Lunch at the White House

Anne had rented a car for our trip to New York, on Thursday we took the car and went to Washington DC for the day. It was actually beginning to snow in New York when we left in the morning, luckily in DC it was a nice and clear sky. Parking in DC however proved difficult. All the street parking and meters that we saw had a 2 hour limit, in the end we had to park in a parking garage. It was actually really strange, we drove down the ramp to the garage when the attendant there made a gesture, we stopped the car so we could ask him what he wanted but then he just turned around and continued talking on the phone. As we were in the garage searching for a sport to park the attendant came down and started telling Anne off because she had driven down.... Excuse me, but he should have made another gesture telling us to wait once he had our attention on the ramp earlier. Luckily it turned out fine though, he parked the car for us (why I don't know), and we could explore DC.

As we headed towards Washington Monument we walked past an art gallery, a WWI memorial and I also got a good picture of the White House from a distance. I'm glad I managed to get the picture of the White House as it turned out later that we couldn't go up close to it, maybe Anne and I just came from the wrong side, or maybe there was something happening but there were barriers up and police telling us to turn around so we couldn't get any closer.

Washington Monument was closed, they are still repairing it from the Earthquake in 2011, I think they're almost done though as the scaffolding was only at the bottom now. I don't think I would have gone up it even if it was possible though, not after the Bunker Hill monument! 

From Washington Monument we headed down to Lincoln Memorial. I like that all the monuments are so close in DC. Lincoln Memorial was really cool, on the side of the wall inside is the Gettysburg Address, I've only ever heard the line "Fourscore and seven years ago..." so it was kind of cool to be able to read the whole thing, not that I'll remember any of it mind you. Of course the Lincoln statue is the coolest thing in the memorial, another thing I have only ever seen on TV and wanted to see with my own eyes. 

Anne and I headed back towards the Washington Monument and had a look at the WWII memorial. I like all the stars on the wall, I think it said on a sign that there's over 4000!

This is when we tried to get close to the White House but since that failed we headed towards the Smithsonian instead. The Smithsonian is divided into several buildings/museums, we went to the Natural History one. On the way there we walked past a van selling cupcakes, I just had to try a red velvet one as I've not tried red velvet before. It was nice, but I prefer chocolate.

The Natural History Museum was really good. There was so many interesting things there, definitely worth a visit if you're ever in DC! I first heard about the Smithsonian on the TV series "Bones" and have wanted to see it since. I really wanted to find the building that they feature the exterior of on the TV series sometimes, but since I had no idea which building that is I just gave up.

I had a great day in DC and got to see everything I really wanted to. It's kind of cool because whenever I've seen DC on TV it's usually just the monuments and the White House I've never seen the city itself, so it was really cool to see that it was just a normal city like anywhere else.

Have you been to DC? What did you do and see there?

Exploring Salem

Anne picked up the rental car we will use to get to New York and DC today and we headed up to Salem in it for the day. Nathan couldn't come as he was working, but suddenly we got a text saying he managed to finish early and he'd meet us in Salem. It was really cold today, but in a way I think Salem is one of those places it's nice to go in the winter, just because the bare trees adds a little to the charm, makes it look a little more "creepy", unfortunately a lot of the places doesn't open until April!

Before Nathan showed up Anne and I took a tour of the House of the Seven Gables. I actually didn't realize it is a book as well, I will have to try and read it now. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside. It was kind of like the Newport Mansions, but in a much smaller scale, and without all the marble. Inside the house we actually got to go up a very narrow secret staircase! I've wanted to go up a secret staircase for years so I can now tick that off my list of things to do, although I guess it isn't really secret  when everybody knows about it. It was fun to walk inside the house as you could tell it was old because the floor wasn't flat any more. I would definitely recommend taking a tour of the house if you're ever in Salem.

After the house we met up with Nathan and ate some lunch that Anne had packed, before we saw the "Friendship of Salem", which is an old ship, we didn't get to go aboard though as it was closed. We then went to the Salem Witch Museum, pictures inside there also wasn't allowed. It was basically a story about how the Salem Witch trials started and then a small guided tour about the different types of witches and the story behind them.

I'm not really sure what I expected when I went to Salem, especially as I try not to have expectations, but it didn't quite look the way I though, but that's probably just because we didn't go to the places that have been on TV and stuff though. I still really liked it! Before we had dinner and headed back to Boston we checked out the Bewitched statue.

I am a little sad to be leaving Boston, but I am also looking forward to exploring New York in the coming days!

The shortest month of the year will seem like the longest.

Only 1 month left until my American Adventure!! I am so excited!

I bet I will be dead tired when I land in Boston, but I will do the same as I did when I went to Australia and stay awake until night-time. I didn't get jet-lagged then so I hope it works this time as well, at least the flight isn't as long! It will be strange to fly "back in time" though, I've only done that when flying to the UK but that's only 1 hour difference so it's not really noticeable.

I will be starting my adventure in Boston, where I am meeting my friend Anne and maybe my friend Jan. We will spend a few days exploring Boston, Salem and Maine before heading down to New York. I am really looking forward to it all, especially Salem as I have been wanting to visit the town since I learned about it's history with all the witch trials.

New York will be amazing as well, we're spending a day and a half there. I have seen it on TV plenty of times, but when it comes to imagining myself actually being there I draw a blank. There is so much I want to see, and we're even going to a Broadway show! I'm excited to find out what I feel about the city, I'm not one for big busy cities so it will be interesting to see if I find it too busy or not. Maybe I'll love it and want to go back? I am anyway really looking forward to seeing it.

The day before I fly down to Orlando the plan is to go to Washington DC, I love the thought of going to the capitol of the United States, just like I did in Australia. I've not really thought a lot about what I want to see in DC other than the White House and the Washington Monument, but it looks like a pretty city from what I've seen on TV.

Orlando... I'm just so excited! My friend Mat was in Oslo for a couple of days this week and I mentioned that it would be really cool if she was going with me, and now she's actually going to look into coming! It would be amazing if she could come but I think it will be magical on my own as well. I've also got a friend who works at the Hilton down there that I haven't seen in a few years so it would be really cool if I could meet up with her.

I arrive late afternoon/early evening to Orlando but apparently the Downtown Disney Area and Disney BoardWalk is open quite late, so I think I might explore those the day I arrive as the other days I'll be busy walking around the parks.

There'll be plenty of walking on my holiday so I think the main thing to remember to pack is some good shoes!

Has anyone been to any of the places I'm going? What did you think? Any suggestions as to what I should see/do?