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So, we left off what feels like an age ago in New Orleans. We made it through the night and then rode the train to Atlanta from 7am to 7pm, not getting anywhere near as much sleep as we would have liked en route. Atlanta was definitely the largest city we had visited in a while. Whilst we quite liked the atmosphere and found the people very friendly, the city's sprawling nature wasn't ideal for us car-less tourists. Especially when the guidebook informed us that many of the best attractions were out of town. As a result we caught up on quite a lot of sleep in Atlanta, though one day we did travel out to the Sweet Auburn district where we saw the Martin Luther King exhibitions, a nice market, and ate some great southern soul food.
The highlight of our time in Atlanta, however, would have to be the baseball game. We went to watch the Atlanta Braves play the Florida Marlins and other than the result (the Braves got thrashed) the evening was fantastic. By the end Will & I were waving around our foam hand and chanting like the best of them. And that's not to mention the very friendly guy from Louisiana we were sat next to, who when hearing we were from London proceeded to ask, "y'all speak French there?"
Our final two southern stops were the towns of Savannah and Charleston. We had been told that we would find them quite similar but in fact whilst they were both very pretty and quintessentially southern, we were struck by the differences between the two. Savannah consisted of a series of pretty squares with monuments and fountains, with lots of cute cafes and gift shops. It was very green because of its hot but wet climate (we saw a couple of heavy rainstorms.) It was all very quaint and quite quiet. Charleston, on the other hand, felt like a holiday town for rich townies - a feeling backed up by many New York numberplates. Again it was very pretty but in a palm trees and huge houses kind of way. The two main streets were lined with expensive shops and fancy restaurants, and we saw a few nice sailing boats making their way down the river. Needless to say our (very nice) hostel was located a 15 minute walk or so from the centre of town.
Those two stops signalled the end of the southern phase of our trip. Next stop, Washington DC, the first of our city stops on the North East coast. Whereas in Savannah and Charleston we felt our 48 hours in town were sufficient for reasonable exploration (especially on our budget), we could have stayed two weeks in Washington and still not have seen everything. So we prioritised, getting the obligatory photos of the White House, walking the National Mall and seeing the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial. We also visited a handful of free museums and went to the national archives to see the Declaration of Independence, American Constitution, Bill of Rights and another video making it clear that America is absolutely categorically the best country in the world ever.
We had a fantastic time in Washington, revelling in being complete tourists, though three days of sightseeing were surprisingly tiring! I write this on a coach to Philadelphia, where we plan to indulge in some Labor Day weekend sales shopping - I hope Will knows what he's letting himself in for...
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