We were on our way after a number of outfit changes, necessitated by what was almost balmy winter weather of 14 degrees (pretty much like Melbourne Summer!). Fortunately the Lincoln Memorial was only a short walk from our hotel. I was genuinely stunned by just how large and grand it was! It was made even better by a cuddle with Lacey the Golden Retriever as I'm missing Nala so much!
After being told off by our electric scooters for riding on the sidewall (which was actually a bike path), we ditched them next to the reflecting pool. We then grabbed an Uber to the home of all things espionage, the Spy Museum.
Not only has my understanding of acronyms have greatly improved, from CIA, KGB, MI6, and everything in between we were treated to a fascinating history lesson of the worlds (known) spies and gadges I think Ds favourite part was definitely all of the WWII and Cold War spy stuff, I definitely got an additional history lesson from him!
Next off we dashed to the Air and Space Museum, only to find out that while it was free we did need to "book in a timeslot", no matter, we booked for 1pm and ran across to the Natural History Museum instead.
I loved seeing the dinasour bones and learning even more about evolution via my tour guide, Doug, haha. Did you know Sloths used to be twice the size of an average car!! So wild. We then went through the geology exhibit (which featured some of Marie Antoinette's diamonds - nice) and quickly raced through Egypt and the Ocean sections as it was almost time for Air & Space!
We saw elements from Apollo 11, such as the command module, part of the engine, and Neil Armstrong's famous space walk suit. We also saw the original Wright brothers plane (yes, Doug was nerding out at this point) and watched a movie in the Planetarium.
Our final stop in Washington was none other than the Washington Monument. Now, if you think Doug loved Air and Space... just wait until you hear him gush about the engineering feat that is the Washington Monument...
We soared 500ft into the air and once up there Doug acousted the lovely guard to give us all the information on how its built, did you know it's the largest free standing stone building without steel reinforcement? They used a rudimentary safety net to catch people falling as they finished the top, meaning no one died on the project - unheard of for the 1800s. It's perfectly balanced, requiring no morter at all, just gravity. So yeah, as you can imagine, Doug loved this.
A race back to the hotel, a train, and the worst airport lounge in the world later we were in Iceland Air's hands...
Doug found a nifty little tool for me so see below for a summary of our trip so far!
KMs Travelled: 29,603
Stops Map:
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