The Amtrack regional train was spacious and comfortable, took 3.5 hours what would take 5-6 hours to drive. Straight out of New York we came through some very industrial areas, then later through Delaware and Philadelphia. When we arrived in Washington we had to take another 2 trains to get to Arlington, on the metro , then it was only a short walk once we worked out which way to go. We are sharing a 2 bedroom apartment with a young man through airbnb. It’s great to have a proper kitchen to cook in though it is very small. The weather has been very humid and about 30C so we had the fan going in our room. Rick went for a short 6km run and got a bit dehydrated with the humidity, so was a bit of a reluctant tourist! We walked downtown to the Old Washington precinct which is very impressive with it straddling the Potomac river. I couldn’t stop taking photos there was so much to see and the old stately buildings are so impressive. First we went to the Washington Monument which which is 169 m and was built from 1884- 1888, as a tribute to George Washington’s military leadership during the American Revolution. We spent the day walking around most of the memorials . Have to says it’s pretty clear that without the American sacrifices in WW2 we might be living in a different world. There are memorials to all of the well known presidents ,those who left their mark , I guess and other important Americans , such as Martin Luther King. Toward the end of the day we were able to go on a tour of the Capitol building. Our route home took us past the White House.
Our intention was to line up at 7am and try to get tickets to go up the Washington monument but it didn’t happen. The humidity has got to us a bit so after a late start we caught the metro back to the Mall in the capital and went to a couple of the many museums , which all have free entry. In the aerospace museum we sat through a couple of 3D movies in the iMax – Hubble and Normandy. We boarded the metro for a return to the apartment but there was an “arc” between the very stations we needed to get to and the train wasn’t stopping there . We got off early and went to a food court for dinner and then walked home through Georgetown – which is a shopping area with the buildings still in their original style from the early 1800’s .
