Washington, DC - Day 7

Ok, so I'll have you know I almost put that today was Day 6 in the great Washington, DC trip...we've been here too long, days are beginning to melt into one another...

anyway:

Wake up: 7:30am (oops, I was supposed to be up for 6:30...oh well)
Breakfast: 9:15am
Metro: oops...
Bus: 10:00am
National Cathedral: 10:30am
So we had to go visit the big, beautiful church. We attempted to identify the stained-glass windows with the sheet we had to "buy" for a "donation"...but that didn't work as well as planned. We waited and waited for a tour but big school groups kept coming in and they kept pushing our tour time further and further back and they were having the Holy Eucharist at noon so we had to be out by then. At 11:15 we decided to just wander around ourselves and see what there was. The stained-glass windows were difficult to distinguish from one another and by 12:30 (after visiting the gift shop, of course) we headed back to the bus stop to catch a ride to the Metro station.
After some direction from a local (we assume) we got off on the right bus stop to get to the Metro.
When we got off the bus, it was lunchtime...and there was a Whole Foods store right by the Metro stop so we decided to stop there and partake of their bountiful prepared-foods bars. Yummy!!!
2:00pm and on to the Metro to head for the Basilica of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception (henceforth referred to as the Basilica). A (fairly long) Metro ride later we arrive nearly on the campus of the Catholic University of America which is very close to the Basilica...unfortunately, it's raining. Out come the umbrellas and we begin walking toward the Basilica. Upon entering the (side) of the Basilica and approaching the desk we were informed that if we hung around for 35 minutes (til 3:00) we could get a free tour (yay for free!!). We hung out at the gift shop (they're omnipresent around this city) til 3-ish and then met the man (Sal Macuzzo? I'm pretty sure) at the desk to begin our tour along with a family from Kansas. We went through the upper church and the lower level/crypt church area in just over an hour. The whole thing was very informative and after all was said and done, we were impressed at how much more touring the Basilica was like going (coming?) home versus touring the Cathedral. The Basilica (like most Catholic churches) was in essence very similar to every other Catholic church we've ever been to - friendly, warm, welcoming, and beautiful. After the tour we headed back to the gift shop because now I wanted something...
4:30pm we headed out, and guess what...it's still raining. Back to the Metro to head back to the hotel (btw, the people-traffic was terrible...the first train we were on was completely packed with people in all the seats and very little standing room available).
Ahh, back to the hotel to chill...gross weather...
6:30pm: off in search of dinner...
We tried to get in at Mack Public House (I think that's what it was) but apparently at 5 it turns to a 21 and older place (only) so we walked (still in the rain) until we found Pho's...a crappy Asian food (perhaps Vietnamese) place (in comparision to the amazing food Thai we had yesterday). After dinner (too much MSG! and too much food) Mom wanted hot chocolate so we asked some random man on the street if he knew where the nearest Starbucks was (one block up and one to the left) and headed that way. We all got drinks and then went back to the hotel to crash.

don't know what we're doing tomorow...later.