Any time you travel and go on vacation, there are always opportunities to do sightseeing. Often time, tourists go and visit popular, well-known attractions and locations. While that is not a bad thing, and I would actually encourage it, my suggestion and challenge for your next trip, would be to mix in visits to less well known or less popular attractions as well. Finding unique spots not only gives a different perspective of the city, but also will be less crowded and leave you with a more memorable experience. How do you find these less known spots, it's actually fairly easy. These hidden gem locations can be found by simply allowing for a day to have no set plan and to just let yourself aimlessly explore the city in which you are visiting.
For example, on my last trip to Washington, D.C., in the United States, I could have easily gone to see all the monuments, museums, or historic landmarks. I did not want to do them all, because all of those places are so iconic and well known, there are pictures and posts about them all over the internet. I can easily 'experience' all those places, without ever having to go to Washington D.C. I spent two days aimlessly walking around the streets, with no specific agenda, and what I found while traveling in this historic city, ultimately led to a better vacation experience in my opinion.
So what hidden gem places did I find? I found a house, that was tucked away in an older, historic neighborhood and it was completely painted to look like a watermelon. Not only was the house painted like a watermelon, but their side gate was painted like kiwis, this house was the fruit house. How unique and cool is that! After spending some time at that house, looking at it and taking pictures, I continued on my aimless walk through D.C. Another place I found, was a church that had been converted into a community center and it was entirely painted in pastel colors. This place was called the 'Blind Whino". The paint pattern looked like it was watercolor as well, just fluid and it was located on a cul-de-sac off a random street not visible to the main street.
These are just two of the really cool and unique sights that I got to experience while playing tourist in D.C. for a couple of days. Throughout my days, I also saw so much street art, ate at 'hole-in-the-wall' restaurants and felt as though I was able to experience D.C in a much deeper and personal level other than just the large, iconic monuments that make up D.C.
