Settled into our room and made plans for the next few day. We knew it was going to be hot (very hot) and that there is a lot of walking between and around the sights so we narrowed it down to the top things we wanted to see. As we have often done in the past we relied on the DK Top 10 travel guide to help us plan.
The next day we spent the morning in Alexandria, a suburb of Washington because hubby needed to collect something he'd ordered from a shop there. It was lovely walking around a leafy suburb and was a nice pause before the manic sightseeing ahead. That afternoon we caught the Metro / subway to near the White House and then we walked along to see the WW2 memorial, reflecting pool, Washington Monument and Lincoln memorial.
Slept like a log after all that walking.
Day 2
Spent the next day at the Zoo - worthy of it's own blog - watch this space..
Day 3
We got the Metro to Arlington Cemetery. I had no idea how large this place is. As well as the 1000's of graves for members of the armed forces it has sections for ex-slaves, a monument to Women of War, one for nurses, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the graves of some past US Presidents. There is a hop on - hop off trolley bus tour that goes around the cemetery and I would strongly recommend taking it as it would a) be exhausting to walk around it all b) you'd probably miss some of the major sites.
After Arlington we went to the Air and Space Museum. The one part of the Smithsonian we were very keen to see. There are lots of museums, galleries and archives (and the zoo) that make up the Smithsonian and they are all free to get into. They are only open from 10 - 5.30 which is a bit of a pity as it would be great to visit some of them later in the day when it is cooler, however, knowing the times means you can plan efficiently (are you getting the message - PLAN!!). Although there are loads of wonderful exhibits relating to flight and space it is the early developments of flight and air travel that fascinates me as well as aerial warfare so I was keen to see those particular sections. I was really thrilled to see Amelia Earhart's plane.
The next day we were catching the overnight Amtrak to Atlanta so wanted to take it a little easier. We did a little shopping in the morning and then, partly as there were thunderstorms forecast and partly because it felt fun to, we went the cinema (movie theater) to watch the new Independence Day film.
And that was our 3 days in Washington. You could pack in a lot more than we did but we really enjoyed what we did and we felt we saw everything we wanted too.
The zoo up next - pandas !!
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