. Welcome to DC.
- Tourists on tourists on tourists—the lines were incredibly long. We waited over an hour to get into the Italian Embassy, and other popular embassies, like UK and Belgium had similar waits at peak times.
- No Dress Code—some of us were afraid that because we were entering the foreign headquarters of many European countries, we would need to be a little spiffy. Our concerns were unfounded, ultimately—read: tourists everywhere.
- All of this brings me to my last point—the first week or so, we were tourists. Now, we're Washingtonians.
The gang with Sir Winston Churchill
--
Travis
No comments:
Post a Comment