Arriving at the hotel we found our room wasn’t ready due to it being about 11am. We stowed our bags in the left luggage room and headed out to find the Lincoln Memorial. The walk through the wide streets and down hill to the memorial was hot under the clear blue skies. The major difference between this and walking around the theme parks was Washington wasn’t as humid, so you didn’t feel sticky. This was a most welcome change, which we all appreciated. Our modest breakfast seemed so long ago, poor Luke did so well in the warm sun walking down towards the memorial. By the time we arrived we’d all developed a thirst and were thankful of the water fountains dotted along our route.

The Lincoln Memorial seemed small at first glance but I think that was due to the vast open spaces, huge pool in front of it and two large avenues of trees each side. Crowds of people huddled on the steps all determined to ensure they were centre stage for their group photos. Dozens of selfie sticks were being brandished by scores of individuals and couples also determined to star in their photo, using the Lincoln Memorial as their backdrop. We climbed the marble stairs and joined the gathered throng of pilgrims all reading the words carved into the interior of the memorial. The groups that had formed on the steps for photos quickly reconvened for another photo in front of the 12 foot marble effigy of Lincoln in his chair. There was a little hubbub of excited chatter as people read the text. Clearly they had been learning this since they were young as some could recite it, to the proud smiles and nodding of parents and grand parents alike.

Not having the same significance for us Brits we took our pics, speed read some of the text in the walls and left back down the marble stairs. We paused to take a photo of the Reflecting Pool looking out towards the monument enclosed by a circle of US flags.
We walked down the steps and along the shady side of the pool towards the monument. Although it didn’t seem very close, we soon covered the ground. On route we passed a segway tour on the opposite direction, Matty and Luke thought that was an awesome way to see the sights. I have to agree dear reader, however Luke isn’t heavy enough or tall enough yet to control a segway. You need to have enough body mass to balance the two wheeled wonder and to maintain that balance while you operate the controls. One day we’ll get there!
Anyhow we made our way to the monument and again joined the thousand other tourists all taking pictures and posing with selfie sticks. Matty laid down and took a skywards shot of the tower. It was great but you couldn’t see the top as he was quite close and the top of the tower is tapered.
From this central vantage point we had a great view of Lincoln’s Memorial, The Capitol Building, The White House (although secluded by a line of trees) and some of the Smithsonian buildings.

By this point poor Luke’s thirst had grown to epic proportions and so we began a quest for a McDonalds milkshake “super-size”. Eventually finding a McDonalds, there isn’t one on every block which it seemed like there was in New York. Liz ordered 3 super size Strawberry milkshakes. The foreign (possibly Mexican) woman who served Liz struggled to understand her accent and told Liz there were no such things on the menu. After three of us had pointed and waved at the 10” photo of a milkshake behind her she eventually got the idea we wanted a milkshake and took our order. McDonalds in America work different from UK. In the UK you pay, wait and take your food with you, having been served by one staff member in a single transaction. Here in the US, one person takes your order and money and hands you a receipt with a number on it. Just like in Argos, you then wait for your number to be called and presenting your proof of purchase collect your consumables. I was presented with three chocolate milkshakes each adorned with a large swirl of cream and a cocktail cherry (thankfully not a maraschino cherry, the funny almond tasting cherry you have in lots of different cocktails). I queried the chocolate milkshakes not willing to be palmed off with chocolate due to translation issues. The staff member stated that “the lady ordered chocolate”, I counter argued knowing we hadn’t ordered chocolate. Reluctantly we were handed three strawberry milkshakes. Drinking hard into them as we left our victory (in the battle of man v chocolate milkshake) was short lived. American’s must love all things sweet. The milkshakes were so sweet they were almost syrupy. Even for Matty and Luke’s combined sweet tooths the milkshakes were too sweet!

Before our trip to Washington DC, back in the UK we had planned what we were going to be doing. Some of these highlights were food places taken from the TV show Man V Food, re-runs of which can (could) be seen on the Freeview channel “Dave”. Having preselected to lunch at Ben’s Chilli bowl to sample the famous half-smoke chilli dog we made our way by Metro (underground train) from the centre of DC to U Street station. Many of the streets and roads here in DC are either numbered numerically or alphabetically. Whilst this sounds bizarre it’s not a bad system as you quickly discover which way to walk to end up at your destination.
Ben’s Chili Bowl is really famous landmark across America, Hollywood stars, music stars and even President elect Obama (and before him President Clinton) have eaten at Ben’s Chili Bowl and their photos all form a massive gallery which covers the walls of their seating area. The language barrier was an issue again for the young girl who served us and weren’t used to our British accents. She really struggled to understand I wanted two half-smoke chili dogs with mustard and onions, one half-smoke chili dog with no mustard and one half-smoke with onions and mustard but no chili. Eventually we sat to much our chili dogs. They were good but the really surprising thing was we spoke to the owner who said the very seats we sat in, only a half hour before a guy from London with two boys had been eating chilli dogs.

We decided that we had better find out where our train departed from in case we arrived at the station tight for time. We took a metro to Union Station, found the Amtrak departures area and then headed back to the Metro to travel down to Arlington Cemetary. It was a sight to see in person the long lines of graves from the world wars. Most people know the volume of people who lost their lives fighting in either war and may have even seen lines of graves on TV. It’s an amazing sight to see in person, the sheer volume / acres of land that are covered in row after row, after row of graves.

The last place on our sightseeing tour was the Pentagon. Due to all the security added after 9/11, we were unable to see very much, you couldn’t access a good vantage point. All the high ground was cordoned off. On the short walk it was amusing to see three silver haired lawyers discussing how they were going to tell the person they were meeting that the contracts their clients had with the Pentagon were in breach of this or that and…. “I’ll throw the book at them Bob, there needs to be some straight talking damn it. We’ve been messed about with one non-answer after another, it’s time for the gloves to come off!!” it quite made me laugh s you could have easily been watching an episode of a US drama Liz and I enjoy watching called Suits.

Lastly on route back to our hotel we popped into the Smithsonian to pick up a guidebook in readiness for our visit the next day. We pondered what to eat and several suggestions were brought up. In the end we all agreed that due to the earliness of the start, we’d settle for a McDonalds and then back to the hotel for bed.