Washington DC.

So I started writing this post at the start of May and I know, it's now mid June but May was a particularly rubbish month where my labyrinthitis returned, followed by the death of a close friend so it's taken me a while to get my mojo back. But back to the States, I wanted to share my last post of my trip back in April. Better late than never!

Washington DC was never high on my 'go to' list but work wanted me to go and run a booth at a conference there promoting our Department and who was I to say no! I had a wonderful time in New York but I just didn't feel Washington. It's a huge city but I couldn't find it's soul. Perhaps it wasn't helped by me doing my sight seeing in the evening after work.

Thank goodness it was blossom season when I visited otherwise I think I may have hated it.

The weather while I was there was lovely and warm so I opted to walk down to see the sights. New York had been 2C, Washington was about 25C - the difference was amazing. Luckily I had checked the weather report before I left so I wasn't melting. 

First on the 'to see' list was obviously the White House. If Obama had been in office I may have got excited but Trump is, well, what can I say! 

I was relieved to see some sort of protest in front of the White House. 

This incredible building was the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Many of the Museums in Washington are free but for this one you had to get a  timed ticket in advance which I hadn't realised so I didn't have a chance to look inside. 

Words can't describe this van - all I can say is only in America!

Next up was the National Monument which did look amazing at sunset 

Sorry for the switch to portrait but it was so big I couldn't fit it all in. And I timed it perfectly with the setting sun (pure fluke). 

Annoyingly there was construction work around the base of the Monument so I couldn't really get that close to these incredible flags bellowing in the wind. 

And yes, yet more blossom - it was literally everywhere! 

Now Washington is famous for it's museums, namely the Smithsonian which has 11 different buildings on the Mall alone, plus a zoo and 6 other museums in the Washington area. 

I felt that I had to visit at least one museum but as mentioned earlier I was working while I was in town which meant I was stuck in a conference centre 10am - 5pm. But as luck would have it the Air and Space Museum stayed open late on a Friday night so I headed down once I had downed tools for the day. 

This is one of Amelia Earheart planes 

Now in my head I kept thinking I was going to see something similar to Night At the Museum 2, but in reality it was the equivalent of the Imperial War Museum. I had hoped to see the  Space Shuttle but this is sadly housed at the other Air and Space Museum outside of Washington - ah well you can't win them all! 

So on my way back from the Air and Space Museum I took a quick snap of the Capitol Building. I must say that I was a bit disappointed by the Mall. I hadn't realised that the whole thing was surrounded by traffic that was often gridlocked. 

On my last evening in town I walked down to the Lincoln Memorial, walking past George Washington on the way. 

And here is Abrahm Lincoln in all his glory. He was absolutely massive and what you can't see are the hoards of people who all seemed to have the same idea as me. I had thought it would be fairly quiet as it was gone six pm by the time I got there but I was sadly wrong. 

The parting image was a nice reflection of National Monument. Sadly there was a small scale concert given by high school kids just behind me which was tedious to say the least. It seemed to be my cue to catch a cab and go home. Taxi!!! 

So there we have it, America was fun, especially as work paid for my travel and accommodation while I was in Washington but by the end of the week I was ready to go home. The good news is work want me to go again so next year I'm off to New Mexico! Hurrah!