Day 43 10/8 Friday Washington DC Again!

Another busy and interesting day spent in the Capital of US. We once again took the train into the city and this time our first stop was Capitol Hill. When we arrived we had to go through security and Paul, for the first time during our US trip had decided to make a sandwich for lunch and we took apples and water of course. Well at the security we were told no food, no water so we had to eat and drink our food before we headed into the Capitol. We were lucky enough to arrive at a good time and went straight to a wonderful guided tour. The building is quite magnificent with paintings and statues of ex-presidents, senators and anyone who has achieved high public recognition. The crypt was very interesting. Originally the building was meant to be built in 7 years but of course took much longer to build. George Washington was going to be buried in the crypt when he died but he died long before the building was completed and so wasn’t buried in the crypt. This tour was excellent and free! From here we caught the $1 bus which circled the main buildings and monuments in the area. We then alighted close to the Whitehouse. We walked to the Whitehouse and thought we may be lucky and be able to do a tour…..but it was not to be. All tours for the day had finished and we asked what we needed to do to go on a tour. We were told (nicely) that because we were not US citizens we would need to apply to visit and it could take up to 3 months for approval. Following, photos at the Whitehouse we visited the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. It was fantastic but best of all it was cool. The only problem travelling in the US at this time of the year is that it is school summer break and everywhere we go there are families, school camp groups and other people from overseas (like us!). It is very crowded and very warm.