10 Sept - Time to explore.

Thanks to my body's inability to adjust to the time change I was wide awake well before the sun came up and ready to see some sights.

First stop was Starbucks for a latte and a piece of banana cake to stock up the tanks for some serious walking, map in hand I trudged off towards the US Capitol. The first thing I couldn't help but notice was the amount of joggers, they literally surrounded me as I walked down the Mall, there was even a couple who had to be over 100, seriously putting me with my large cup of caffeine and slab of lard to shame.

The lay out of the U.S' capital city takes many influences from the Roman elaborate architecture. Huge glistening white domes situated on top of massive white buildings with decorative columns supporting their enormous weight. All of the main iconic structures are finished off with life like marble or iron statues. 

Sitting on the wall of the Capitol you can see all the way down the Mall to the Washington monument and as I was up before the local wildlife (except the eager runners) I witnessed the sun rise to the west of the Mall creating quite beautiful shadows and illuminating all the museums on the east side.

Washington has the same mirage as New York and Vegas. Everything looks really close but it's not, at all. It took me at least 20 minutes to make it down to the Washington monument but it was time well spent psyching myself up to face my fear of heights and scale the 555ft of the tower to be able to witness the 360 views of the city.

I wasn't prepared to face another fear as I got there, geese. More evil, blood thirsty geese than I've ever seen before. The grass surrounding the monument was littered with 100s of Canadian geese, flapping and squealing. You may laugh but as a child I nearly lost my nose to one of these rodents and a finger nearly went to a swan so if these bastards turned now I could come home limbless!! To my relief a 5 year old girl was chasing and taunting them so at least they'd feast on her first and give me some time to peg it in the other direction.

Like a lot of things in Washington to go up the Monument is free. You're filed in by some park rangers (large rimmed hat - check) and squeezed into a lift. Heres a question - when a lift says "maximum load, 15 people" Is that 15 normal sized people or 15 super sized Americans? Because I weigh as much as a feather compared to what is all around me. 

Luckily the lift wires didn't snap and we scaled 555 feet in 70 seconds with our guide (who looked like Danny De Vito as the male stripper in Friends) mumbled facts so quickly you managed to only understand every 10th word.

If you do have vertigo and think you can face it the view from the top is massively worth it, on a clear day you can see for 100s of miles and its breath taking. I was quietly amazed at what I was seeing when this was all ruined after one of the super sizes let off the most foul smelling trumps, if you could bottle it they could use it for chemical war fare. I would have stayed longer but there's very little room at the top of the monument and no windows, no where for that poison to escape to!

As you descend back down the lift slows in some places and you can see large engraved stones they'd put into the tower dedicated to those who helped build it, at least that's what I gathered from Danny de Vito.

Next stop was to pop in on our pal George. Considering it's one of the most famous buildings in the world, it was quite disappointing. As we approached it from the Eclipse (large round piece of lawn basically) I lost it, couldn't see it anymore and became quite disorientated. This would never happen with Buck Palace. But luckily there was enough bomb barriers for me to follow to eventually get back on track and peer around the trees, through the metal gates and lay my eyes on a big white house. And that's it basically, you can't go in anymore because there's obviously the odd one or two people out there that might like to slap Bush on his toosh so all you get to see is the garden out the front and the snipers on the roof (if they are pointing at you, run. Can you imagine how boring that job is, they must be likely to snap at any point) So I took a few photos and made a quick get away.

By this time I'd worked off my banana cake and headed over to the financial district for some brunch and found a cafe that's meant to be a local haunt for the "Hill Workers" (those who work in Capitol Hill). The place was littered with cheesy pictures of all the local government officials and American flags. That's one thing I guess you'd never see in England. Can you imagine a restaurant putting pics of Gordon Brown and Maggie Thatcher on its walls to increase its custom? Haha, I think not.

After filling myself with ice tea and a BLT I trudged up towards Union Station which has got to be one of the most stunning train stations in the world. From the way it is laid out, to the way it's lit to even the engravings on the ceilings is amazing. I found a bar in the middle where I took a pew and just watched the world go by. Every type of person was there. Japanese tourists, uniformed Marines, Business men and women with more Louis V luggage than posh spice. Somewhere like this is a huge time waster, you could stay here all day just looking at people going about there business. Of course, like anywhere, there's a few odd balls. One old chap walking around with his stereo blaring out the god squad speeches and another lecturing people about the imminent end of the world, you gotta love America.

By this time I must have walked 10 miles altogether and my legs are beginning to ache so it was time to head back to my 70s chic hotel for a dip in the pool. A successful day I thought, I was ready for the next.