National Archives, and more fun

Hiya! I'm living in Washington DC for the summer so I'm definitely ready to give you the tips to traveling! There will be several posts so if you're planning a trip to DC, just click on the "tag" for DC, or food in DC... whatever!

Evan had a surprise day off of his internship today because the power was out in his building- hurray! So he called me up & I rode "The Circulator" out to Union Square to meet him (the bus is about 65 cents cheaper than the metro- if you're a penny pincher it's great- plus you get to see the city instead of some dark tunnel...). We ended up going to the National Archives, "stole" the Declaration of Independence, messed around in there- THERE"S A TON OF READING TO DO- the new style of museum is to have a gazillion pictures & signs that quite frankly overshadow the artifacts... I'm not sure I like it- too much going on visually & I'm a visual learner! Whatever- Evan liked it. The bad thing about the National Archives... ok two bad things... ok three....

1- It's way too dark to take a decent photo- we didn't even try because - with my extensive photography background- I know that you CANNOT get a photo to turn out with people in extreme low light conditions... It's either blurry (most likely the case as a slow shutter creates movement) or way too pixellated- this is from having to up your ISO (or "film" speed) to 3200. But of course, everyone still tries.

2- The Guards are NAZIS- enough said

3- You have to wait in line for a ridiculous amount of time. School isn't even out yet here & there was about a 30 minute wait standing in line... lame. Don't even bother trying to go if school's out & you see a billion children running around. It'll take hours.

Funny misconception... The Declaration of Independance that's on display is one of the original copies made and signed by the Founding Fathers... it's not THE declaration that was sent to King George... I'm sure he tore that one right up.

OK- the rest of the archives is cool though 1- because National Treasure plays through your head while you're wandering around... and 2- you get to learn a ton of cool facts- they even have a video of George W playing in the snow as a baby.... I'd love to see all of the old videos they've got! You also can pose for President. Oh that Evan! ;)

For lunch we went to Au Bon Pain---

	Au Bon Pain - www.aubonpain.com 700 13th St NW # 1, Washington - (202) 639-0846 4 reviews, directions, menu, and more »
	Au Bon Pain - www.aubonpain.com 1401 I St NW # 1, Washington - (202) 842-2467 4 reviews, directions, menu, and more »
	Au Bon Pain - www.aubonpain.com 2000 Pennsylvania Ave NW # 8, Washington - (202) 887-9215

very tasty, if it's cold out get the soup & breadbowl. If you have a small stomace get the soup & a normal roll... not breadbowl- they're huge. I'd recommend the broccolio cheddar, Evan got the thai curry. The croissants are genuine French style pastries- yummers! Expect a crisp shell!

Lastly for today- if it happens to give you a torrential downpour in June- go play in it! We were only outside for 5 minutes & were both completely drenched. Floods in the street- very fun!