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DC Update! Day 1 - I arrived from Chicago on the 18th the day before the boys arrived, I went to the airport the next day to get them at about 4pm. After getting them checked in we went for a walk. The weather was absolutely stunning, it was so warm almost like summer so we went out for a walk. After wandering around for a bit we stumbled upon the White House of all places! We were walking down the road oblivious to where we actually were and didn't realise until the White House Secret Service Police shouted at us to get off the road and onto the sidewalk! Great only been there an afteroon and we were getting ourselves into trouble already!! It was the start of what turned out to be 10 days of the three of being the worst tourists you could imagine!!!!! Oh yeah, forgot to say - I checked in so early for my flight from Chicago to DC that my luggage went on the flight before mine and when I got to DC, my luggage wasn't there! I eventually found someone who had put it in their office as it was just going round and round without being collected for an hour, doh! Still, Chris didn't do very well either - when the boys got to DC Prince found his luggage no problem but Chris's suitcase was nowhere to be seen, eventually Prince walked around one of the luggage carousels and found Chris's case in the First Class area as he had stupidly left a Virgin Upper Class label on his case from a previous flight, nice one! We went for dinner at the Old Ebbitt Grill then jumped in a Taxi and told him to take us somewhere with loads of bars, he drove us to Adams Morgan, quite a lively place a few miles from where we were staying and once we got out Chris reaslised he didn't have any ID and therefore we couldn't get in or served anywhere! Back in a taxi and back to the hotel bar! We drank way too much, got on the Sambuca (bad idea!) and got up the next day with shocking hangovers!Day 2 - It was raining really badly, we walked off down the road, spent ages wandering around trying to get a taxi before walking back to the hotel and asking them to get one for us! We decided to go to Union Station as there are a lot of places to eat and shop there. We had brunch and then Chris bought out half of the clothes shops and my hangover was so bad that I was sick in the restrooms! Classy! We headed back quite early and went out for dinner at a local italian restaurant called Jacks. That is when we discovered that the area we were staying in, Dupont Circle, was infact the Gay District! Brilliant! We had a few drinks in a bar called Trio - Fox and Hounds. It was a typical American Bar, loads of locals and very strong cheap drinks! Oh dear hangover number two due the next day!Day 3 - Probably one of our most productive days. We were up early and in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum by 10.30am! Chris was convinced that it was the one with the Shuttle but when we arrived, it wasn't! Useless! We spent the whole day there until it shut at 5.30pm. We watched 2 Imax movies - 3D Sun and 3D Space Station. Went to the Planetarium and watched Cosmic Collitions, went on possibly the lamest Rollercoaster Simulator which neither Chris nor Prince could see as they were at the back and had adults sitting in front of them! Also Chris bought a ton of books and his Rocket, which i'm sure you have seen the pictures of! Prince and I also bought him an Inflatible Shuttle, much to our amusement! Once we got back to hotel the boys walked up to the shops by Jacks and the F&H. It would appear it was only raining in DC on that street and quite heavily! It had rained there last night to so there were loads of puddles which Chris stepped in one right up to his ankle! The Puddle of Doom which we continued to laugh about for the rest of the week! Such Children! Also we named that Rain Street and there were plenty more stupid things that happened on that street over the course of the week!Our meal out that night was back at Jacks, where it was still raining! Prince was feeling a little fragile from drinking the night before and was most annoyed when Chris and I proceeded to try and force him to drink wine with dinner. His Ginger Look of Disapproval persuaded us to finish it ourselves!!!Day 4 - Another Smithsonian Museum. After Chris got in the taxi removing the whole door trim at the same time and we wasted a good ten minutes with the taxi driver trying to fix it, we asked him to take us to the American History Museum, which is in fact shut! Nice one! So we ended up at the Natural History Museum, where we saw the Hope Diamond (not as impressive as you would think!) along with another Imax Movie - 3D Sea Monsters. Which I proceeded to fall asleep during, only awoken by a huge explosion in the movie which frightened the hell out of me and amused the boys no end! Wandered around the museum and then went shopping in Macy's. Again Chris purchased stupid amounts of clothes etc which we then had to get back to the Hotel! For dinner that evening we went to the Capitol Grille. One of the most stunning restaurants i've been it, great atmosphere, great service (from Daniel our waiter) and the food was amazing. A little pricey but we fancied a treat! After that we walked up to the US Capitol Building, which looks stunning all lit up at night! We took loads of pictures and then headed back to the Hotel.Day 5 - A day out with Peter, Chris and Prince's friend who lives in Washington. We went for Lunch with him and his ex-wife near Dulles Airport and then headed to the Smithsonian Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum. The one wth the Shuttle this time!! After loads more picture taking and a good wander around in awe of the size of the Shuttle and Concorde we headed to a Peters house for a BBQ with him and some friends. We sat out on the deck and Peter bought out his guns. His son, Matthew had been persuading his mum for 3 years to let him have a BB gun and eventually they gave in, Peter let him use if for the first time, he was very excited! He shot it about 3 times and then Princey had a go, who then proceeded to break it! There was one very unhappy young lad who was most annoyed he had to wait until it got fixed to use it again! Princey felt very bad. After a few more beers Peter let Chris and Prince fire his guns, at which point I was a little worried at whether that was a good idea but they seemed happy and no one got hurt! Which was a miracle! Good food and company and the weather was beautiful! Peter drove us back to the hotel at about 1.30am!Day 6 - This was the first day we made it out of the hotel in time for Breakfast not Brunch! We went to a place called Ollies Trolley. May as well have been McDonalds, it was awful, infact McDonalds would have been better to be fair! From there we walked down to the Washington Monument. We had all intentions of going up it to see the spectacular views, however it would appear that you have to either book your tickets on line or get there a little earlier and there were none left for that day! We decided to come back and try another day but actually never got to go up at all before we left! From there we walked to the 'Reflecting Pool' and fountains, it was a beautiful hot sunny day and I paddled in the water for a bit, before we walked up to the Linoln Memorial. At this point we jumped into a taxi to Georgetown for a bit of shopping at the A & F shop and went for a beer afterwards. The evening antics involved going to Hooters for food, which was randomly in the middle of Chinatown and what would appear to be the Ghetto part of DC. After that we went for Mojitos in Bar Louie where everyone was watching the Basketball, Cleeveland Cavaliers vs Washington Wizards on the big screen. Washington won 108 to 72. After the game we walked out onto the street to find it crowded with people and unable to get a taxi. We then realised that we were infact sat in the closest bar to the Verizon Centre where the match was being played and hadn't even realised!! Day 7 - It was another fairly productive day. We ate breakfast in the Ronald Regan World Trade Centre and then walked to the National Archives. The queue to get in to the exhibition entrance was huge and we couldn't be bothered to wait so Chris had the bright idea of pretending we were researchers and trying to blag our way into the Research entrance. After about 10 minutes of going through the security procedures, which were very thorough (even having your camera signed in!!) we used the toilets, didn't even look around and walked straight back out! We walked past the FBI Building (tours were closed that day unfortunately) then onto the Library of Congress, which we spent quite along time in looking at exhibits and Thomas Jeffersons some 4,800 private collection of books. We then walked to the Supreme Court and onto Union Station for lunch. It was here that Chris ordered the 24oz mega burger that was roughly the same size as a hub cap!!! I even ate some which is unheard of me to eat beef but it was gooood! That evening we met up for dinner with the Lovely Rachel and Lindsey who I meet in Baltimore at the beginning of the month. Lindsey is a student in DC so she showed us around the nightlife. We ate at the Front Page Restaurant and then went on to Rumours Bar where the shots started! From here we got a taxi to the Waterfront in Georgetown which is a huge complex by the river with loads of different bars. We met loads of new people, Chris spent the night campaigning for Hilary Clinton and plenty more shots were done. We headed back for more drinks at Bar Rouge in our hotel then bed!Day 8 - One thing that we had planned to do was head to Eastern Market for their renowned Pancakes for breakfast. However, the previous nights alcohol consumption meant we got up late and therefore missed the breakfast! We had lunch instead! Then we headed for the Spy Museum at about 2ish, we bought the wrong tickets which meant we couldnt get into the museum until 4pm and had to be back at the hotel for 5pm so we got a refund, shopped in the Museum Shop and then headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. We ate out that night at the Caucus Rooms, this was my most favourite meal of the holiday and quite possibly the best Swordfish I have ever eaten. Peter our waiter was fantastic, the restaurant was beautiful and the food was amazing. We headed to a bar called Proof afterward and then back to the Bar Rouge at our hotel where the waiter David, is now so familiar with us that Sambucca is flowing before we even get through the door! Doh!Day 9 - We get up and walk up Rain Street to McDonalds for breakfast. Chris ends up standing in the Puddle of Doom again whilst getting checked out simultaneously by several men! Me and Prince threatened to leave him there as this was the only attention he seemed to get the whole trip! We had a chilled out shopping day, went back to Macy's, then to Georgetown again, had a coffee in Starbucks before we headed back. We went out for dinner at Mcormick & Schmidtt's and then got a taxi to what we thought was going to be a trendy bar at the Helix Hotel, unfortunately the taxi driver took us right across town to the Phoenix Hotel and we ended up in a run down Irish bar called the Dubliner listening to random live Irish Music and drinking beer. Early night for all, the boys watched a movie and I went to bed early and for a change not drunk!Day 10 - Our last full day in Washington DC. We had a little list of what we wanted to achieve that day and we did pretty much manage to get it all done! We walked up to the National Geographic Building as I wanted to see the worlds largest globe (which is no longer there much to my annoyance!) but I was map reading and we couldnt find it, only to realise we were actually stood right outside it! Damn it! We had lunch at Potbelly and then walked down to the White House. Where it absolutely poured it down and we eneded up getting soaked to the skin! We walked down to the Visitors Centre which was rubbish and by this time i was freezing cold! Then we went to the Spy Museum for the second attempt at seeing it and managed to get to walk around before going into the Shop again!!! We popped into the Caucus Rooms on the way back to book a table for that evening and ended up staying for a drink. We headed back to shower and change and then back to the Caucus Rooms for dinner. Another great meal served by our usual waiter Peter. Then we went for drinks at the Fox & Hounds on Rain Street and back the hotel bar as usual.Day 11 - The boys go home and I head off the sunnier climes in Florida. It takes me & Prince all of an hour to pack, Chris however takes the whole morning and can't manage to get all of his purchases in his case! We get a taxi to the Airport where the boys wave me off and have to wait 7 hours for their flight!!! I breathe a sigh of relief and plan to detox for the next week or so!
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