Day 4 - Washington DC (Day # 2)

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Up a bit later today and barely made it down to the buffet by 9am. Not much food left at all (harsh lesson) but Luke made his first fresh waffles (or should I say Kerry made them and Luke devoured them !)

Overnight there had been some showers and they are expected to hang around with max of 26 degrees Celsius.

Today we hoped to get some Cultural experiences but by not prepaying tickets it was going to be a lottery.

Got the Metro into Smithsonian station and had no trouble getting tickets ths time ! As we came up from underground the rain was getting heavy so Luke & I bought umbrellas as a precaution from some dude who saw us coming up the stairs from the subway (I think he made a lot of money today). Kerry and Elise had packed theirs already so we only needed two.

First stop was Holocaust Museum. I had read that people often queue from 6am to get their allocated our time for the day. We were lucky as they gave us 12.15pm tickets so a quick morning tea break at the Musuem Cafe and we went straight into the exhibit. It certainly was interesting and some powerful messages to learn. I think we will hire Schindler's List to watch when we return. We all took something different from the experience.

When we left we asked the Security guys where to eat for lunch and he suggested we go inside the Department of Agriculture govt offices and use their staff cafeteria. What an experience. This building is old and massive.

Next stop was the the Bureau for Engraving & Printing or what we would call the mint back home and the original mint of USA (they have opened another facility in exas now as well). Again we had hoped to secure a time slot and lucky to get 3 pm start.

This was a 30 minute guided tour and also was free to do. Very interesting to hear abut the history of the greenback.

Decided to walk to the White House Visitor's Centre next and had to walk past Washington Monument close by and it is an amazing monument that was finished around 1880 if I recall. It was damaged by Earthquake in August 2011.

Next walked to get the famous South Lawn photo of the White House but the Visitors Centre had closed at 4pm ! Well can't complain as rain had stopped and it was now a comfortable afternoon.

Got back on the Metro and headed off to pick up our car from Hertz at Marriott Crystal City. Got a Chevrolet Equinox as planned and back to Hotel a few minutes away.

I was super keen to see Arlington Cemetery so Kerry and I left kids in the room and ventured off. Google Maps told me it was only 7 minutes away and we left at just after 6pm. The last tour goes at 6.30pm so we were fine.

Problem is I did not take Mr Tom Tom and after getting on the freeway I reached a fork in the road and yep instead of heading to Arlington I was heading to DC again ! However my travelling instincts kicked into gear and I took the exit to Ronald Reagan Airport, did a big loop and got back to the same road as before and the same fork, went left this time and away we went. The 7 minute google estimate was right but we got their in 25 minutes at 6.28 pm and barely made it to get on the last tour for 6.30pm. As the park closes at 7pm it was an abridged tour. A tram took us to the Kennedy grave sites (we saw JFK and Kackie Kennedy but Robert and Teddy were nearby as well), then to see the changing of the guards at the tomb of the unknown soldier. Wow seeing all the white marble headstones gives you a real awakening of how often the Americans have been in combat to save the world from various conflicts. I'm not sure we actually appreciate the sacrifices enough back home where we take our freedom for granted.

Back home to pick up the kids for dinner at the Mexican restaurant. Great food and fast and good service so a bigger tip this time and decided to drop the kids off again and try Mr Tom Tom out and head to DC for some SLR night shots of the monuments. Got some beauties and got back in the room pretty late. Tomorrow we leave for New York crossing a few new States and temperatures are going up big time.

Mr Tom Tom awoke from his slumber and wroked well which gave me lots of confidence as I head north into the Big Apple !

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