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Well we arrived in "Our Nations Capitol" on the 12th October and found that it was really easy to get from the Bus Station to the hotel. The Metro system was really clean and easy to use.
After checking in we set about finding the White House which I had earlier in the day said was one of the most recognisable buildings in the world (what a mistake!). I had always thought that the White House was the building with the big dome. I said to Tony "I am sure its the one with the dome as this is what I have seen in the Superman films all these years!". Any way we nearly walked right past the actual white house and it was only that there were other tourists taking pictures that we realised my mistake. After taking a couple of pictures and being totally underwhelmed I noted the guide book that the building i thought was the white house was actually the Capitol Building (America's equivalent to Houses of Parliament).
We quickly moved on to the Washington Memorial, World War Two Memorial and Abraham (or Baberaham as Tony said for two whole days) Lincoln Memorial. The WW2 memorial was very pretty and I would definately recommend visiting it when it is dark as it looks great all lit up. We also walked past the reflection pool which is famous from the film Forest Gump. Just as Tony kept saying Baberaham I could not resist shouting FORESST, and JENNY when we walked past.
Next day we got up really early to get a ticket for the Capitol Building. It was a good idea as all the tickets had gone within an hour. The tickets are all free and you get a timed slot to go in a small group with a tour guide. As ours was not until 10am we went to the National Archives to view the actual declaration of independence (a big deal for the Yanks) and the Bill of Rights (full of contradictions) it was interesting to see them and definately worth it as it was also free!!!
Our visit to the Capitol building was very interesting and we got to see and learn alot about the building. We also went to see the Supreme Court which I found interesting but Tony called me sad!
There are lots of free museums in Washington DC and we did not have enough time to see them all so chose the Air and Space Museum. It had lots of planes and space things which is good for kids (Alice you would have liked it here - maybe we can come here before you start work for NASA).
Overall we were surprised with how interesting and easy it was to get around. It was definately worth the trip down to DC.
We have a 8 hour bus ride to Boston next and will catch up again soon. Thanks for all your lovely messages it's good to know you are with us in spirit. Take Care xx
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