The trip finally begins! Getting up at 3 this morning somehow wasn't as bad as I thought, although now I'm having a hard time typing. And seeing. And walking. It was a long day of waiting around at airports and flying, but I finally made it to Washington DC around 3 today. I didn't do much since I only got about three hours of sleep last night. I found the hostel easily with the help of a ($20!!) cab. It's pretty nice. They have a kitchen and free wi-fi in the lobby area. It's super slow, but since it's free I'm not complaining. I'm sharing a room with two other people. I've only met one so far. I already forgot her name, but she's from Seattle and is pretty nice. She gave me tips to get around DC. The hostel is pretty close to stuff. It's only about 8 blocks from the White House and 1 block from the Metro. Then I set off exploring. First I went to the Washington Monument (since it's by far the easiest thing to find). From there I went to the Lincoln Memorial and then the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial. I also passed by the White House. At first I wasn't sure where it was, but you just follow the line of cop cars and security checkpoints and then you see tons of tourists with their cameras out and you know you've found it. It's a lot farther from the gate than I thought, but I guess that makes sense. Exhausted I finally headed back to the hostel. I wanted to take a cab, but since I had almost reached my budget for the day I decided to just suck it up and walk back. I probably walked at least two miles. My feet now hate me but my wallet is happier. I would have liked to do more, but I just don't have it in me. I'm going to take a shower and then go to bed because tomorrow I'm hoping to get an early start. Tomorrow will be my last day in DC, then it's off to Boston. Tomorrow the only thing I know for sure is that I'm going to the Holocaust Museum. I passed by it today but I think that tomorrow I will take the metro instead of walking. DC is an interesting mix. The hostel is right in the center of downtown, but walk a few blocks and you see the Capital Building, the White House, and all the monuments (and everything over there is much more spread out than in the middle of downtown). There are tons of people jogging and lots of people in business suits too. Like any major city traffic is jam packed. There are always cars blocking the intersections and always tons of honking. I love big cities!