Washington D.C.

I left a very warm Florida for Washington DC which on the day of my arrival was covered in grey clouds and was very cold.  I arrived at Reagan International and had a very steep learning curve in finding out how to use Uber.  My suitcase weight was now very close to the weight limit for the flight home so I decided to take a taxi to the one bedroomed apartment I had rented.

I dumped the luggage and took the Circulator bus (cost $1) to Georgetown.  It was a lovely area with lots of different styles of architecture.

I found a beautiful French restaurant where I had a late lunch.  Most of the other customers were French speakers!

I continued my walk around Georgetown.

I visited The Stone House - the oldest building in Washington.  Still not as old as places in the UK!

I decided to walk alongside the river back into Washington.  Not the most sensible decision in the cold.  Plus it was over 2 miles to the Lincoln Memorial.

This is the back of the Lincoln Memorial.  I spent some time trying to find out how to cross the road here!

The other side of the memorial.  There were a lot of people despite it being 5pm on a cold Friday afternoon.

The Washington Monument is 0.8 of a mile from the Lincoln Memorial.  And it's a further 1.5 miles to the Capitol Building.

However, instead of walking to the Capitol Building I went to the White House instead, which was almost a mile away.

Having walked around 5 miles during the afternoon I went back to the apartment and had an early night.


Saturday morning: Alexandria
I discovered that there was going to be a big parade on the Saturday to celebrate the Cherry Blossom so to get away from the crowds I took the Metro to Alexandria.   This was another area with beautiful architecture.

The Torpedo Factory had been turned into an Arts Centre with 82 artists' studios.

There was a paddle steamer moored at a jetty.

With my zoom lens I could take photos of Washington in the distance.

I decided to take a boat trip back to Washington as it was a lovely warm day.  Sadly the view along the river banks wasn't particularly picturesque

The steel on the left is the Air Force Memorial and the low building hidden in the trees is the Pentagon.

The boat trip ended close to the Tidal Basin and West Potomac Park.

I'll tell you about the rest of my visit to Washington DC next time.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

Florida

We had a long drive from just south of Savannah to Cocoa Beach.   We had hoped to stop for lunch in St. Augustine but it was full to overflowing with people so we kept going.  We happened upon a roadside cafe (America doesn't really go in for these like we do in the UK!)  JT's Seafood Shack.  The food was wonderful.

We got to the hotel in Cocoa Beach rather later than I had planned but with enough time to freshen up before we went to Rejuvenate - the ladies getaway organised by The House, Palm Bay.  The guest speaker was Terri Savelle Foy.

On Saturday morning we got up early to see the sunrise.  Actually it wasn't really early - the sun came up at 7.15am

The sunrise was all about the soft pinks and greys but this is what the camera did when I pointed the camera directly at the sun.

And this was the view from the hotel room we were in.

Elaine & I at the event.

After the event had finished we tried to walk on Cocoa Beach but it was a mass of people.  We drove south intending to go to Viera Mall.  I should have looked at the map as we should have gone north.  Not to worry, we went to other shops instead!

We drove down to Melbourne Beach where we had something to eat and a little wander on the beach.

A pelican flypast.

And as we drove to Kenny & Betsy's we saw this sunset.

Our stay in Palm Bay was much less hectic.  Church on Sunday and lunch with K&B's son and his family.

On Monday Kenny, Betsy, Elaine & I had a more leisurely day and we went to Captain Hiram's for a late lunch.  There's always such a great view from the table.

We drove back up the A1A and stopped off at Coconut Point.

And now a rarity!  All four mothers-in-law together in one place.

From left to right: Betsy - mother of Wayne, Lisa and Naomi; Marie - Wayne's mother-in-law; Elaine - Lisa's mother-in-law and me - Naomi' mother-in-law.

I had a couple of days left in Florida which involved a trip to Orlando to take Elaine to the airport and a day out with my friend Suki before I too left for Orlando and a flight to Washington DC.

Still more to come!  I hope you are enjoying your armchair travels.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice