Kathryn and Stephen's Honeymoon: Day 19

Day 19 – Washington

Predictably we had another slow start to the day. We were both quite tired after doing so much yesterday.

The weather was had turned terrible after being totally amazing the day before. It was wet and cold today. It was promising to clear later in the day so I had booked us onto a tour for the evening. In the intervening team we decided to look at a few of the museums in the afternoon, then take an early dinner before going on the tour.

Washington DC street

We went down to the American History Museum which was the closests. We actually spent quite a long time here and were quite interested to look at the exhibits detailing the modern history of American culture, but also some of the exhibits on the fight for independence and civil war. It was quite a new museum and was actually one of the better ones I thought that we have been to. The exhibits were nicely written with sufficient details, and there was plenty to look at in terms of displays, models, diagrams and articles.

One of the Smithsonian museums

By the time we had gone round most of the museum, oncluded the star spankgled banner, we went back to the hotel to have a quick rest and then go out for dinner.

The lady we had met the previous evening had recommended a restaurant around the corner called the Old Ebbitt Grill. It was on the next block, so took about a minute to walk to! We were seated immediately in a booth by the window. I was struck by home busy the place was for 4pm in the evening, with most tables full and a bustling type of atmosphere.

Old Ebbitt Grill

The menu had a lot of variety and was reasonably priced so we decided to go for three courses. I had a chilli with melted cheese to start. We shared a chocolate cake for dessert. We were so stuffed we had a quick lie down before hauling ourselves back out to goto the tour bus which was about 5 blocks away.

Unfortunately it was still raining by the time we needed to leave for the tour, but not too heavy, although Kathryn got wet feet fairly quickly! We found the little white bus sitting where it should have been and boarded. There was about 8 people in total. We met our tour guide Dwayne for the evening and he was really enthusiastic and friendly.

Inside of tour bus!

After a brief introduction from everyone in the group about where they were from and what we wanted to see, we set off for the Capitol building straight away. Dwayne said he had arranged for the rain, the alternative was snow which was not good for the bus wheels, and he said that it would mean there wouldn’t be anyone else around. I suppose he was right about that. The first stop we got to go out of the bus and get a quick photo of the Capitol building.

Capital building with scaffolding

We then went round the various monuments and I had a lot of practice at night photography! Thankfully my little camera wasn't too bad. We learnt quite a bit as Dwayne was really knowledgeable. Unfortunately in the latter stages Kathryn's feet (as were mine) were totally soaked so she didn't get out at the last couple of stops. On the positive side, we had the monuments totally to ourselves, and they did look spectacular at night so it was a real treat for us.