Around The World Embassy Tour

The first Saturday of May was the Around the World Embassy Tour in Washington D.C. Did you know that there are typically a gazillion things going on that same day? Goodness! I have been wanting to visit these embassies for the past couple years, but we've always been so busy on that day. We were even busy this Saturday with my daughter and her husband being in town, but I made a point to have a half day at the event.

Having never been on this free tour, I had no idea what to expect, but I knew that it would be packed. Little did I know it there were more people than I could've imagined.

Our first stop was the most meaningful one to me. We went to Peru! I would say it's not a surprise to anyone. There was quite the line to get in, but it went surprisingly fast. And when I say fast, I think it took us about a half an hour to get through the line and to walk through the embassy. Also, the Peru embassy is at the far end of this tour. So, it was our starting point.

The Ambassador's office

I was imagining how many people have touched

this door handle over the years!

Next to Peru was Trinidad & Tobago. It was so fabulous to walk by and hear the steel drums. Across the street was the Philippines, but we were on a mission to get to the hub of the other embassies we wanted to visit. The great part about our walk to the bulk of the embassies we visited is we passed the  Information Station where I was able to meet the media people for Passport D.C. and got a media pass.

Now, since the Around the World Embassy Tour was free what the media pass did was get Fred and I through the lines. We didn't have to wait. As much of a difference that made, out of the 51 embassies participating today, we only visited 6. Five really because there wasn't much to do at The Republic of Kenya.

Our next stop with the Tour was at The Republic of India. This was their first time participating in the AWET. We didn't see it, but they were doing yoga demonstrations as well as dancing and music. From there we headed to the next 4 embassies we were planning to visit.

We got to Kenya and found that visitors were only able to be outside in a common area where people were selling a variety of cultural items. Across the street was the Guatemalan Embassy so we figured we'd pop in there to see what they had going on. They had beautiful displays of fruit and outside they were selling cultural items.

Next we headed to the Korean Cultural Center. This was probably my favorite embassy to tour. I think it was because they had SO much going on. It wasn't a quick peek inside and then you were done. After you walked through the embassy they had some games you could learn and a few things for kids to do. From there as you walked behind the building, they had dancers as well as music. There were also 2 rows of tents to interact with people doing a variety of activities. We didn't have time, but they were writing things in Korean at one of the spots. I just really liked how they immersed you in their culture.

Our last stop, if I remember correctly, was Haiti. People were leaving Haiti with really cool, colorful straw hats. This was an embassy you really got to walk through as well. In one room they had a large painting for everyone to add to. As we were leaving, a volunteer gave us some plain straw hats saying lots of people were taking multiples. What was funny about the hats was, the tags said, "Made in Vietnam." lol

I was sad we had to leave half way through he day, but since we had other plans I was glad we had a chance to even spend part of our day there. I'll have some tips coming up on how to plan your visit in case you decide to take the Tour next year. It's well worth your day and I would highly recommend it!