On Saturday, my roommate, Dollian, and I decided to go to The Taste of Georgetown. One of the side streets in Georgetown was closed off and a number of local restaurants had booths set up and we were able to sample the food. We had to pay $20 for 5 tickets and each sample cost a ticket. The portions served were huge and I was stuffed by the end. I was able to sample food from Old Glory Bar and Grill, 1789, and Dean & Deluca. Georgetown Cupcake had a booth there and luckily I was able to take some cupcakes home with one of the tickets. Most of the booths had menus available to view and I am pretty sure that I won’t be eating at them; they were a little too pricy for an intern.

After filling up on food we went to the National Museum of Health and Medicine. The museum is not near the Mall and it takes a little while to get there, but it was very interesting. There were very few people inside the museum, which was nice to be able to look at the displays and not have to fight 100 other people, which is common in many of the other museums. I was able to see the bullet that killed President Lincoln, along with a cloth stained with his blood. There was also a huge display depicting the stages of growth in a child’s bone structure from 4 months prenatal to 1 year old. If you are interested in the history and development of microscopes then this is the place for you; I bet there were about 200 of them on display. I liked the display on the army and how the medical field equipment has changed over time to help save wounded soldiers. The museum was out of the way, but if you are going to be interning in DC, then I recommend going to the museum.

On the way back from the museum we decided to make a stop at Ben’s Chili Bowl. It’s a restaurant, but it’s also a huge tourist attraction and it was packed. The founder, Ben, died last week so the place was busier than normal. They serve chili, obviously, chili-dogs, fries, hamburgers and anything that goes along with chili. The food was very good and I plan on going back there in the near future, hopefully it won’t be as busy next time.

Sunday afternoon I went to the National Museum of Crime and Punishment, located in Chinatown. Unlike many of the other museums, this one charges 18 bucks to get in, but it was well worth it. If you are majoring in any type of criminal justice field, then I am sure you will find this place to be very interesting. I was able to see items related to many of the people that I have studied about the last three years of college. Upon entering the museum, the first displays are related to crimes in the Middle Ages, the western expansion, mobsters, and current financial crimes. I liked the exhibit on the Crime bosses of New York and Chicago. There were also several exhibits on prisons and capital punishment. They had an electric chair where over 100 people have been executed and a gas chamber. There are simulators used to train law enforcement officers in driving and shooting that you are able to use. I also liked that there were T.V. monitors playing the show NCIS, sense I am interning with NCIS.

One of the best parts about the museum was that the show America's Most Wanted uses the basement for the taping of the show. I was able to walk around the set and see information about the people that have been brought to justice because of the show. There was lots of information on John Walsh, the host of the show. There was a display case filled with awards that he has received because of his work in aiding law enforcement agencies throughout the US.