Well the big decision for today was to walk or to Hop-On-hop-Off. Weed decided on the bus.

We left our hotel and walked down 23rdStreet towRss to Lincoln Memorial. This is a huge almost Roman esque memorial to the man who was responsible for ending slavery. Mr Lincoln sits very large in side the memorial at the top of a huge staircase with majestic columns. His Gettysburg address is on the side walls. He sits proudly looking down The Mall passed the Washington Monument towards Capitol Hill.

It was now on to our first bus for the day and the short ride down Constitution Avenue. We got off 2 stops later at the World War 2 Memorial. This is a circular memorial with a lovely fountain in the middle. Interestingly, the USA says WW2 was from 1941-1945 (whereas we say 1939-1945). This is because the US did not enter the war until the bombing of Pearl Harbour. From here we visited the American History Museum. A fascinating place full of very old historical facts, displays and of most interest the retro 1950's and 60's furniture, transport and cars - Ford Mustang to name one. A great museum but unfortunately our 2 hours there did not do it justice.

From here we walked up to the Washington Monument which is a huge obelisk in the centre of The Mall. To the left is our first glimpse of The White House. Back on the bus passing the National Archives, and the J Edgar Hoover FBI Building before arriving at the White House -the President's home. Security is very tight around here. We tried to walk through a park only to be told by a Secret Service agent - yes he was wearing a badge - that we could not go that way and the park was closed. Joanne asked him why and he said "security". I don't think you query the secret service in this city, but then again they haven't come across Joanne either!

Finally we make it to the front of The White House - that picture postcard location where television news reporters gather. There is a large lawn expanse leading to a fountain and that front facade of this iconic building. We then visited the tourist information centre nearby and viewed a short video abut the building and had a personal greeting from the man himself,; Barack Obama welcomed us to his house, the house of the people and he trusts that we enjoyed the visit.

On the bus again to Union Station, where we arrived from New York yesterday. It is a lovely building and we thought a revisit was needed, besides we were hungry and we had noticed some good eateries. So it was lunch time!

Then bussed to The Capitol building, The Parliament House of the USA. It is another huge building with many steps leading up to the entrance. The central part is dome shaped and it, like all other monuments, really stands out in the Washington skyline. Again lots of security and no chance of getting any closer with all the security people around.

Next we went our separate ways. Joanne to the Museum of the American Indian, and me to The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. I wanted to particularly see the Gemini capsules and the moon spacecraft. As well as the lunar vehicles and huge Saturn rockets, there was the original Columbia Command Module fro.

M the first moon landing mission in 1969. It was Columbia that Michael Collins remained in orbit when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin descended to the lunar surface. They rejoined Colin's for the journey home and splashdown after the successful mission. It was a treat for me to see these. Also, the useful if filled with early aircraft from the Wright Brothers, to WW1 aircraft and every conceivable type of aircraft. It is a wonderful museum.

Joanne and I joined up for the bus ride to Arlington Cemetery - the nations grave site for the hundreds of thousands war dead. Also buried there are politicians, ambassadors and high ranking military who passed away later in life and not in conflict. We visited the gravesite of President John F Kennedy, his wife Jacqueline and two infant children. Such a sad thing that happened to the Kennedy family. The cemetery has rows and rows of white crosses spreading in all directions - a very moving place of quiet reverence.

By this time it was 6pm and out last journey on the bus was past The Pentagon, which surprisingly we were told it is illegal to take photos of - even passing by on a bus! Thirty thousand people work in The Pentagon - 3000 civilians and 27,000 military personnel.

We got off the bus for the last time at Pentagon City Mall. This is the shopping centre for The Pentagon. It was dinner time. It was time to brave the Washington subway and catch the train to Foggy Bottom GWU. Foggy Bottom is the locality we are staying in and at this time we didn't know what GWU meant. Well we got out of the subway into this very alive locality, restaurants, bars and alive with early evening people. GWU stands for George Washington University - we were in a university suburb. Joanne was the hunter and gatherer and we found a very well stocked supermarket with all sorts of goodies. It was to prove that our eyes were bigger than our stomachs as later on we could eat all the food we had purchased.

A short walk to the State Plaza Hotel after a long, but thoroughly enjoyable first day in Washington.

Oh...by the way. Regarding our decision to buy a Hop-On-Hop-Off bus ticket? It was a good decision, although we still walked 15 kilometres! We decided that we are better using the subway as the buses were often delayed by traffic and we spent a lot of time waiting around, whereas with the Metro we could have been at our destination much quicker.

So tomorrow it is The Metro.