16-7-12

Hi Folks!
A little delayed I'm now catching up with things.

The second day in Washington. We walk to the Capitol, it started out as cool calm and collected but by the time we get to the pool in front of the Capitol building we are mere grease blobs.

We queue and get the most polite bit of security one could ever encounter. And in we were, the Capitol building - we hooked up with a tour and off we went.

Through the crypt and up into the Rotunda itself. Ronnie Reagan now has his statue there along with Gerald Ford. We went into the first chamber again full of statues - each state having the right to field one statue and change them whenever they have the money - some states have not had anybody of note since the Civil War so the statue is now of someone who doesn't really figure in mainstream events - very interesting.

The next piece was a piece of luck for us. The guide sent us down to a desk at which we could get a ticket to the House of Representatives - so in we went, rather strangely we found ourselves wondering around empty corridors and eventually into the gallery - unfortunately the House was not sitting but the effect was not lost.

Then we went through the tunnel to the Library of Congress. Fantastic building - very understated. The reading room was rather shrine like - perhaps appropriate.

Next stop Georgetown, by taxi... It was hot. Nice lunch listening to a rather paranoid, neurotic young lady explain to her ex-boyfriend the events of a party - or something.

Then in search of a building the name of which I had miss-remembered. In any case we didn't find Bell's laboratory but we did wonder round Georgetown which is rather special especially at 95 deg F and 90% humidity - we were melting. We had a nice chat to an antiques dealer and a man serving coke, behind a bar. Enough we accepted failure rather grateful and decided to walk to the British Embassy - just to have a look. It was up on Embassy row - which we chose to reach via the Navel Observatory - the highest point in Washington. It was as if we were climbing the Matterhorn.

The long and the short of it - we got there. Now the British Embassy in Washington looks rather like a secondary modern and a minor public school. Rather fitting but not classy, distinctive or in any way stylish. The Brazilian Embassy was an ultra modern admin building plus a chateau - extremely stylish. In town the Canadian Embassy took our eye as a really classy modern building. Our other favourite was the Cote de Ivorie rather distinctive.

We walked all the way back to the Inn. Exhausted - again. After a shower we stopped off at Rumors for a bite. Then bed....