Europe in a Day

Want to travel to Europe, but not experience the jet lag or expensive air fares that can come with it? Well then the EU Open House is just the event for you. On a Saturday in May, the European Union embassies in Washington DC offer a unique event where all 28 countries and the EU delegation open their doors, and allow visitors to come in and see the embassies! Through this you can learn about the country's culture, taste some of their food, and see their customs and traditions. Luckily, we got to enjoy some of the embassies this year, and learn more about different countries in Europe.

Our first stop was to the EU Delegation building, as we were able to get an overview of the event, grab a "passport", and get to grab some free swag. In addition to the normal festivities, the EU was celebrating 60 years of the signing of the Treaty of Rome, and 70 years of Marshall Plan, so they had a fun photo booth set up where you could take pictures in front of a golden back drop! We arrived at the EU building around 10:40am, and there wasn't too long of a line yet. On our short wait we had people come up and give us pens, a trivia card to fill out that you could take inside to get a prize, and we were able to get a map of the event in addition to our passports. To get into the building, you had to go through a security check point, so be sure to not wear a lot of metal, or bring in any illegal materials with you to ease with the process. Once inside we were greeted by many volunteers who gave us free tote bags, flyers, a stress ball, and lots of other treats. When we turned in our trivia cards we had the choice of getting sunglasses or a bag of chocolate. We opted to get the sunglasses!

The EU offers shuttles between certain embassies on color coded loops, but we decided to walk to the Embassy of Hungary. This was about a 20 minute walk, but it was through some pretty areas of DC. Once we arrived at the embassy, it looked like a big party! They had tents set up where you could taste some of their traditional foods, they had a quiz where if you got all the questions correct you could win a prize, and then you could buy food tickets to try a "Hun Dog". Hungary also let you see some Hungarian dog breeds, and walk around the inside of the embassy. The interior was full of beautiful architecture, and let you get a great glimpse at the country of Hungary.

One of the Hungarian dog breeds!

Some more of the dog breeds playing!

After Hungary we decided to walk over to Portugal. Once we arrived, we experienced the dreaded "long lines" which we had read about on a couple of sites. The EU did have an smart phone app that let us see how long the estimated lines were at the embassies, but we were hoping it wouldn't be too bad. It read on the app that the line was about 15 minutes, but this line looked more about 30-45 minutes, and the people were not moving. Due to this, we decided to go to an embassy that did not have a long line, but that was still close by. Our next destination was Estonia! While smaller on the inside, in Estonia we were able to see women playing their traditional instruments, see the study of the ambassador, and get to taste test some of their candy! Outside they had traditional dancers, music playing, and a tent giving out buttons and information packets on the country.

Another embassy that had a short line was Luxembourg. Similar to Estonia, it was smaller on the inside, but you were able to get a stamp on your passport, learn about what to see if you wanted to travel there, and view a traditional table setting. Their dining room had an amazing ceiling that was colorful and fun! On the way out they let you sample some of their traditional carnival food. It was a warm cinnamon covered fried donut like creation...it was delicious.

Once we left Luxembourg, it was around 12:45, and every embassy was starting to get a very long line. Belgium, Finland, and the UK were about an hour and a half, Ireland was at an hour, and most other places were a far walk. We decided to head toward Italy to see what they offered. While there wasn't too long of a line, you did have to go through a security check point, and that slowed the crowd. Once through, the Italian embassy had a lot going on...and most of it related to food. They had wine to sample, pizza to try, and gelato. Additionally they had modern dancers performing, a live band, and many tables featuring information about the country. Compared to the other embassies, the architecture was very modern and open. It was extremely crowded here though, so we decided to leave and find something for lunch.

The Italian Embassy was close by the UK, so in a quick decision, we decided to see how bad the line was...it was long...so we quickly just kept walking toward food. Since these embassies were close to the US Naval Observatory, we decided to find food around there and went to Sprig and Sprout. Our initial food choice was a place called breadsoda, but that ended up being a bar and we didn't want that. Sprig and Sprout was a Vietnamese Pho and Sandwich Shop. The pho was delicious, and the sandwich was a little spicy. Overall it was a good choice, as the weather was a little chilly out.

By the time we finished eating it was 2:45pm, and the EU open house ended at 4pm so we decided to pick one final embassy. We went with Sweden, as this was close to a metro stop, and the line wasn't too long on the app. We were 3 miles away though, so we opted to take an Uber which from Sprig and Sprout cost about $7. It was worth it after how much we had already walked. Once we arrived at Sweden, we saw there wasn't a line at all! Similar to other embassies we went through our security check point and walked around. There was a band playing some music, a line for free coffee and cookies, and downstairs they had a kid's exhibit, an art gallery, and some tables giving away free items. The inside of the embassy was very modern and sleek. There was a pretty pond inside as well.

Once we finished at Sweden, there were not any other embassies close by for us to travel to before the event was over so we decided to call it a day. It was a unique experience getting to see the embassies and learn about their cultures. If we did this again, we probably would not start at the EU building and instead head straight for an embassy, like Austria, Netherlands, or the UK. This would have let us see more places before the lines got incredibly long. It also did not help that when we went the metro was closed on the orange and blue lines after the Foggy Bottom station. The map below shows the spots we went to, including our lunch choice.

Overall, we enjoyed ourselves, and it was fun getting to travel through some European countries! The picture below shows all the items we were able to collect, which lets us have some great mementos from the day! A big thank you to the EU for putting on this event! Be sure to follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook to see more of our pictures and travel tips!

Blue skies,

Kat