Happy Wednesday :)

Hi guys and gals... On Monday got back on the Hop On/Hop Off bus, first getting off at The Lincoln Memorial, what a powerful monument, great view of the mall and of course, on a hot sunny day... The Lincoln Monument, so far, is a hi-lite, gosh!! Got back on the bus, now off to Arlington Cemetery to see the final resting place of the Kennedy family, again very powerful, off by themselves overlooking Arlington Cemetery, did not realize the property was so large... The next stop I got off at was very near the White House so with The Washington Hotel right there decided to cool off with a beer and a bite to eat... According to tour guides, the Washington Hotel was/is?? a place where powerful Washington people would meet friends??? for a little down time, if you get my drift, again, according to tour guides... While there, so many black SUV's, windows blacked out drove by, kind of exciting!! Back on the bus, went back to stop #1, Union Station, to do a little shopping, grab a coffee then wait for the night tour... At 7:30 we headed off and saw Washington at night, how beautiful!! The Capital, White House, Jefferson Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, the Mall, also all the buildings of the Smithsonian, gosh, I enjoyed it and to be cooler, what a blessing!! Yesterday, headed off on my own first stop - Canadian Embassy, boy - disappointing!!! I walked over to the building of The National Museum of American History and spent the entire morning and afternoon there... How well done, so many topics, items, videos and very, very interesting... I saw Edith and Archie's chair, too cool!! My feet were getting tired and I was museumed out so took advice of people I met on the night tour and took the subway to King Street/Old Town of Alexandria for dinner, such a quaint little town, very enjoyable to sit on a patio, sipping a beer while having dinner... Would highly recommend visiting the town... Then back to my hotel... Today will see about the river cruise (part of the Hop On/Hop Off), maybe see about the 1st game of the Stanley Cup winners - The Capitals and possibly John F Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts, but we will see what I get up to, so say tuned, all... Helen