Embassy tours

A few years ago a friend in DC told me that the Embassy’s open their doors the first two Saturday’s in May. May is so busy, and then Covid happened, but this year we were finally able to make it happen! We’ve had a cold and wet Spring, so of course it was raining and in the 50°’s. Our first stop was to Egypt, which has a new Embassy building. Unfortunately, their building isn’t ready, so they just had a few canopies set up outside. They had free keychain’s and some activities for the kids, and then we were on our way. 

The next one as we walked was Iraq. 

They had a fun photo booth and offered hot tea, dates, and pastries. Inside the embassy they had lots of art, both print and fashion on display. Oh, and Adi’s fav, a little library. 

We walked past Eritrea, but their doors were locked. It was fun walking around with lots of other people and everyone comparing notes about which Embassy’s they’ve been to and how they were.

Our first time waiting in line was at the Albanian Embassy. This one was my fav. They had a very orderly route set up, you walk up the stairs, around the displays, sample absolutely delicious meatballs, olives, and feta, and back out. There wasn’t any milling about or people trying to push through, which we experienced at other embassy’s. 

There was also this cute Albanian family all dressed up. 

Next up was Costa Rica. They were all fairly close to each other, less than half a mile, but it was consistently sprinkling and windy cold the whole time. 

After we’d waited in the Costa Rica line for about 5 minutes, a family came out and told us they really only had coffee inside, and recommended we just slip into the gardens and call it good. So that’s exactly what we did. 

They had a great little yard!

Strong contender for fav was Dominican Republic. We loved vacationing there, so we were pretty sure we’d love their embassy. They are such a happy and fun people!

So we were waiting in line outside and they called last call for their DR quiz. Matt was like, I’ll do a quiz! So he quickly filled it out. Meanwhile, D, F, and I had been in line for dulce de leche cake and delicious fried cheese balls. When we walked back, they asked Delaney to pull a winner for their prize bag. 

Drum roll!!!

She chose Matt!!

He won a few lollipops, a coupon for a free meal (that we didn’t find till Sunday 😔), an authentic Dominican liqueur, and a bag of Dominican coffee. Whomp whomp. It was still fun to win. 😂

We watched the dancers for a few more minutes, and headed out. 

There were long lines at every other embassy and we were all cold and wet, so we trekked back to our car. 

Frankie really wanted to see Nepal, so we drove and parked for a few more stops. 

first stop, Azerbaijan! This cute little stop was unorganized chaos. It was a pretty clunky day, but I think I’d chalk that up to being out of practice because of Covid. The little area they let us in was crowded with people milling around. And no food, so not my fav. 

Nepal was so cute outside with these fun flags, and they gave full plates of food. 

Unfortunately it was completely outdoors and the yard was super muddy. We ate, watched some dancers, Frankie bought a little souvie, and we called it a day. 

It was such a fun and unique experience and the girls really loved it. This Saturday was the EU open houses, but unfortunately it was pouring rain till early afternoon again, Matt’s been out of town all week, and we have Dorn kids. Then Adi was asked to babysit and that solidified not going up today. Next year! And bonus adorable baby boy!