2015 Day 3 - Washington

Not quite such an early start today, we headed out around 10pm and after wandering 14th and 12th street looking for breakfast ended up in a Subway Cafe.

Having seen most of the monuments and buildings yesterday, today's plan was to visit some more of the museums.

Another very warm morning with a warm breeze, we headed back to The Mall. Our tour guide had said that the American History Museum was good - not on our initial list to do. Outside is a massive stars and stripes flag.

After the obligatory bag search we headed for the section with American Presidents and First Ladies. Sarah and I really enjoyed this and could probably have spent a bit longer reading all the info but the boys were less keen.
 

Michelle Obama Inaugaration dress

There was a really good display about the American flag and inside was the original "star spangled banner" that was raised after the Battle of Fort McHenry in the War of 1812 when the British bombed Baltimore apparently!!  Nice to learn to meaning and origination of the American National Anthem.

There was also an innovations area where we saw exhibits on early film and television cameras, the boys had a go at wire bending a photo clip holder (not entirely successful!!).

A large room was set with America on the move, which had streetcars, steam trains and cars. We actually spent longer in this museum than I thought we would. We had a quick stop in the cafe here before heading out into the midday sun! You really do forget when inside in the air conditioning just how hot it is outside and how intense the sun is when you have to leave the shade!

We crossed The Mall and walking passed the Smithsonion Castle (a research institute that was the start of the Smithsonian Museums) and on towards to Air and Space Museum. Sarah was finding today hard, think she was a little behind me and Stephen with the jet lag.

Smithsonian Castle

We wandered around the exhibits, watching a film about the Wright Brothers and seeing some of the early flying machines, inside the cockpit of a 747, a section of war planes and a room with air adventurers including Amelia Earhardt.

We were starting to get tired again, so we had a quick look round the Space exhibits (we did Kennedy Space Centre on our last visit so didn't feel the need to investigate fully today!) then stopped at the McDonalds attached to the museum for a quick lunch stop.

Outside again and the heat just made us melt!! We headed for the Metro (same station we used last night - L'enfants), and feeling like pros now, quickly got our tickets and headed knowledgeably for our train! Sarah had seen a bag yesterday that she was hoping to go back for, but with her looking increasingly shattered Keith and I sent the kids back to the hotel and we walked back towards the White House to find the bag from one of the street stalls. Back at the hotel we had a couple of hours rest, then headed out for dinner.

Exhausing work this tourist lark!

The Metro

 There are a lot of expensive looking restaurants - mostly linked to large hotels - around Washington, alternatively it appears to be lots of Subways (or similar). A quick look online and I found a pizza place about 3 blocks from our hotel. Fuel Pizza was basically a fast food pizza place. Food was Ok and filled a hole (shame the garlic knots didn't come out til we had finished the pizza - they apparently had to cook them fresh, not sure why they didn't wait with the pizza then - oh well.) Fed and full we headed back to the hotel stopping at as small supermarket to buy some snacks and then at a Dunkin' Donuts where we bought 25 Munchkins (mini doughnuts) which Stephen inparticular demolished.

The end of another long hot day and the end of our trip to Washington. Altho Stephen hasn't particularly enjoyed it, the rest of us have loved it, it is a beautiful city and one I would come back to. There are lots of other things I would like to have explored.

Tomorrow we pick up a car and head to Six Flags America.

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