5) Washington

The next morning (26.05.) we hopped on a bus from Philadelphia to Washington D.C., where we arrived at the massive Union Station. A cab brought us to our hotel near the Capitol. We started a little afternoon sightseeing tour at the Capitol and walked back to the Union Station for a closer look. From there we walked back to the Supreme Court and the Library of Congress. Then we walked along Pennsylvania Avenue, had dinner at Hawk and Dove (my dad didn't like the food though), and continued along the 8th Street to the Yards Park. There we enjoyed the river view and relaxed before we returned to our hotel.
I started early the next day (27.05.) hoping to get a ticket for the Washington Monument, but I was unlucky and the tickets were sold out about 20 people in front of me. So I met my parents near the Capitol and we walked along the Washington Mall to the White House. After taking some photos we cooled down in the White House Visitor Center. We continued to the World War II Memorial and Lincoln Memorial. My parents were quite exhausted at that point, but much remained to be seen :) My dad and I climbed the Lincoln Memorial for some good views. After a short break we visited the Korean War Memorial and the Martin Luther King Memorial. We continued around the Tidal Basin to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial and Thomas Jefferson Memorial. There we finished our tour, returned to our hotel where my parents took a break from the exhausting tour. For my dad's sake we had Japanese food for dinner^^.
On 28.05. we visited the Air and Space Musuem and the Museum of Natural History. Both are worth a full day visit, but we packed both into one day. Both museums were amazing, although I'm often no fan of visiting museums. In the evening I also visited the Library of Congress while my parents took a rest at the hotel.
The last day (29.05.), we visited the Pentagon and the Arlington Cemetary. The Pentagon was rather boring, but the Arlington Cemetary was impressive. Before entering the Cemetery, we saw the largest motorcycle parade ever. For Veterans Day, the Rolling Thunders riders parade took place with more than 100,000 bikes! In the evening we flew back home with a lot of impressions from the USA.

The Capitol

massive Union Station

My parents in front of the White House

Myself and the White House

My dad at the Lincoln Memorial

Washington Monument and the Capitol seen from Lincoln Memorial

Martin Luther King Memorial

Washington Monument seen from the Jefferson Memorial

Inside the Air and Space Museum

Inside the Museum of Natural Sciences

Inside the Library of Congress

Starting point of the Rolling Thunder Riders Parade near the Pentagon

The police presented their bikes too :)

Arlington Cemetery

Arlington Cemetery

4) Philadelphia

From Niagara Falls we returned to Buffalo airport, returned our rental car and hopped on a plane to Philadelphia. We were surprised, however, that our plane was a tiny propeller driven aircraft. Thus, it turned out to be quite an interesting flight with low height. The metro brought us from Philadelphia airport to downtown and we stayed at the Hampton Inn. During afternoon, we went for sightseeing through the city towards the pier (Penn's Landing) at . We passed Chinatown and the Independence Mall and Hall on our way. We were impressed by the huge bridges and massive battleships in the pier area. After getting some refreshments on the pier, we took a different way back and passed the Korean War Memorial and Elfreth's Alley. The latter was really cute harboring well-maintained houses from the time when the US was founded. Back in Chinatown we enjoyed dinner at a Chinese restaurant.
The next day (25.05.), we first headed to Philadelphia's impressive City Hall. From there we coninued along Benjamin-Franklin-Parkway to the Arts Museum. The day was very sunny and we had a break at Logan Square and put our feet into the Swann Memorial Foutain. We had another short stop at the shady gardens of Rodin Museum - which we found not worth visiting. At the Art Museum, we climbed the steps that are famous from Rocky Movies. We didn't fancy visiting the museum, instead we walked through the park behind the museum up to Loyd Hall, where we got some refreshments. We walked back along the Schuykill River and took several breaks in the shade and enjoyed the view along the river. From the Central Station we walked down to the City Hall and enjoyed its impressive sight again. We then went to see the Liberty Bell at the Independence Hall and we were lucky to see the bell just before its free museum was closed at 5 pm. During the beautiful sunset time, we walked through Washington Park to the historic Pennsylvania Hospital and came accross Philadelphia's beautiful Magic Garden - which was, however, already closed. We had dinner at the nearby Percy Stree BBQ before we called it a day and returned to our hotel.

The tiniest plane we ever had for a regular flight

Cute Elfreth's Alley

Luckily that didn't happen to our plane^^

Arch Street Church in front of Philadelphia's impressive City Hall

Swann Memorial Fountain and the City Hall in the back

Art Museum

View from the art museum along Benjamin-Franklin-Parkway to the City Hall

Liberty Bell :)

Garden's of Pennsylvania Hospital

My parents in front of Philadelphia's Magic Garden