Day 6 - Thursday 16th

We got up early to go into work with Ab & Greta into DC. Cory decided to get some practice driving on the other side of the road so he borrowed Ab's VW Jetta 2.8l VR6 ("stick shift") and we followed him in along the toll ways. Cory showing how adept he is at throwing coins into the toll hoppers (NOT). It took about 45min to get in and we found a park at one of the metro stations near the Smithsonian Institutes. We grabbed another horrid American coffee (they're getting worse!) and walked up to the Museum of Air & Space. All of the Smithsonian museums are free entry and all located along a central grassed strip called the Mall with the Capitol building at one end and the Lincoln Memorial at the other.

Cory was very excited to see all of the space gear at the museum (ahh... to be 8 yrs old again!)- I was less impressed but it was very good. More of a boys thing though. Then we headed to the new Museum of the American Indians which was fabulous. There was a whole floor about all the tribes and their cultureand beliefs, then another floor about what happened when white man came and what their suituation is now.

After that we headed to the Capitol Building and then down to the Washington Monument (the big marble spire in the middle of the city). Then headed up to meet Greta for lunch. Then we went back to see the White House, WWII memorial, Lincoln memorial, Korean War memorial, FD Roosaveldt memorial and Jefferson memorial - then we were all memorialed out! Finally we stopped in to the museum of Natural History to say hello to the Hope Diamond - the largest blue diamond in the world apparently - as well as a few Tyrranosaurus Rexs, the odd Diplodocus and Triceratops.

We were meant to meet Greta and Ab to follow them back to Virginia in the car but we sort of got lost getting out of the carpark to Greta's work as there are all one way streets in the city and no left and right trns so we missed them and had to find our way back by ourselves. After missing the first turnoff we were completely mucked up and had to drive around in peak hour traffic for an hour before we managed to find another turn onto the 66. We finally made it home and I was very relieved - Greta even more so as she thought we wouldn't be home until much later. Ab had uni so Cory, Greta & I hung out and cooked dinner until he got home.