We started with a visit to Ford's Theatre, where Lincoln was assassinated, to watch a production of One Destiny about that fateful night, followed by a walk through the guesthouse where he was taken after the shooting, and where he died.


We then went to the Smithsonian Museum of American History which provided some insights into all the wars and presidents over the decades. We did not have enough time to do it all, and the constant swarms of school kids were also exhausting.

We then walked up to the White House, which was more cream than white.

We tried to visit the Archives to see the Declaration of Independance etc., but the queues of school groups were around the block. The time it would take to queue and get in, and the promise of hundreds of kids more interested in messing about with each other than viewing the historic documents, led us to decide not to bother. It was a really muggy day and so we rested for a few minutes on the steps of the Archives. While there we heard a number of people decide, as we did, not to bother because of all the kids. I suppose the wait with the kids is a well-deserved bit of respite for their long-suffering teachers and parental chaperones, but if it was insisted that schools groups arranged visits in advance, we're sure more members of the general public would queue up to enter. Anyway, we then headed back to our hotel to refresh for the evening.


We went to visit Fiona's second cousins, who live in Washington, and they had gathered en masse for a birthday so we met them all (14 of them). It was a very pleasant evening, if a bit of a whirlwind, and unfortunately we did not take any photographs, which would have helped remember all the names and connections.