2015 Day 2 - Washington

The dreaded silly o'clock wake up!  4.30am altho I did manage to snooze for another hour before I gave up. Sarah was a little later but the boys did much better.

We headed out ready for our day about 8 o'clock,  stopping at a lovely bakery, The Corner Bakery, just a couple of blocks from our hotel on 14th st.  After eating our toasted breakfast pannini's we headed off for the sights of Washington.   The sun was already hot and the forecast was for 98f with high humidity.

We stopped to look at the Treasury building before our first official stop, The White House ...

Slightly disappointed that this is nowhere near as big as it looks on tv or in comparison to other Washington sights.

We carried on towards the Mall and the George Washington obelisk.  At 520ft high it is impressive from all around the Mall area.

George Washington Memorial

WWII Memorial

Already feeling uncomfortably hot we kept to a path shaded with the famous cherry trees, wrong time of year for blooms but the leaves gave welcome relief from the sun, and headed west.  Past the fountains of the WWII monument and the reflection pool to the Lincoln Memorial.   Now this is very impressive, large with magnificent column.  We climbed the steps and entered to see Abraham Lincoln on his chair.  This was one monument I had been looking forward to and it didn't disappoint. It also had a stunning view back along The Mall towards Capitol Hill.

We walked on  round the tidal basin stopping at The Vietnam, the Roosevelt and the Jefferson memorials.

Vietnam Memorial

Jefferson Memorial from across the tidal basic

Martin Luther King Memorial

Part of the Roosevelt Memorial

Jefferson Memorial

By now it was heading towards mid day, Stephen needed a break, the heat was becoming too much for me and we all needed to freshen up so we headed back to the hotel for a couple of hours.  We really weren't prepared for the heat and humidity. We paused on the walk back to get some milkshakes from one of a number of vendors lining a nearby street.

The air conditioning soon worked its magic back in the hotel and Stephen and I popped to the subway across the road to grab a couple of footlongs, crisps and drinks for us to share.

The heat and jet lag was making us really tired but we only have a couple of days here so we decided to do a museum.  The Smithsonian Natural History Museum is fab, loads to see and like all the Smithsonion's well organised and huge.

At about 6.15 we headed out for some dinner at Five Guys, then walked back past the Smithsonions to meet with our evening tour guide.  I had booked an electric cart night tour - large golf buggy.  Our guide, Amber, was fab, very friendly and bubbly and full of stories and knowledge about all the sights of Washington.  A great 2 hrs.

Another part of the Roosevelt Memorial

We were dropped near an underground station, so with little other choice at just gone 10pm we braved the Metro.    It was pain free and saved our legs. Four stops and we were back at The Hamilton and soon into bed.

A very hot and busy day, but we have thoroughly enjoyed it.  A beautiful city that is easy to navigate with its grid layout and numbered and lettered street, Sarah's ocd tendencies fully catered for!!! :)

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