Shortcut to Europe means that most European embassies will open their doors to the public from 10 am until 4 pm, offering a rare look inside the buildings. The day will provide a unique opportunity to experience the country’s cultural heritage and national traditions.
Early morning on May 14, Dave and I arrived at the Embassy of Belgium, but the line was unbelievably long; therefore, we walked to the next closest embassy – Embassy of Finland. The line was fairly long, but was moving quickly.
The embassy itself is a “green embassy” and the architecture of the building is phenomenal. The entire back wall is glass and looks out onto quite the picturesque landscape backing up into Rock Creek Park. There are a wooden deck and catwalk out in the back area too.
In about 40 minutes we were at the entrance to the embassy, where we were offered brochures and other booklets about Finland, the greenest embassy in the United States.
A walk down the stairs inside the embassy was accompanied by an accordion player, which was really neat.
This was the first time we attended the Embassy of Finland and we were impressed how well it was organized. As soon as we passed the stairs, we were directed by an embassy worker to move around the room in order to see all the exhibits and try some food samples. It worked very well.
The building inside is very modern with lots of wood. There’s a lot of natural light that shines into the large open reception area. The outside is quite interesting as well, combining glass and stone.
It was a mix of informational stands and food samples. We tasted delicious assortment of Finnish food. Among them were smoked salmon spread on Finn crisps, lemon truffle butter on Finn crisps, a few kinds of the favorite Finnish cheeses (of course, Finlandia Swiss was one of them), mushroom coffee and an assortment of Finnish candies. They had water stations set up around the main room and outside before entry into the embassy, which was nice.
I was impressed by the facts about Finland presented via numerous stands inside the embassy. It was just the right amount of information – interesting to read but not overwhelming. The posters were encouraging to discover the country with millions of saunas, thousands of heavy metal bands & the one and only Santa Claus. Here are some of them in the pictures below. Click on the pictures to enlarge them.
Next, we walked to the U.K. Embassy. We notice the U.K. flag on the ground a block away from the embassy.
The line was huge. It went around the embassy.
Finally, we reached the security check point at the entrance to the embassy grounds. This embassy invited guests to explore the UK and see the Embassy’s Residence and Gardens; learn about the UK’s business & trade and participate in activities around the UK’s heritage.
We learned that The United Kingdom was celebrating the following anniversaries this year: Her Majesty the Queen’s 90 birthday, the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, and the 70th anniversary of Churchill’s “Iron Curtain” speech. Hinghlights also included British food, arts, and family-friendly activities.
There were numerous vendors and other organizations promoting their goods and services. And, of course, a few historical persons were in the crowd, like this British solder below.
We took some pictures next to the old British guard statue (I assume). 🙂
On the way to our embassy and gardens tour, we stopped to take a look at some car and motorcycle exhibits.
Next to Bentley.
Dave was more interested in the bikes there.
Here we are at the entrance to the U.K. Embassy.
In the embassies hall.
The dining room was set up exactly like it would have been set up for the Queen. What a gorgeous dining room!
There was a beautiful rose garden on the embassies grounds.
The Taming of the Shrew was presented by the Shakespeare theater. We watched some of it.
We passed the contemporary building of the Embassy of Brasil on our way to the Embassy of Italy.
The Emabssy of Italy is gorgeous. This picture was taken while we were standing in a long line to the embasy. This embassy beckoned guests to discover the best of Italy from a new perspective: technology, science, entertainment, culture and the Italian way of life! Honestly, we were kind of disappointed there. It didn’t seem like it was well organized.
The building is as beautiful inside as the outside. It was really crowded and loud. I guess, it should be expected because of the popularity of Italy. 🙂
The band there was pretty good though.
There were a few samples of art and science: from ceramic dining products to ships and technology.
At the entrance, food tickets were available for a reasonable price. The problem (which we didn’t find out until later) was that the line was ridiculously long to get any food or gelato. Pizza was cooked here, right on the embassy’s grounds.
A lot of people were hanging around the yard.
There were also some exhibits of motorcycles and the Italian pride – Lamborghini.
It was allowed for guests to sit on some of the bikes.
The last embassy for the day was the Embassy of Slovakia, which offered the discovery of Slovakia through all your senses. “Enjoy the folk music and dance performances; learn about traditional music instruments; experience the Slovak culture and art; enjoy the presentation of the Flying Car; taste typical Slovak drinks and culinary delicacies. Meet the Ambassador to learn more about our country and work and win special prize in knowledge quiz about Slovakia!” This is excerpt from the brochure.
It started raining while we were standing in line. Fortunately, the line wasn’t that bad at the end of the day and as the rain got harder, the embassy workers allowed the rest of the people in line to get in. Threre was nice music at the entrance, but it was extremely crowded. Still, it was very nice of them to let everyone in to hide from the rain.
There was some information about Slovakia, along with some goods and food samples. The Slovakian beer was offered to everyone who wanted some. Because of the crowd, it was hard to see much there. The pumpkin seed oil looked interesting, so we tasted it (Dave really liked it) and left the embassy shortly after – the rain had pretty much stopped by then.
Here we are passing the bridge on our way to the metro station. It was raining hard again, so we literally ran across the bridge. Nice view from the bridge though.
We stopped for dinner pretty much at the first restaurant we saw (that served beer) after passing the bridge. The food and the atmosphere were nice there.
