Embassy Days

Beware this is a long and boring post and is really just for me to remember... but feel free to read it to get yourself to sleep. ;)

Every year, several embassies in Washington D.C. open their doors to visitors without needing a passport. It happens two Saturdays in May. One Saturday is non-EU countries and the second Saturday is EU countries. Not every embassy chooses to open their doors (which is completely understandable). I've been to Embassy days multiple times over the years and I've enjoyed it every time I've gone! 

I think one thing about going is knowing what to expect when visiting. There will be lines, some lines are short and some lines are really long (but there will always be lines). Some embassies are not super exciting and that's okay but maybe a little disappointing too. Sometimes there's free samples of food and sometimes you have to pay for the food. Also, seeing multiple embassies in a day will require a lot of walking. Sometimes you might only get to two embassies in one day (and that's okay) and sometimes you might get to five embassies. It all depends on the lines and the distance the embassies are from each other. 

It's really interesting to visit the embassies and try their food (when they have it) and talk to native people from that country and see the beautiful buildings and grounds where the embassy is located. Make sure to go with good friends and it will make the day even better. (I don't know why I'm mentioning all of the details about going, but I guess for future reference I wanted to write it down).

I invited two of my friends, Heather and Sandy, to join me on the first Saturday to visit some non-EU embassies. Our first stop was the Indonesian embassy. The building was pretty! Look at that staircase and the window on the ceiling, so pretty!

There wasn't much going on at the Indonesian embassy, but the building was cool!

Next stop was the South Korean embassy (I actually think it was the Korean Cultural House). I, of course, had to visit South Korea with my love of Korean dramas. :) It was cool to walk around but not much was happening here.

I think after South Korea, we went to the Haiti embassy. The Haiti embassy was super crowded (with no way to get out except to stay in line) and there wasn't much to see. I didn't take a picture there and it took a long time to go through. (I say this to say that sometimes going through an embassy is not all that exciting. I think our biggest problem here was that we still had to wait in line even though we knew we wanted to leave pretty quickly after getting inside but couldn't because of the crowd. It was a bit overwhelming).

After we got through the Haiti embassy, we made our way to the Ukraine House. It was a little bit of a walk to the Ukraine house, but we got to walk through some pretty neighborhoods along the way.

A cool elephant statue we saw in one of the neighborhoods we walked through.

 Another unique elephant statue we saw on our way to the Ukraine House.

 

We made it to the Ukraine House! I really liked this place! As you probably know from previous posts, Ukraine has a special place in my heart.

Click on this picture to make it bigger to read about the slide in the picture below. 

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This slide was taken from a playground in Ukraine after Russia invaded Ukraine and then used the playground (where this slide was located) as a killing ground. (You can read the sign from the picture above this picture to read a little more about it.)

The Russians need to get the hell out of Ukraine. Russia has no reason to be invading there.

A shirt that Volodymyr Zelenskyy wore! Read the sign from the picture below to learn more about the shirt.

I think Zelenskyy rocks!

 

Outside of the Ukraine House, they had tables set up of Ukrainian books, souvenirs, and food that you could buy. All of the proceeds goes directly to Ukrainian people or businesses. I bought a bracelet with the Ukrainian flag colors and I bought some delicious Ukrainian caramels that I remember eating when I lived there. 

 

After we finished at the Ukraine House, we made our way to the Norway embassy. 

I forgot to bring water with me this day. As we were waiting in line for the Norway Embassy, I mentioned how thirsty I was and some lady walking by heard me say that, so she stopped and asked if I would like an unopened bottle of water that she had. I took it and was thankful for that little bit of water that got me through the rest of our outing.
 

I honestly don't remember what we saw in the Norwegian embassy. (I am writing this post about three weeks after we went there, although I'll back date this post to earlier than when I am writing this). 

All of us who were on our outing to Embassy Days this day. Me, Nancy (a friend of Sandy who joined us), Sandy and Heather. I'm really glad we got to go to Embassy Days this year. Thanks Sandy, Heather, and Nancy for joining me for Embassy Days!

 

I wasn't planning on going to the second Saturday of Embassy days this year, but one of my friends who had never been before asked if I'd like to go with her. I was available to go so Cat and I headed downtown that Saturday morning. We only made it to two embassies this day, but we enjoyed it. We went to the Italian embassy first. 

The inside of the embassy was pretty cool looking! There were a lot of people there. 

There were a few lines inside the embassy that we weren't quite sure what they were for at first (because they all kind of seemed to be mixed together), but we finally figured out that one was for free chocolate samples, one was for pizza slices to buy and another one for drinks to buy. We waited in line for the free chocolates. They were good!

We decided to wait in line for gelato in the courtyard of the Italian embassy. :) I got pistachio flavored and it was delicious! 

It was pretty warm and humid this day and it was supposed to rain the whole day, but thankfully it only rained a little bit.

After the Italian embassy we went to the Danish Embassy and both Cat and I really enjoyed this embassy. 

They had awesome pictures hanging up on the fence in the courtyard. There were all different kinds of pictures but I particularly liked this one. Legos were actually first made in Denmark (which I didn't know until this day at the embassy).

Waiting in line to tour the Danish ambassador's residence. A tour guide took us through the house and he told us that the inside was designed in Danish style and the furniture was made by Danish furniture designers. I really enjoyed this tour. The house was beautiful and the grounds were lovely too! And we got a free sample of cheese and piece of chocolate at the end of the tour. 

 

The courtyard was pretty!

Cat and I were kind of hungry at this point, so we decided to get some food at the Danish embassy. The hot dog had a curry, turmeric, and tartar sauce on it as well as crunchy fried onions and cucumbers. (I added ketchup but I didn't realize until too late that I should have eaten it as they gave it to me without the ketchup. Oh well). Even with the ketchup, I still really enjoyed it! I thought it was good and I liked eating a hot dog like a Danish person would eat it.

In the courtyard of the Danish embassy they had a bunch of booths set up where we could talk to Danish people about certain aspects of their culture. Cat and I visited the hygge booth and chatted with one of the ladies there for about 10 minutes. It was an interesting conversation!

After the Danish embassy, we were trying to decide if we should go to the Irish embassy or the Portuguese embassy. We decided to try for the Portugal embassy but we didn't make it in time. We actually stood in line for quite a while but they ended up cutting us off saying that we wouldn't make it to the embassy before it closed. It was a bit of a bummer, but we were happy that we made it to the Italian and Danish embassies. :)

I'm grateful to live close to Washington DC where such cool events happen every year and I'm grateful for my friends willing to explore with me!