Hello,
We are all in Washington D.C. safe and sound on our way to Azerbaijan. For July 5th to 7th, we were housed in the brilliant Homewood Suites in downtown D.C. The hotel was great, and I shared my two room suite with a Seattle YLP participate named Sahil Piyali. After a good breakfast in the lobby, each day so far has been an adventure.
After arriving in the afternoon on July 5th, we all walked to the Smithsonian Folklore Festival to listen to a performance of Azerbaijanii music. Though the music was interesting, we decided to walk around the Smithsonian grounds and take in the sites. A walk around allowed us to see the Washington Monument as well as some of the Art and History museums that make up the Smithsonian. After the walk and music, we at dinner at a small pizza diner in a D.C. neighborhood before returning to the hotel.
The next day we began with a walk to the American Councils building downtown. After a few hours of lecture on Azerbaijan and it's culture, we ate lunch at Potbellies Sandwiches. Later that afternoon we visited the Karabakh Foundation, housed in an 18th Century mansion. After discussing the current Karabakh Azerbaijan situation, we continued on our amazing tour of D.C. with a photo opportunity in front of the White House, and ended the day of lecture with a presentation on blogging. That evening, we had a fantastic time on the Monuments by Moonlight tour of the rest of the city's most important attractions.
Our time in D.C. ended the next day after more lectures on living in Azerbaijan and a brilliant tour of the Air and Space Museum near Washington Dulles International. I picked up a quick souvenir, a pin of the space shuttle, and got to get a good look at the Space Shuttle Atlantis and the Air France Concorde!
We move on to Germany and then Baku now. Only a five hour stay at Dulles separates us from the rest of the program!
