Washington, D.C.

This was an action packed city and we covered soooooo much in a day and half!

We arrived late afternoon and kip took us round to some of the main sites ....

- Lincoln memorial centre which was stunning with the giant statue of Abraham Lincoln
- Arlington cemetery which has nearly 40000 graves for the brave people that died during the war ...... We also saw JF kennedys grave which was reserved at the top of a hill and looked very serene. Me and jade also got up see the chAnging of guards (something I had not witnessed in London) ....... We were late back to meet the group but it was totally worth it to see the timing and respect that goes into this process.

After checking into our hostel it was the moment we had all been waiting for since that dreaded day in Las Vegas- CHEESECAKE FACTORY TIME!!!! And it was sooooooo worth every second we pined for it........... Strawberry daiquiri, quesadilla, RED VELVET CHEESECAKE !!!!! ( the choices were endless so we decided to do a bit of musical cheesecake and shared it round the table...... The tiramisu was defo a winner).

We then went on a nighttime illumination tour where we saw some of the monuments lit up and the views were spectacular......the winner was defo the US Capitol building, was so stunning...... I so want to live there!! We ended the illumination tour at the Abraham Lincoln memorial steps where we all sat together on the steps and reminisced about the trip and what we did each day..... So many stories that I completely forgot to write about so if you trek Americans from Team ALan (Alan) remember anything, please add it on:)

The following day was a free day in Washington, D.C. So we took in as much as we could.....
-national archives to see the Declaration of Independence ( the originals were so old, you could barely make it out but looked very authentic)
- holocaust museum which was very moving.... We went through the journey of a little boy called Daniel who lived a happy life with his parents and sister until the nazis took over and turned their lives upside down....we learnt through his fuRy entries scattered around the house about how he was stopped from attending schools and participating in any sports and how the Jews were completely segregated from the community...... The saddest part was defo when the family were split up....although Daniel found his dad eventually, it was a bit of a bittersweet ending as they also discovered that his mum and sister were murdered....... I can not do the story any justice but if anyone does go here, I would defo experience it.
- American history museum....... This was so Interesting with the highlight for me being the 'money museum'- (did you know it now takes more than a penny to make a penny coin- the debate was whether to scrap this altogether)
Ooooh we also had chocolate Martinis for lunch today- just had to add that in, it was amazing)

And then it was time for our farewell party......:((((((