Monday 27th

Awoke this morning to a clear sky and bright sunshine, but there was the coldest wind you have ever felt blowing in from the east, it fair took your breath away and after once again taking advantage of the free brekky at the Homewood Suites we put on our warmest clothes and headed for the metro station.
We got an all day pass and went to Union Station to get our tickets for tomorrows train trip to New York, hoping to get it all organised to beat the rush of travellers who can't get flights!
Got our tickets, but found that we don't have allocated seats - just a booking????? - so we will make sure we are here in good time in the morning to get seats together. Also discovered that despite all the blurb on the Amtrak website, there is no checked baggage on this trip so we will have to lug our cases onto the carriage and find somewhere to stow them!!!!
We had a coffee and a look around the hundreds of shops in the station and then caught the Metro back to the CBD and had a look at the White House Visitors Centre and the Old Post Office. The strong wind meant that the tower look out was closed which was very disappointing because on such a clear day the view would have been sensational. We grabbed some lunch at a huge food court under one of the government buildings - had to go through the usual security check to get in - joining lots of tourists doing exactly the same thing!
After lunch we walked down to the Mall and and had a look through a couple of the Smithsonions, very interesting and being free, very popular! Jase and I got a bit bored with all the history stuff and so by about 4pm we headed back to our hotel for a bit of a power nap! Th hotel has free dinners on week nights and rather than rug up with all the gear again we gave it a try, but were pretty disappointed with some very anonymous food!!!! 
Repacked all the gear into our cases - seem to be way more stuff than when we started!!!! - and got ready to move out tomorrow.
Well, that does Washington DC! Had a great few days and most importantly saw our white(ish) Christmas that we have come so far to see! We have done most of the tourist highlights despite the weather, and have certainly covered the city well!
The huge storm that bypassed us here in DC has dumped massive amounts of snow on the cities north of here, including New York, and there have been over 1,200 flights cancelled. Thankfully the rail line to NY has not been affected and we should have no trouble getting there tomorrow.

Tuesday 28th

Got up a bit earlier this morning, went down and tucked into the free brekky and then packed up and caught a taxi to Union Station. It was fine again and still cold, not as bad as yesterday, but today we will be indoors for most of the day so we didn't have to rug up so much.
The station was full of travellers and we found our departure lounge and plonked ourselves at the front of queue, ready to get on board and get a good seat. I found a Starbucks and grabbed us a coffee while we waited the forty five minutes until boarding, and then had to wait while the oldies, women and kids etc. who were allowed to board early got sorted. When our turn came we dragged our cases down the elevator and found ourselves on a dirty broken down old platform which was at rail level, meaning that we had to hump the cases up to the step of the carriage and then three more steps onto the train! Bloody Hell! How primitive! Even the stuffin Australind has a platform level with the carriage!!!
The girls found us four seats together while Jase and I got the cases sorted, with a bit of huffing and puffing, and then we got settled ready for the trip.
We got away on time and were soon flying along through the usual back blocks and slums that a railway usually passes through!!! One thing was very noticeable! The further north we went the thicker the snow got!!! By the time we got to Philadelphia it was a foot or so thick on the ground and then in Newark it was over the bonnets of the parked cars! The blizzard was a big one!!!
The train was packed when we started and and standing room only as we reached New York, with a lot of the passengers having struck problems with air travel due to the wild storm!
We arrived at Penn Station at about 2pm and fought our way out of the packed Amtrak section of this vast station, trying to find a Metro line to take us to 42nd Street and another Metro line which would take us over to Long Island City. After numerous pauses to ask directions from people and fighting our large suitcases up and down numerous stairs (no escalators in this subway system) we finally found the number 7 line and were soon on our way to our stop at Vernon Jackson Avenue. Boy! What a sight greeted us as we reached ground level! There was bloody snow everywhere!!!!! Piled a metre or more high along the road and sidewalk, it was absolute chaos! Cars were slipping and sliding along the street, people doing the same along the footpath and we had to walk (and drag our cases) about half a kilometre to our apartment! There were puddles of icey slush at each intersection and our jeans and shoes were soaked in seconds - not to mention the bottom of our cases - but the sheer hilarity of the situation got to us and we started throwing snowballs at each other, much to the amusement of the locals! Bloody mad Aussies!! We battled along the narrow cleared bits of footpath, laughing at the three cops cars buried outside the cop shop - no patrols for them for bit!!! - and finally got to the entrance to our apartment building. It was quite a task to clean our feet and cases before we entered the quite flash foyer of the 28 story block and tip toed to the elevator, being whisked to the eighth floor and apartment 802. Wowsers! What a great place! Modern trendy designs and fittings, all mod cons and comfy looking beds! What more could we ask? Even Mumsie was impresed! After unpacking and having a look round, it was a seventy five metre walk to a huge shopping market that had everything, and also fresh cooked food - seems like this is the popular thing in the cities, catering for the local residents.
We got all our provisions, and some booze, and then retired to the unit to have a drink and cook dinner, and refect on what an amazing day it was. The Amtrak journey was very basic but we are very thankful I chose to train and not fly or else we would have still been sitting in Washington, and the mind boggling amount of snow here in the neighbourhood which none of us had ever seen before!!!!
Tomorrow we are meeting Chris (Katie's friend) at Central Station and we will plan our attack on the Big Apple after that!