WASHINGTON DC

It is amazing to me how one can travel a mere 100 miles and be propelled into a very different world ……..

The traffic, people and atmosphere of Washington is very different to it’s neighbouring towns and cities and one definitely feels that this is the place where life is taken a little more seriously and ever so slightly in a more grown up fashion (for better or worse).

We stayed slightly South of the Capital before moving the next day to a place which had better travel links with the centre. It felt good to be settled in a place for the next 7 nights so we simply relaxed and read and updated the photos on our first day here…….

Next day we took the bus to the Metro and thence to the centre ……. Despite being the capital, Washington still seems to me to be a comparatively relaxed and slow kind of city when compared to London. The streets were still very quiet even at 11am on a Wednesday morning … not that we are complaining ……..

We did, of course, visit all the usual sites (photos below) but the stand out moments for me are witnessing a mini tornado rip through the city (unfortunately we later found out that one person died during the episode). Basically we were sitting on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial complaining about how hot it was when the wind just instantly started whipping the trees and the bare earth into the air, people started shouting and screaming and running up the steps into cover, the ducks on the lawns all flew to the centre of the pool and huddled into a mass, the sky turned black and the heavens opened ........ less than 5 minutes later the skies cleared, the ducks went back to the grassy areas, the sun shone and we could see the devastated trees that the minor tornado left in its wake. All very impressive ......

Within 1 minute the sky went from a perfect blue with not a cloud in sight to this:

And then less than 5 minutes later started returning back to normal :

We also really enjoyed the Space and Air Museum which was excellent.

And also Arlington Cemetery which is simply vast.

The half hourly changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier is an impressive sight. Interestingly we were handed a flyer to ask us to commemorate the birthday of Jefferson Davis .....we think this was organised by the sons and daughters of the Confederacy (whose organisation merits dozens of books). It seems that The Old South never quite did accept the Union ............ Great to see people dressed in confederate uniforms with fire hazard beards!

Georgetown was also an enjoyable place to wander ...

It was here that Emma found shopping heaven ..... Victorias Secret and Georgetown Cupcakes where you could buy two cupcakes for 8 Dollars and get them packed in a very nice box with lots of tissue paper and a very pretty bag (they were very nice cupcakes but considering you could get the equivalent for 50 cents ..... yeah, I know .. bah humbug) .....

Other sites that people may recognise .......

The Capitol Building:

The Whitehouse:

Washington Memorial:

Lincoln Memorial (outside):

Lincoln Memorial (inside):


Korean Memorial:

Vietnam Memorial:

Fords Theatre(site of Lincolns assasination):