Day 4 - Washington Zoo

We were up and ready for 8:30am today, this was because we were going to head to the zoo. It was getting hot already and there was barely a cloud in the sky when we left. We needed to ride the subway this time as the zoo is a few miles outside the city centre. We had breakfast in the station again and actually got the park really quickly. It was rush hour but we tried not to get in the way!

Union Station subway entrance

Subway train in Washington DC

Very long escalator out of Zoo subway station

The zoo had opened at 9am and we were there shortly after this time. There was virtually no one there. We had been last year and so knew where to go. We looked at the elephants and then the giant panda enclosure which is near the entrance. We got really lucky (not sure why this hadn’t occurred to us before) as the pandas were being fed and they were really active and we got to see all three. One was outside but the others were in their inside area which meant we got to see them up close. We were also there virtually by ourselves so it was nice a quite. We looked at them for almost an hour before moving on to the next section.

Giant Panda outside

Giant Panda inside

The other elephants were being let out of their enclosure and we got to see them up close. They were being fed too and the keepers were chatting to the small number of people who were there.  The elephants were dusting sand on their backs to keep the warmth of the sun and flies away. 

Elephant dusting itself with sand

We then got to see some sea lions doing some demonstrations. It was getting fairly hot by and we kept going into the buildings to cool down a bit. This included a small mammals part and a tropical part. The latter was really interesting as a keeper did a demonstration to show to electrical currents given off by eels when they are fed. Once everyone else left he kept talking to us a bit more about some of the other fish on display.

Electric eel (electric current displayed on monitor above tank)

We made our way very slowly up to the exit of the part, we walked back to the metro stop and got something to eat. We did get the bus but it was taking ages so we eventually got a subway back to the hotel.

Autumn colours in Washington Zoo

We got changed and headed out to the rooftop bar at the hotel we stayed at on our honeymoon. It has direct views of the White House and the Washington monument. We had a couple of cocktails, it was really hot, but we managed to get a seat underneath the canopy.

The W Hotel - POV Rooftop bar

Cocktails

View of The White House from rooftop bar

Kathryn and the Washington monument

We then went over for dinner at a Mexican restaurant called MXDC. It was national tacos day so we had tacos with some nachos. They were really nice and we had a few margaritas too as it was happy hour. The total bill was very reasonable due to the special offers! We were then very tired due to the heat today so we had an early night.

Exterior of MXDC restaurant

Nachos and Tacos