Washington, day3
Hi all,
It is now Friday evening and Nicky and Claire are off to read in the hotel room. We have just had diner in the courtyard. For the last couple of days we have had such good breakfasts in the hotel that we have not needed any lunch and just bought some enormouse salads from the hotel deli to eat in the evening.
The weather so far has been warm, somewhat humid, sometimes full sun, sometimes hazy sun. I guess it has been in the low 30's when the sun has broken through. It is good to be warm.
Yesterday, Thursday, after doing the laundry (the laundrette is on our floor) and having a sumptous breakfast, we walked to The Mall (a very big park), past some of the Smithstonian buildings and onto the Washington Monument. None of us felt like going up it, so after some refreshments we continued on to the White House. Lots of picture taking and some time in the visitor centre, before walking up to Lafyatte Park for another rest. A metro to Capitol Hill was good value, and while trying to find the Capitol Building Visiter Centre (which we never did) we entered the Library of Congress. We soon discovered one of the best gift shops we have seen for awhile, and that we couldn't actually see anything of the library without going on a guided tour. These last about 45mins and there wasn't another one for half an hour. We didn't want to do the tour as we were getting pretty tiered. When the lady on the information desk asked why we wanted to see specific things, Nicky said, "Oh, I just want to tell my fellow librarians in NZ that I have been to the Library of Congress and seen so-and-so". That was it. Doors were opened and we had a brief (10 min) instant and private tour of the reading room and main catalogue. Claire and I were just hangers-on, but Nicky was enthralled. I was stunned by the fact that all the books had spine lables!
After this feast of bookishnes, we wlked round the Capitol Building itself (more pic's - isn't digital wonderful!) and then discovered the US Botanical Gardens. However, we were so tiered we just went back to the hotel and adopted the usual position by the pool. N & C went to bed while I went for a walk to take some night photos.
Today (Friday) we started off with anothet hearty breakfast, and then cought the metro to Dupont Circle to find the Avis shop to pick up the rental car. Car doesn't quite do justice to the size of the beast which is a Chevy Trailblazer. Will provide photos later. After lots of questions about how the beast worked, so much so that I wondered if the guy was starting to ask himself if I had ever seen an automobile before, we fired up the sat nav and were on our way! 30 or so rather harasing minutes later, we arrived back at the hotel and parked the beast. I then lay down in a darkened room for awhile wondering why I chosen this mode of transport to take us west, but there you go. I suspect we will manage.
After the recovery period, we walked up to the Botanical Gardens and had a long leasurly visit. Vey much like the Eden project in the glass houses, but free and few interactive things for littlies. Nicky then went to the Native American museum while Claire and I zoomed into the Air and Space museum. Nothing very new here but quite interesting, and a replica of the Wright's byplane was good. N enjoyed to Native's museum very much but ran out of time.
We met back at the hotel and individually graviated to the poolside until the sun was under the yard arm (roof of the building actually). Another hard day at the tourist rockface.
Bye for now,
Rick
It is now Friday evening and Nicky and Claire are off to read in the hotel room. We have just had diner in the courtyard. For the last couple of days we have had such good breakfasts in the hotel that we have not needed any lunch and just bought some enormouse salads from the hotel deli to eat in the evening.
The weather so far has been warm, somewhat humid, sometimes full sun, sometimes hazy sun. I guess it has been in the low 30's when the sun has broken through. It is good to be warm.
Yesterday, Thursday, after doing the laundry (the laundrette is on our floor) and having a sumptous breakfast, we walked to The Mall (a very big park), past some of the Smithstonian buildings and onto the Washington Monument. None of us felt like going up it, so after some refreshments we continued on to the White House. Lots of picture taking and some time in the visitor centre, before walking up to Lafyatte Park for another rest. A metro to Capitol Hill was good value, and while trying to find the Capitol Building Visiter Centre (which we never did) we entered the Library of Congress. We soon discovered one of the best gift shops we have seen for awhile, and that we couldn't actually see anything of the library without going on a guided tour. These last about 45mins and there wasn't another one for half an hour. We didn't want to do the tour as we were getting pretty tiered. When the lady on the information desk asked why we wanted to see specific things, Nicky said, "Oh, I just want to tell my fellow librarians in NZ that I have been to the Library of Congress and seen so-and-so". That was it. Doors were opened and we had a brief (10 min) instant and private tour of the reading room and main catalogue. Claire and I were just hangers-on, but Nicky was enthralled. I was stunned by the fact that all the books had spine lables!
After this feast of bookishnes, we wlked round the Capitol Building itself (more pic's - isn't digital wonderful!) and then discovered the US Botanical Gardens. However, we were so tiered we just went back to the hotel and adopted the usual position by the pool. N & C went to bed while I went for a walk to take some night photos.
Today (Friday) we started off with anothet hearty breakfast, and then cought the metro to Dupont Circle to find the Avis shop to pick up the rental car. Car doesn't quite do justice to the size of the beast which is a Chevy Trailblazer. Will provide photos later. After lots of questions about how the beast worked, so much so that I wondered if the guy was starting to ask himself if I had ever seen an automobile before, we fired up the sat nav and were on our way! 30 or so rather harasing minutes later, we arrived back at the hotel and parked the beast. I then lay down in a darkened room for awhile wondering why I chosen this mode of transport to take us west, but there you go. I suspect we will manage.
After the recovery period, we walked up to the Botanical Gardens and had a long leasurly visit. Vey much like the Eden project in the glass houses, but free and few interactive things for littlies. Nicky then went to the Native American museum while Claire and I zoomed into the Air and Space museum. Nothing very new here but quite interesting, and a replica of the Wright's byplane was good. N enjoyed to Native's museum very much but ran out of time.
We met back at the hotel and individually graviated to the poolside until the sun was under the yard arm (roof of the building actually). Another hard day at the tourist rockface.
Bye for now,
Rick
Comments