Washington

We've spent two days exploring the Mall area in Washington and feel that we've just scratched the surface.  The Smithsonian Museums are amazing.  You could spend a couple of days in each one of them. Yesterday we went into town on the bus and visited the National Botanical Gardens and the National Gallery of Art.  Once again, it became evident how powerful the dollar has been in acquiring works of art over the last century.  It even contained a Joan Miro that I liked (The Farm circa 1922)!  It's okay in the museums because they all have air con, but once you leave them you start to wilt in the upper 90s.  We also looked at The Capitol, the Washington Monument and the White House.  By about 3pm we were knackered so we decided to catch a bus back.  After a long wait one arrived and wended its way back to the hotel.  I must have been showing my age because a young woman offered me her seat (I declined). 

To-day we decided to try the Metro.  A shuttle bus from the hotel took us to the nearest station and we got a train to the Mall.  We thought we'd get there early and get a ticket to go up the Washington Monument but despite getting there for 9.30 am the earliest we could have ascended it was 6.30 pm!  So we gave it a miss.  Went and viewed the Lincoln Memorial and the Vietnam Vets Memorial and then went to the Natural History Museum and the American History Museum.  Once again, there was so much to see that we couldn't do it justice.

Off to Charlottesville, Virginia, in the morning.