Was that George Bush or a monkey?

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I’m writing this at 10pm Tuesday night on the train from Washington DC to Atlanta, I’m currently 3 hours into a 14 hour journey. The trains here are great; you get around three times as much legroom as you would on a British train. The seats recline really far back and the foot rest comes out like a lazy boy.

On Monday we caught the train to Washington DC. There's only one night in Washington so had a little wonder around all the government buildings and monuments. The White House is lot smaller than you’d imagine, whilst hanging around outside a line of cars (about 6 police cars and a people carrier with blacked out windows) came by and drove into the white house gate, but I couldn’t see inside to see who it was.

Did I mention the other celebrities I’ve seen? I saw Chris Rock shopping in Hugo Boss and I saw Katie Holmes coming out of her theater show on Broadway.

Sitting outside the Whitehouse was a protester who between 2 others and himself had been there since the early eighties. I was quite a cool guy, not protesting about 1 thing in particular but more generally against war, nuclear weapons and poverty.

From the Whitehouse to the WWII Memorial and on the way passed the department for thrift which I thought was funny. We were actually followed down by a guy who I assume to be secret service wondering what I’m doing taking photos of government building. He actually followed us into the WWII memorial and just hung around next to us for about 10 minutes. From there we headed up to the Lincoln Memorial which is amazing to look at, but full of people that never take their eye away from the back of a camera.

I didn’t get much time to have a good look around and get a proper feel for the place, but it seems to me Washington DC is a much friendlier and cleaner place than New York, but at the same time its lacking hustle and bustle that gives New York such a great atmosphere.

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Photos

Protester
Between this guy and two others they have been outside the White house since the 80's

Protester
Between this guy and two others they have been outside the White house since the 80's

White House
Is that Bush I see?

The Office of Thrift Supervision
They'll keep an eye on your thrift!!

The Reflecting Pool
It stretches from the Lincoln Memorial to the WWII Memorial

WWII Memorial again
If you look carefully you can see the Lincoln Memorial in the background