Early Saturday morning we handed back the keys to the RV, which had been our home for the past 2 weeks. While I had enjoyed the time on the road, I couldn't wait to get back to the life style of hotels, big cities, shopping, restaurants etc. When we arrived in Washington D.C. it was fairly busy with side walk hot dog, pretzel, pizza and ice cream stands on every corner and a lot of very fit people! Everyone seemed to be running or doing yoga in the park or some form of fitness activity which made me feel a little slack as I haven't been on a run since Nashville :o

We got into our hotel and then went for a walk to find a place to get lunch. Washington is very spread out with a lot of beautiful buildings and wide streets. We ended up going to the national museum for lunch, as it was the only café we could find! I ate my first ever Grilled Portobello (a vegetarian sandwich thing with mushroom, feta cheese, red peppers and frilled tomato) and also tried Corn Bread, which is more like a cake if you ask me. After lunch we went on a long walk right through the streets of D.C. and all the way to the white house. It's actually huge! The gardens are very pretty and everything is in perfect condition (perfect green grass, perfect chandelier hanging from the ceiling, perfect water fountain and perfect/well maintained gardens of course). On the street out the front of the White house there was a massive crowd of Egyptian protesters yelling out and chanting about their freedom and rights or something. On the way back towards the hotel I couldn't help but notice the high level of security all over the place. Every 10-20metres there are security guards or police officers guarding the white house and it wasn't hard to spot the 'hidden' cameras in trees and behind bushes. I guess its what you would expect at the presidents house.

We got back to the hotel about 5pm and realised we had walked about 10kms and pretty much seen all the major sights of Washington in just 5 hours. But we didn't see Capitol Hill which nanna was really keen on visiting so we decided to go again the next day. But that night we went for dinner to a restaurant that added the tipping onto the bill and boy was it different to others. Usually when we go out, the waiters are all so friendly and nice and do whatever they can to please you in order to get the highest tip possible. But as this restaurant had compulsory tipping, the service was not great and me being me made sure the waiter knew I didn't appreciate his attitude.

The next day as planned, we headed to capital hill. Great views, amazing gardens and once again, very tight security. We also walked to Union station not realising that its more like an airport or shopping mall than a train station…its huge (as most things are over here). After shopping in H&M, Victoria Secret and the Body Shop, nanna and I wanted to go back to the white house to get some better pictures while poppa was interested in a museum…of course. As nana and I walked down the back streets towards the white house we started to realise we were in the 'not so shabby' part of D.C. as there were homeless people everywhere and a lot of abusive people. We even got our own dose of abuse when we apparently slammed a door in a chicks face…yeah okay mate.

As we weren't going to be in Washington for long, we wanted to make the most of the few days we did have there. After hearing a lot about Baseball and how much of a big deal it is over here, we headed to Washington National Stadium to watch the game between Washington Nationals and Miami. It was perfect! I had been longing to go to go to some sort of sports game and it was so surreal sitting in the stadium eating a hot dog and chips, cheering on Washington Nationals. In the end Washington won and it was a great way to end our last night in D.C.

I'm now on the train heading to New Jersey and while I should be jumping out of my skin at the fact that there's only 3 days until New York, I cant help but be so frustrated at myself for losing my phone. I can't believe I lost the one thing that I need to survive. Oh well, I cant let it ruin my holiday!