12/12/12 (Wednesday)

Luckily the plane wasn't full so Danielle and I both had a row of 3 seats to ourselves so managed to spread out and sleep all the way to Washington DC. We arrived on time at 5.45am and the city looked lovely coming in when it was still dark. It doesn't get light here until around 7.30am! It was 30oF or -1.1oC when we landed. Yep! It was a bit chlly. Luckily we have nice warm jackets!!!!!!! We had a nice coffee at Starbucks at the airport before boarding the Super Shuttle to our hotel - Avenue Suites on the boarder of Georgetown and Foggy Bottom. Luckily there was a room available so they let us check straight into our room. It was nice to have a shower and change, but we didn't take time for a sleep. We headed out to catch the "Hop On Hop Off" double decker bus which we had pre-booked. It stops just up from where we are staying so will serve us well for a couple of days. I like using the hop on hop off because they give you commentary so you know what you are looking at. It's also a good way to orientate yourself in a new city. We did a circuit of the yellow line (the line we're staying on) which took us into the city and past the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument and various other places before getting out at the National Treasury and walked up to the White House. Amazing to think about where we actually were. Did you know that Washington DC is 1 of only 3 planned capital cities in the world!!!! Guess another one - yep Canberra! It's quite strange during the comparisons which are so similar in many ways. We had a quick look around and saw a DVD on the White House and how it was made, looking around inside etc. which was really interesting. We looked at the Christmas Tree and model train display in the Ellipse (I did a video for you Cec) before changing to the blue line which took us over to the Arlington National Cemetery. We got out and had a look around there and walked up the hill to see the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It is unbelievable how many graves there are. Sad thing is there was another funeral being held while we were there so we saw the parade which included the coffin being taken to the graveside on a horse drawn carriage and a 3 gun salute. Quite moving even though we only saw and heard it from a distance. The cemetery is very hilly so we didn't manage to walk to JFK's gravesite also as it got the better of my knee! There is a guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and you can't get up close to it. They change the guard every hour this time of year but we weren't lucky enough to see it. We finished our tour of the blue line past the Pentagon and back into the city before changing buses back to our hotel. It was 6pm when we got back and we were both so tired………… We went shopping for groceries at the supermarket across the road from our hotel because we are in a self contained apartment so can cook for ourselves to save a bit of money! We had a nice dinner then Danielle went to bed at 7.30pm and I managed to stay up until 9pm - just!

13/12/12 (Thursday)

Happy Birthday Noel.

We both had a good night's sleep. I woke up at 7am and couldn't get back to sleep (I didn't wake up at all through the night - amazing!!!) so I got up and had some breakfast then went back to bed for awhile. We both woke up around 9am and got ourselves organized for the day. We caught the bus into the city again then changed back to the blue line again and went shopping at the Pentagon Shopping Centre which we had seen the day before. This afternoon we spent walking around Washington DC city. We went right up to the front of the White House as we found out it was only the back that we looked at yesterday. Now that is what I was expecting! Yesterday we could only see the building from a distance but today we were up quite close which was surprising. They are building grandstands in the street getting ready for Obama's inauguration on 21/1. We met a young couple from Perth and took photos for each other to get "couples" shots for a change. We also visited the White House Visitors Centre and took photos in the mock Oval Office etc. very cheesy but still fun. We had a good look around the city and then caught the last bus back to our accommodation. Danielle made dinner for us and we have had a relaxing night just chilling out and making plans for tomorrow. Lots of walking as we are planning on walking "the National Mall" tomorrow from Lincoln Memorial to the Capital Building and looking at all of the memorials and museums in between (at least the ones we are interested in). It's going to be a big day!!!!

14/12/12 (Friday)

Well I got woken up at 5.30am by Valjene calling me on skype so it was lovely to have a chat and catch up with her. I then sat down to finish sorting out photos to upload with my blog and Noel called me around 7am so talked to him on skype for about half an hour also so I had a great morning catching up. It certainly is nice to see a face while you are talking. Danielle and I had set the alarm for 7.30am so after I spoke with Noel it was time to start getting ready for our last day in Washington DC. We caught the first bus down town then changed to the red bus to take us through all of the places we haven't seen so far. It is such a big city. We drove past the Capital Building, The Washington Memorial and the Thomas Jefferson Memorial before we got off the bus around noon. We then started walking through the rest of the memorials in The National Mall. We looked at the Martin Luther King Jnr Memorial then the World War II Memorial. We stopped and ate some lunch which we had brought with us before walking on to the Korean War Veterans Memorial then the Lincoln Memorial before heading off to look at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. We decided not to walk all the way from the Capital Building as we didn't have time to look in any of the museums. We then got back on the bus and up into the town area and went to look at MadamTussauds because we got free tickets with our Hop On Hop Off Bus tickets. They have a Presidents display which has all of the USA presidents plus a section of famous people also. We then got back on the bus and headed back to our hotel so that we could see the Georgetown area in daylight because it has been dark every night when we've arrived back. Some of the houses in this area are gorgeous old Victorian design buildings and certainly look different in daylight. At night they have so many Christmas lights on them and most have a Christmas tree in the front bay window which is really lovely. It's a busy area as it is home to the Georgetown University also. We got back to our hotel and had a snack then did a little bit of washing before Danielle cooked dinner again. I could get used to this……… So Danielle is now chilling out on the lounge watching TV while I am trying to get this blog and photos finished so I can get them uploaded for everyone. We head off to New York by train tomorrow for an overnight stay before we board our cruise ship on Sunday!!!