Life in the Presidents backyard

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After a brief nights stopover on our way to the nations capital we managed to find a motel about 10 miles outside the centre with a rather handy free shuttle to the local train station for easy access to all the sights Washington Dc has to offer.

We settled in and planned our next days activities which basically involved lots and lots of walking. The next morning, up early(ish) and after a 30 min train ride we were right in the heart of the city. And it seems we stepped right into the political heart of the city as soon as we left the station we saw a load of news reporters outside the steps of the mayors building reporting on a rather historic ruling on gun ownership in DC which was all over the TV and papers the next day. Our first stop was the White House visitor centre which was like a museum showing how and why the white house is where it is and blue prints of the plans and stories of the presidents who have lived there etc. actually quite interesting and the closest we would get to seeing inside due to the post 9/11 security issues. We of course were then itching to see the building itself and maybe get a glimpse of the president playing with his toys or chasing a bag blowing in the wind but we seemed to fall at the first hurdle as the road to view the white house was closed off by 2 burly police officers with guns so instead of barging our way past we decided to wait until the road was open which realy wasn't very long and actually a good thing as we managed to get the best view without all the other tourists barging us out the way. Pictures taken and president spotting over we decided to continue our walking tour and head to the national monument then on to the Lincoln memorial building to see a big statue of the former president sitting on a chair and the home of Martin Luthur King Jr's "I have a dream speech". Whilst walking to our next destination, the smithsonian museums, we saw a helicopter headed towards the White House so we walked rather briskly back to the White House to see the helicopter landing on the front lawn. We are still unsure but we guessed it was the president leaving or arriving as we heard there was a big motorcade of black cars escorted by police through the streets around the same time the helicopter landed. We managed to get a load of pics until the helicopter took off again headed who knows where.

Excitement over we headed to the smithsonian museums which were funded by a british guy who left $4,1million who had never even set foot on American soil (bonkers). The museum is full of all bizare things like the helmet worn by the guy who first broke the sound barrier and crockery from concorde which was realy good fun as it made a pleasant change from the historical and cultural museums we have been to on our travels. We then headed next door to the museum of air and space which was full of space shpis and aircraft through the ages but the most interesting area was dedicated to the Wright brothers and the story behind developing the first aircraft. All museumed out and sweating profusely due to the 90C heat we had a short walk to capitol hill then decided to head back to the motel to shower and change before planning our next few days rest before heading the the hustle and bustle of New York, the final leg of our trip.

We decided to stop about 1 hr south of New York in Delaware, mainly because it was tax free shopping and the small town of Newark looked a nice place to spend our 1year wedding anniversary and recharge our batteries. Our few days here went according to plan with lots of rest, a nice meal out on our anniversary and plently of tax free clothes shopping for Lisa! Feeling ready and raring to go we then headed to New Jersey just outside of New York, well placed to take our hire car back in the morning and check into our fancy 4star hotel as our final treat of our travels.

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