Thursday 27th October – Washington

Big tourism day.  No free park and ride for us sadly but we were grateful for left-over quarters that we fed into a meter ($8.50) before buying metro tickets for $33 to get us into the City centre.  Again, the central points of interest in Washington are all in quite a compact area so we started at the White House.  We got as close as we were able, trying but failing to look through privacy glass of limousines as they sped away from the area with secret-service convoys and flashing lights.

From there it was a short walk to the Washington Monument which you can climb for an expansive view of the City.  Today it was closed, but as you can see, it was particularly cloudy so we convinced ourselves that we probably hadn't missed out too badly.  

Panoramic shot from the base of the Monument - look closely to spot other famous landmarks

From the monument, you can see down the hill to the World War 2 Memorial and the infamous water feature leading to the Lincoln memorial.  

This was the natural route to take and our strolling picked up pace as the rain started to fall more heavily.  Plenty of other tourists had sought shelter in the Lincoln memorial but that did not prevent us from having enough space to appreciate the scale and the grandeur of this marble temple.  Having seen the memorial on a television screen several times (why can’t I think of anything more cultural than ‘Night at the Museum’ as I write…?!) it was an entirely different experience in person.  We took time to read the engravings in the walls and gaze in awe at the man who saved the Union as he in turn watches over Washington.

Bordering the Lincoln memorial are other War memorials which we visited – the Vietnam War memorial which consists of thousands of lost soldiers’ names engraved in never-ending lists down the walls.  I’m not sure if it was the rainy conditions but the most impactive memorial was for the Korean War.  The life-sized sculptures of soldiers in their long rain macs trudging with all their equipment through the foliage in the pouring rain was a genius design to really make you think about their sacrifice.  Morbid but moving. 

Forgetting we had Metro tickets in our pockets which may have reduced our mileage that day, we took advantage of a break in the rain to make the long walk back past the needle of the Washington monument and down the National Mall to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.  Now, this was very much a Simon-based item on the itinerary but I can’t deny that there were many original and historically vital exhibits there.  He could probably take you through them in detail but I will provide a few examples….. 

The X1 in which Chuck Yeager broke the speed of sound for the first time in 1947

The module that brought Armstrong, Aldrin & Collins back from the moon

There was so much to see in this brilliant museum that we had to be told to leave by the staff who wanted to close at the end of the day.

Having kept an eye on the clock it was then perfect timing to return on the metro to Harvey and head back to our campsite.  Another fascinating City and perfect for those on a budget.  ALL the iconic places we had visited today were totally free of charge, so apart from public transport our only costs had been $21 on coffees and snacks.  Coffee is a necessary expense.  Any of you who know Simon will be aware that he doesn’t function without regular caffeine!  We had also well and truly walked our socks off today – I think this is still one of our highest Fitbit step counts to date.