Morning Walk in Downtown DC

We know we can usually find parking by the Tidal Basin so that’s where we headed this morning for our morning walk in spite of it being Friday, high tourist season and multiple graduation set ups. The city is back to where it was before the pandemic and that means congestion, noise, and huge tourist groups that block sidewalks. I really dislike crowds and noise but my husband loves it. And he wanted to walk about downtown to see if the office buildings were still empty. So we started at the Tidal Basin and walked by the Washington monument, the WWII Memorial, on towards the executive Office building and up towards the Renwick Gallery. Then we went to Farragut Square and circled back towards the White House through Lafayette Park. Three times we ran in to the same motorcade with many policemen on motorcycles escorting an empty bus. On the way back we passed Old Ebbitt Grill. There was a lot of traffic and pedestrians congested around here - some in kilts. I’m sure the White House tours are back on. There was a haze in the sky from the Canadian wildfires. It was most obvious looking down Pennsylvania Avenue towards the Capitol. Then we walked by the African American museum and meandered back towards the Washington monument where there was an art exhibit about Millions Missing - sponsored by disability advocates. All told we walked either 2.8 or over three miles - I forgot to turn my Apple Watch on until we we were ten minutes in to the walk. What’s interesting is to see the route we took on the map - both the route and the actual map of the city. It’s hard to believe that we were at the White House this morning and back home by 1130 for breakfast/lunch. We oftentimes miss our old home on Capitol Hill but at least we can still go on when we want.