DC Trip Day 8

Today we went to the  National Zoo! We got there fairly early in the morning but it was so packed! There were people everywhere and so many families and kids running around. We walked around for a while but it was mostly just the animals you would find in a typical zoo. We did get to see a sloth bear though. And not just any sloth bear...this was THE bear that the author of Jungle Book based the character Baloo off of! I have to say though that it was definitely lazy and relaxed. We walked around a bit more and some some birds and some elephants and pandas. Even some very playful otters.

Panda Bear

Some VERY curled up flamingos

Curious otter

 After we had our fill of crowds and crowds of people, we went to the Washington National Cathedral. The cathedral turned out to be absolutely amazing! The architecture was beautiful and amazing to see. The whole cathedral is actually built in the Gothic style which is extremely rare for a cathedral. Apparently only a few cathedrals in the world are built entirely in one style. We were able to go up in one of the towers and you could see out across most of DC. It was really pretty.

National Cathedral

Stained Glass

More stained glass and flags

...and more stained glass and vaulted ceilings

After spending some time at the cathedral we ended up heading back to the room and eating some leftovers. Then a little while later we went down for some snacks and headed out to Georgetown for dinner. It is a beautiful little neighborhood. We walked around for a bit and then decided to have some dinner at Pizzaria Paradiso. It was really good and authentic Italian pizza (no sauce, big slices of mozzarella). It was a fun restaurant because the windows in the front all open up so it's basically like a whole outdoor seating restaurant. Another fun thing was that instead of serving bread or something like that as a snack before your entree arrives, they served us a bowl of olives. All different kinds and they had the pits still and everything. We filled our bellies then we headed back to the room for bed.