Well I must say it's odd being by myself but I am enjoying it! DC was a good choice I think - the weather has been perfect in the mid-20s and it's a very beautiful city. Lots of lovely old buildings, speccy monuments and gardens and parks.
I am managing to find my way around pretty easily. The streets are numbered and the cross-streets are lettered so it's easy to know how far you have til your destination. I'm staying at O and 20 streets which is quite central but in a nice quiet street. My hotel is very zany but I knew that when I booked it! It's 5 old houses joined together into a 'mansion'. There are 100 rooms and 32 secret doors and every room is themed and jam-packed with bric-a-brac, antiques, books (they have over 30,000 books!) and just weird stuff.
I'm in the Newport suite, which is usually $750 a night but it was free so they let me have it! 3 bedrooms, 2 with giant king beds and a bathroom with the world's best shower - literally! It has an overhead rainfall function which is my favourite, as well as a normal shower head, side spray jets, a foot massager and it converts into a spa bath as well. Oh and it has 3 different lighting settings and a radio. Score!!
On my first full day I braved the public transport system and went to the zoo. It's a lovely zoo, free to get in and I spent a whole afternoon there just wandering. I saw the giant pandas, the octopus feeding and my favourite - the naked mole rats. Such weird looking creatures!! They also had some exotic spiders including the world's largest - Goliath bird eating spider. Gross.
Here's some pics:
The next day I booked onto a tour to see the sights as it was just going to be too hard to walk/taxi/bus to them all. The tour was 6 hours and went to:
US Capitol Building
Washington Monument
World War II Memorial
Jefferson Memorial
FDR Memorial
I am managing to find my way around pretty easily. The streets are numbered and the cross-streets are lettered so it's easy to know how far you have til your destination. I'm staying at O and 20 streets which is quite central but in a nice quiet street. My hotel is very zany but I knew that when I booked it! It's 5 old houses joined together into a 'mansion'. There are 100 rooms and 32 secret doors and every room is themed and jam-packed with bric-a-brac, antiques, books (they have over 30,000 books!) and just weird stuff.
I'm in the Newport suite, which is usually $750 a night but it was free so they let me have it! 3 bedrooms, 2 with giant king beds and a bathroom with the world's best shower - literally! It has an overhead rainfall function which is my favourite, as well as a normal shower head, side spray jets, a foot massager and it converts into a spa bath as well. Oh and it has 3 different lighting settings and a radio. Score!!
On my first full day I braved the public transport system and went to the zoo. It's a lovely zoo, free to get in and I spent a whole afternoon there just wandering. I saw the giant pandas, the octopus feeding and my favourite - the naked mole rats. Such weird looking creatures!! They also had some exotic spiders including the world's largest - Goliath bird eating spider. Gross.
Here's some pics:
Naked mole rat!
Mexican yellow knee tarantula - let's hope I don't see any of these in Mexico!
Goliath:
The next day I booked onto a tour to see the sights as it was just going to be too hard to walk/taxi/bus to them all. The tour was 6 hours and went to:
US Capitol Building
Washington Monument
World War II Memorial
Jefferson Memorial
FDR Memorial
Martin Luthor King Jr Memorial
Vietnam Veterans Memorial
Lincoln Memorial
Korean Memorial
Marine Corps Memorial (Iwo Jima)
The White House
Arlington Cemetery
and we also did a Boat Cruise Up the Potomac River.
I took around 300 photos so I must have had fun!
Vietnam Veterans Memorial
Lincoln Memorial
Korean Memorial
Marine Corps Memorial (Iwo Jima)
The White House
Arlington Cemetery
and we also did a Boat Cruise Up the Potomac River.
I took around 300 photos so I must have had fun!
Me and my buddy Abe:
Washington monument:
Iwo Jima Memorial:
Pretty exhausted after all that so I treated myself to a margarita and a smoked chicken and pecan salad at Hard Rock Cafe. Yum.
Today I went to the National Art Gallery's Sculpture garden which was good. Then the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History which was good but full of annoying kids and not as good as the one Loz and I did in NY. I did see the Hope Diamond though which is pretty impressive. I also went to the White House Visitor Centre. Currently I am resting my blistered feet!
Then tomorrow afternoon I am off to Mexico!!
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