Today we took a much needed break from shopping and provisioning as my credit card had heated up and was in danger of melting due to overuse; this proved serendipitous as it was the American holiday of Thanksgiving and all the stores were closed in any case. The weather was quite cold but sunny and without too much wind so we hopped into the rental car and drove from Annapolis to Washington, D.C.
We found the Capitol, Mall and Washington monument without too many problems, but were quite surprised in that there was absolutely no parking available – not due to crowds but because there were no parking spaces to be found. We finally did find a space which looked available within easy walking distance of the Mall but I have to admit that somehow I didn’t trust it and fully expected to have to get my rental out of some D.C. impound yard after it was towed. Our intention was to see parts of the Smithsonian, alternating between art and technology; but our first stop was the Smithsonian National Air & Space museum and that was so large and time-consuming that we didn’t have much energy afterwards and barely broke step when going through the Freer and Sackler gallery
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