Last Saturday, May 11th, we attended the second signature event of Passport DC – EU Open House 2013. During this day, The Delegation of the European Union to the United States and the Embassies of 27 EU Member States to the United States plus incoming Member State Croatia opened their doors to the Washington public.
This annual event is a highlight of the Washington May calendar and is celebrated during Europe Week. Each embassy offered a rare look inside the buildings and provided a unique opportunity to experience the country’s cultural heritage and national traditions.
We started our day early at 10 a.m., but were able to visit only 5 Embassies due to their dispersed locations: European Union, Embassy of Sweden, Embassy of France (France and Germany), Austria and Slovakia. Our first destination was EU House located at K Street, NW near Foggy Bottom metro station.
European Union, the EU’s headquarters in the U.S. showcased how the EU Delegation and the 27 member countries’ representatives work together. The visitors could test their knowledge with the EU quiz and win prizes. Festivities included a photo booth, an interactive wall map, custom luggage tags, Kids Corner and music. Refreshments, fruits and pastries were provided to the visitors in the morning and some other food during a day.
Next destination was Embassy of Sweden, since it was on the same route. We took a free complimentary shuttle to this embassy from the EU building.
Embassy of Sweden welcomed the visitors at its Georgetown Waterfront location. Samples of Swedish treats and coffee were offered for sale. We walked through the 3 floors of the embassy looking at the Swedish artifacts and took an elevator to the rooftop terrace, where we could view a part of Arlington and the Kennedy Center. We obtained a Culinary Swedish book with really nice simple and healthy recipes and a CD with Swedish pop music.
Embassy’s interior is very modern.
We enjoyed a cup of really good coffee there.
It was cloudy, but the view from the embassy’s rooftop terrace was great.
Here is the Kennedy Center in the background on the left.
There was a Kidney Walk charity event outside of Swedish Embassy.
Such beautiful architecture across the street from the Embassy of Sweden.
The Embassy of France co-hosted the event with the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany at La Maison Française, the Washington-based cultural center of the Embassy of France. According to the Internet sources, this year has been named the “Franco-German Year,” celebrating the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Elysée Treaty, a historic agreement made between France and Germany in 1963 to formalize peace after World War II.
The Elysée Treaty paved the way toward a peaceful post-war era in Europe, while giving momentum to the nascent integration process that would become the European Union. In 2012, the Nobel Prize Committee awarded its Peace Prize to the European Union as a whole. France and Germany acted as a central force in establishing the long record of peace that the European continent now enjoys.
The line to the Embassy of France was humongous, it was spread literary for several blocks. At the entrance, several embassy workers were checking photo IDs and helped the guests to go through the metal detectors.
It was pretty crowded inside as well. There were many offerings and a wide selection of handouts. Offerings included interactive photo booths, face-painting and games for children, French and German music, food and drinks. We sampled some of the best cheeses from the Franco-German menu. Among handouts, were the bags with France and German printings, really nice illustrated books, pens, recipes and many others. I’ve got a book about places to visit in Germany with excellent detailed descriptions and illustrations. The guests had a chance to take a quiz about EU and win a special prize.
The guests were offered to take a picture of your “trip” to France or Germany or have a go at learning French or German.
Water rockets were presented there. Later on, they launched one of the rockets in the yard for the kids.
Face-painting activity was very entertaining. The guests, especially kids, with painted faces looked beautiful and festive. A special “diplomatic lunch” with traditional French cuisine was also available. It wasn’t free of charge, of course.
Embassy of Austria offered live Austrian music, fine Austrian wines and pastries. Live Music was performed by the Austrian Duo Herbert Langegger and Herbert Gruber. The musical duo regularly performs at the Austrian Club in Detroit, Michigan and all around the states making it their mission to keep the sounds of Austria’s past alive in the U.S. They performed traditional Austrian folk music. Viennese pastries, famous Austrian Meinl coffee and elderberry juice were served throughout the day. The visitors had a chance to watch a chef skillfully preparing apple strudel, a traditional Austrian dish.
Dave and I came right on time for the Wine Testing Seminar, which was just about to start. The presenters Klaus and Martin guided us through the wines of the Wachau, the most prestigious wine region in Austria. We tasted the Riesling and some other white wines from Tegernseerhof Vinary of Wachau. The wine we tasted were refreshing with a nice bouquet.
Embassy of Slovakia presented a folk music performance in traditional costumes, a folk art display, and food samplings. We entered the embassy around 4 p.m. right before closing, so we didn’t have a chance to spend much time there. However, we sampled Cabbage Halušky (Strapačky), which we really liked. I found the link with the recipe here. I am going to try to make it at home. 🙂
The Austrian Embassy was still selling some food outside, so we bought bratwurst with potato pancakes and the last piece of the apple strudel. It was delicious!
We took pictures of the OAE embassy and Egypt Embassy located in the same area on our way to the Van Ness metro station.
Overall, it was entertaining and educational event. Next year we are planning to visit Passport DC again. There are so many embassies we didn’t visit this time. 🙂