Washington DC: Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool

From the World War II Memorial, we headed west towards the Lincoln Memorial. This took us past the Reflecting Pool. This large, rectangular stretch of water occupies most of the space between the two memorials.







There is no cover around the edge of the Pool and with the sun blasting away at us, we got to the top corner and, in the shade of some trees, bought an ice lolly from a stall that was doing great business.

Washington DC: World War II Memorial

From the Washington Monument, we walked along the National Mall to the World War II Memorial. It remembers both the Atlantic/European and Pacific campaigns.

Washington Monument

No trip to Washington DC is complete without a visit to the Washington Monument. So after lunch we headed to the National Mall. There was the Monument in all its simplistic glory. It was also much bigger than I expected. I took the shot above lying on my back with the sum behind. Notice the change in the colour of the stone part way up the Monument. If my history is correct, the bottom was built but then the money ran out. When work started again, the quarry that supplied the marble was exhausted. A near but not quite exact match was found. The difference I reckon adds to the richness of the history of Washington.



This photo gives a better idea of the scale of the Monument.

PJ Clarkes, Washington DC

We walked along the government district looking for somewhere for lunch. Apart from an occasional burger van, there appeared to be no cafes or restaurants. So we went off the beaten track and found PJ Clarkes on 16th Street NW.

As sun starved Brits, we sat outside though as there was an on-going heatwave in Washington DC, we sat in the shade. We were the only people sitting there.

A trip to the loo and we discovered lots of customers sensibly sitting inside.

Much of what was on the menu was fish based but there were some meat dishes as well. Food and service were excellent.

The Treasury Department, Washington DC

After seeing the Whitehouse and Lafayette Square, we headed along the government district. A case of spot the building seen regularly on tv news programmes. We saw the Treasury Department. Very neo-classical, as was much of the government district.

Washington DC: Lafayette Square and the Whitehouse

Our first full day in Washington DC and we headed down to Lafayette Square and the Whitehouse. I've seen the latter in particular thousands of times on television but it was still quite something to see it for itself. There were plenty of people around - tourists and protesters. It was best to wait patiently to get a picture in front of the Whitehouse.

Beacon Hotel, Washington DC

The Beacon Hotel, on Rhode Island Avenue, was the base for our stay in Washington DC. Comfortable and centrally located (a key point for us), our stay was not without its incidents.






We had booked through booking.com but when we arrived and registered with reception, I was told that payment for the room would be taken from my debit card. I pointed out I had already paid for the room but the receptionist insisted this was not the case. We decided to sort it later. We then went to our allocated room only to find it was not made up from the previous occupant. I returned to reception to complain.

I was met with an immediate apology over the payment. They accepted the room payment had been made. And they were very apologetic about the state of the room. They offered to upgrade us at no extra cost to one of their best rooms on the top floor. It would be churlish to turn it down! So we gathered together our stuff and moved to the new room.

Except that we left behind in the first room a guidebook. And my passport had been used as the bookmark. We did not realised the mistake until the next morning. There was no way it could be recovered. The hotel staff were very helpful and we even did a search of the initial room but the guidebook and passport were gone, almost certainly into the rubbish which had left the building. The staff helped me contact the British embassy. I can't fault them.

Meanwhile, our stay in the hotel went down well. Despite the mistakes about payments and unprepared rooms, I'm happy to recommend staying there.



We had breakfast only once in the hotel. On the three other days, we ate out. That's a deliberate policy. We want to widen our experience when visiting a city. Nevertheless, the food at the Beacon was good quality.