European Tour

This past Saturday, the E.U. embassies hosted their annual "Shortcut to Europe" open house. I'd never done the open house thing before, so I was really excited to hit up some embassies, sample some good food, and experience different cultures. Most of the embassies are clustered along Massachusetts Avenue, i.e. "Embassy Row," so I figured it would be no problem visiting at least ten or so. I didn't anticipate the large crowds, however. We basically spent most of the day waiting in line.

First, we visited Germany. The wait to get inside was about 20 minutes.

We headed straight to the food line, which was about another 30 minutes. Look at all the people!

I finally got my brat! So happy. :)

With food in our bellies, we were able to enjoy the oompa band. The music reminded me of Grandpa.

Next we headed over to France, where there were more lines!

All we wanted were some pastries, but they had run out! Grrr.

With much of the day wasted at this point, we had little time left to visit other embassies. So we decided only to visit those that had no lines outside. Which means we went to Bulgaria and Estonia, neither of which had any giveaways. However, we had a nice walking tour of Mass Ave.

I believe this one is Indonesia. One of the prettier ones we saw!

This is the view from the Estonian embassy. The one across the street is Luxembourg, and even that one had a long line!

Outside the Greek embassy (no, that's not Lenin).

Croatia, with a sculpture made by a Croatian artist.

Y'all know how much I wanted to go to the Dutch embassy. Unfortunately, this was the line situation at about 15 minutes till closing time. So I never got to go in. :(

Lastly, we came across this beautiful mosque, which I didn't know existed.

Well, it was an interesting day, and I think I've learned from my mistakes. Next year I'll have a better strategy: start early, and go to the Dutch embassy first!