It is now Friday, 17 May 2024 and we have reached Washington DC. We managed to negotiate the Metro from the Airport to Union Station and then weakened and caught a cab to our digs. As we will be in DC for 6 nights, we are using AirBnB for our accommodation. We are in an “English Basement Apartment” not far off H Street NE, which seems to have a strong history involving Dr Martin Luther King Jr and Civil Rights.

It is a area of 2 or 3 storey terraces, some of which had a basement. As you walk around the area, you will see that there is a strong move to “gentrification” of the area and there is a just as strong resistance to long-term residents being forced out. But for our purposes, it is convenient and we have enjoyed staying here.

Back in 2018, before Nick has his Bike accident, MJ was in New York for a reunion with some of her friends from University days in Oldenburg, Germany. Some of those friends live local to DC and MJ had been in touch and we were going to meet them on Saturday. The plan was to have a picnic somewhere and catch up, but the Weather Gods decided that we had had enough nice weather and woke on Saturday morning to grey skies and forecasts of rain. And rain it did! But that didn’t stop our intrepid travellers – Mel came in from Virginia, Trevor came from Baltimore and we found a dry café where we ate lunch and we walked, through the rain, to have our photos taken as “drowned rats” at a number of monuments!

Thankfully, Sunday was better weather! We decided the keep it low-key after notching up in excess of 22,000 steps on Saturday. We explored our local area and found a yuppy-esque fresh food market. We then went a bit further afield, looking for Chinatown – we found the Chinatown Gate but there wasn’t much evidence of there being an actual Chinatown. We then headed down the road to the US Navy Memorial where we encountered an “Honor Flight”. Honor Flight is an Organisation which assists veterans from all over the US to come to Washington once in their lifetime. All costs for transportation and accommodation for Veterans and their Guardian, as well as buses around DC, wheelchairs, and guides. We finished our day by finding the Ford Theatre and the house across the road where Lincoln died.

Monday found us up bright and early – we had a date at the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum. We caught the street car, changed to the Metro and walked a couple of blocks. Then we joined the queue. MJ had forgotten to bring the paper tickets with us so she was busy trying to download the eTickets and then she said “Today’s Monday – these tickets are for tomorrow!”. Damn! We could have slept in!! So we had a quick change of plan and went back to the Metro Station to head to Arlington National Cemetery.

We had flown over the Cemetery on our way into DCA and it looked pretty impressive from the air but it was overwhelming walking around. Because it is over 300 acres, we decided to pay for the hop on, hop off train/tram/tractor and save our feet. But, because they had 27 burials happening on the day we were there, the route for the train changed continuously. Sadly, this meant that we didn’t get to the Iwo Jima Monument but by this time, our feet hated us and it had turned into a hot day!

Tuesday morning dawned and MJ’s hip wasn’t happy from all the walking, so Nick headed off to the Smithsonian, while MJ stayed at home to do some washing and a bit of shopping. We were a bit tired of having to go hunting for dinner and craved a bit of home-cooking.  MJ & Nick met up outside the Smithsonian and headed down to the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial after finding some lunch. A word of warning – down where all the monuments and museums are, there aren’t many options for food, unless you choose to eat in an over-priced café within a museum or outside on the street, there is only a choice of lots of food trucks.

The visit to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum has been much anticipated, only to find half of it was closed for renovations.  Nonetheless, the visit was well worth it, with various displays including “Freedom 7”, the first manned capsule into space and the “Apollo 11” module. There were lots of commercial airliners on display, some hanging from the ceiling, but the highlight was the original Wright Brothers Flyer and a number of their later craft. Entry to the Smithsonian museums is free, and there are quite a number of them, but you do need to booked a timed entry.

Our last day in Washington involved using the Circulator bus for the first time, with plans to do the full circuit and get off at the last stop which would be Capitol Building. What can I saw about driving around around on the bus? There were LOTS of buses parked nose to tail along the streets, which meant that you didn’t get much of a view of the buildings as you drove around or if there were no cars parked, it was because they had hoarding up because of work being done!! Not quite scaffolding but you get the picture!

And then the bus driver drove straight past Capitol Building and returned to the first stop!!!

A quick change of plans meant that we went to the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) to see a exhibition of Amish quilts. These quilts were made between 1888-1940 & were an amazing example of the amazing skill that went into the piecing and stitching of all of these pieces. All of these quilts had been made for use with families but had ended up being sold and collected as “Works of Art”, which the Amish didn’t appreciate!

Nick finished his trip to DC off with a visit to the National Guard Museum. A visit to the National Guard museum, near Union Station, was enlightening. It turns out that 22 Presidents have served in the Militia or National Guard. The Guard has served in many conflicts and makes up a large part of the US military, in all branches.  The Air Force particularly has many pilots flying for “The Guard”.

Defence Service is taken very seriously here with Veterans receiving discounts or free entry to many attractions. Wearing your Aussie Air Force Veterans cap helps too!