Washington D.C.

A couple days after I got back from Germany, my brother Ben and I went to D.C. for a few days. We had alot of fun! We left in the wee hours of the morning and got there around 4pm. We walked the monuments the 1st night. Lincoln Memorial

Washington Monument

The 2nd day, we went to the Smithsonian Museums: American History & Natural History. We also went to the National Archives to see our important, original documents.

The Constitution

T-Rex

Our 3rd day was our favorite. We had a tour of the Capitol Building. If you visit your congressmen, they give you tickets to sit in the House and Senate. It was so cool to sit in there, hearing the laws being discussed.

Our last day we went to Arlington Cemetery.

This is the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier.

Iwo Jima

Germany

I recently went to visit my friend, Kelly, in Mannheim, Germany. She's been living there for 2 yrs., with her army-husband Rob. They could be moving back to the States soon, and ticket prices were great. Had to go! =) Kelly was a fantastic tour guide. She planned day trips and showed me different aspects of German culture. I took about 200 pictures, but here are a few highlights:

Rothenburg, the medieval city established in the 1100's. I LOVE this town. It's got a surrounding wall for guards, rolling hills outside, and typical village life.

We went to a torture/punishment museum. They had very creative methods of punishment centuries ago. This is a mask for gossips (the sign said usually for women). They are to wear these around town. It has a big tongue for spreading gossip, big ears for hearing gossip, and big eyes for seeing gossip.

Dachau Concentration Camp

It was very surreal to see. It was really brought to life. Dachau was designed for 6,000 prisoners. Once the U.S. military invaded the camp, they discovered 32,000 prisoners housed there in extremely cramped conditions.

There are 2 of 30 bunkers left. The bunks go 3 up. This snapshot shows 18 beds. They were given straw mats to sleep on. There was a picture showing prisoners in these bunks, and there were many, many more than 18 squished into these bunks.

Heidelburg Castle

This castle is still in pieces. You can't go up in the castle, but it's cool to see.

The castle overlooks the Rhein River.

These are the remains of the castle that inspired Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

We also went to Paris for the day. The USO arranges trips on buses. We traveled in the night and woke up in Paris! I love to visit the Eiffel Tower.

We also went to the Louvre' and saw da Vinci's Mona Lisa.

I had such a great time! Thanks, Kelly, for your generosity. =)