Mt Vernon visits Mt Vernon

I wonder if I would have known about Mt Vernon if I hadn't lived in Mt Vernon? George Washington's Mt Vernon was constructed in stages between 1758 and 1778 which makes it a good 100 years older than ours, although the estate had been in the family since 1674, and the mansion occupies the site of a former, smaller house.
Our Mt Vernon was built in 1882 by Rich's Great Great Grandfather. It is not really known why he decided to call the farm Mt Vernon (the farm being named so before the house was built) but it is understood that he was a great admirer of George Washington and possibly even visited the Virginian one at some stage. Certainly our house reflects many of the architectural qualities of the original although some have disappeared thanks to the 1931 earthquake which rendered the house uninhabitable for over 25 years. While not an exact copy there are enough similarities to make one think John Harding did indeed see the original. The wide verandah (piazza at George's) supported by huge columns and 'Tuscan' arches (like the colonade at George's that connects the house to the kitchen), the tower (cupola) topped with a weathervane, the high ceilings and grand staircase (although ours is grander), are the few that I can think of right now.
While ours was originally clad in plaster ( weatherboards since the earthquake), George's was wooden but made to look like stone, using a technique called rustication. See, I did learn something that day when the three of us took to  bikes and pedalled our way along the Potomac River to our home's namesake.
I'd booked this tour some months before we left and it really was the reason we came to Washington in the first place (and I'm so glad we did, Washington is a lovely city). We caught the train which took us under the river, all the way to Old Town Alexandria. What a gorgeous place, it really was. If I return this is where I'll stay. Stone buildings, paved footpaths, bevelled glass in the shop windows, beautiful trees, old style lamp posts, it was almost a step back in time.
We walked from the station, following the directions of our phones, towards the river and the bike hire shop. It was a lovely crisp autumn day and we had plenty of time as the shop didn't open until 10, and happily meandered through the fallen leaves. We stopped for breakfast which for Tom consisted of a 'squagel' (somebody had to try it), a sort of pretzel/bagel cross, then continued on to the shop, timing it just perfectly.

Popping in to see Baz

Our first challenge the next day was to master the Metro system. Fortunately we had youth on our side, or more accurately, we had a youth by our side. As I mentioned previously, the subway entrance was only a couple of minutes walk away, so finding it, always my greatest problem, was easy. We stepped straight onto the steeply pitched escalator which dragged us to the noisy, hot, steaming bowels of the subway. (Eew, I've just made myself feel a little sick)
Tom quickly susssed out what we needed to do, although it was fairly simple and I'm sure we could have managed if he wasn't there. In no time at all we emerged blinking in the sun at Metro Center Station.
After a quick check on the iphone we discovered that the closest point of interest was the White House; only a few minutes walk away, so off we strode to see if the Obama's were home for smoko.
It wasn't as straight forward as it might have been, as there were road blocks and tapes and crowds and people in high viz vests lining the footpaths. We appeared to have stumbled into the path of a marathon which added a little bit of excitement to the day. All manner of people were taking part, staggering and lurching along in their lycra and fluoros, more than a few wobblies - honestly, you have to ask yourself.
We stopped to ask one of the high viz vests what was going on, and they explained about the marathon and, lucky us, today was one of the two days in the year that the White House gardens were open to the public. We were handed free entry tickets and directed to the queue at the entrance. The queue was long but moving along quickly so we were soon admiring the lovely lawns and trees that the 'gardens' consisted mainly of, along with literally, thousands of others.
The blurb in our little book tells us that the White House Grounds are the oldest continually maintained landscape in the United States. The first resident, John Adams, requested that a garden be planted before his arrival in 1800. Unfortunately he was defeated shortly thereafter by Thomas Jefferson, and never really got a chance to enjoy it.
The little book also states that although it is 'located in the heart of the city, standing in the gardens one feels removed from the fast paced life of the nation's capital' and I guess that is true, if you could ignore the heaving crowds, that is.
The huge sweeping South Lawn, where the president lands his helicopter, was lovely with views of the Washington Monument in the distance. I was interested in visiting the Kitchen Garden, planted by Michelle in 2009, (not the first time a vegetable has been planted in the White House, we've heard), but honestly the queue was quite daunting and it wasn't really that impressive, barely the size of Richard's at home, so we flagged that bit and continued on until we emerged on the other side of the grounds.
We wandered down to the park across the road and had a little sit down on the grass and planned our next move. Not too far away was the Washington Monument so we strolled over to see it more closely. This 555 foot marble obelisk honours the nation's founding father George Washington, who led the Continental Army to victory, and then became the nation's first president under the Constitution. Unfortunately it has been closed to the public since 2011, due to damage it sustained in an earthquake. It is completely covered in scaffolding but that does little to detract from its simple splendour.

Whoa, it's a long way down.

And out we popped, in the middle of the city.

Another icon.

Obama's frolicking on their lawn. (We didn't really see them,
this is a photo of a photo)

Ma and Pa visit the big smoke.

Yep, that's us outside the White House

Tom's 'arty' shot of Washington Monument. Not sure if he planned to have his mother in the picture.
I've only just noticed it myself.

On the South Lawn

Going for the'arty' shot.

There's something less than formidable about a policeman on a bike!

Now at 18 hands, this percheron-cross police horse has a real presence.

After meandering around the parks, stopping for an iced lemonade (not the fizzy kind- the old fashioned homemade kind) we headed up the very broad Constitution Avenue. This was more like a huge park and a few stragglers from the marathon were manfully plugging on.
Constitution Ave houses the famous Smithsonian Institution that is responsible for operating 19 (that's right - 19!) museums. The Smithsonian was named after an English scientist who, although he had never visited America or had any known American connections, left his considerable fortune of 100,000 pounds to the American government providing they named an institution of learning after him. Honestly, along here there is something that will interest everyone. Entrance is FREE but you do have to endure the kind of security checks that they have at the airports.
We decided, that as we were visiting America it would only be polite to learn a little of its history so our first port of call the the American History museum. There were at least 3 levels in this building so we concentrated mainly on the presidents. My favourite part though, was right down in the basement level where we hopped on board a space ship. Clang went the door as we strapped ourselves in and took off into outer space, clinging on to our hand rail for dear life as we swooped and dived around the planets.
Having had our enthusiasm whetted our next stop was the the Air and Space Museum. The lads enjoyed this one particularly - by this stage I was a little 'spaced' out. I did enjoy seeing the old planes though, particularly Amelia's and reading about the early women aviators.
I would have loved to have visited the Natural History museum  and the zoo, or even the gardens, but by this time we had walked nearly 16 kilometres and we just didn't have the oomph or head space to take in any more information. Maybe next time.

Note the two significant names in this display of
roads named after American presidents.

Civil Was Union Draft wheel - a device used
for conscription.

Constitution Avenue - a lovely tree lined, park like thoroughfare
lined with massive museums.

Outside the Fine Arts museum. Looks awfully familiar (to the rocks on our lawn), except
this one has been sculptured.

The Castle

Squirrel Nutkin chancing his hand.

Smithsonian Castle

Amelia Earhart and the 5B Vega.

More bloody space crafts.

Washington DC

We arrived in Washington, only the slightest bit disgruntled, and quickly found our way to the shuttle depot where we had booked a ride into town. Quick chat at the desk and 'yes there is a shuttle leaving now. If you hurry you can make it.' Which we did after telling our driver where we were going. Once the bus was filled we headed off into town, not too far as it happened. After making several stops we finally pulled up in front of the Marriott hotel. After checking with the driver yet again, that this was the right place, and being assured it was, we slipped the guy his tip and waved him goodbye. 

"Golly," we thought, "this is nice and central."

We dragged our luggage into the foyer and thought "Golly, this is flash," especially considering what we paid. I went up to the desk to check in.

"Um no, there's no one here under that name. Are you sure you have the right Marriott?" 

Apparently there is at least four Marriott hotels in Washington DC and despite the fact that we had asked the driver if this was Wardman Park Marriott he either misheard or simply couldn't be bothered to take us any further. Yikes, well what do we do?

I sweet talked the man behind the counter some more and made a brave effort not to burst into tears. While he didn't respond with reluctance exactly, I could hardly say he responded with alacrity either. I'm guessing, this is the tipping thing again. The "I wonder if there'll be anything in it for me" attitude.We found this attitude to customer service just about everywhere we went. These people could learn some lessons from even the most humble motel operators in New Zealand.

Anyway, he must have had quite a kind heart and felt sorry for this motley group of bumpkins, so rang around and found the shuttle company number for me and handed me the phone. After being shunted from one person to the other their final solution was - "Get a cab!"

Having pre-booked and PAID to be delivered to our hotel was to avoid this exact sort of stress in the first place. My fury threatened to leak out my eyes. 

Trying not to let my voice quaver, I ordered a cab.

We were duly delivered to the correct place and we paid the cabby his $15 (American) plus tip! Still, it turned out our real hotel was not too bad at all. It didn't quite have the swank of the first, being somewhat more dated, but certainly more than adequate for our needs. We were quite 'gruntled'.

Faded splendour.
Wardman Park Hotel.  Slightly outmoded
but must have been grand in its time.

Sunrise from our window.

A few minutes later.

Lovely gardens where we sat and

watched the squirrels frolic.

With all the kerfuffle we really only had enough time left in the day to explore our immediate vicinity. Just down the hill from our hotel was a small shopping centre with several small resaurants and a subway entrance. We went in search of basic sustenance (wine and crackers) calling into a liquor store where we bought glasses and a lovely soft cheese. The pharmacy on the corner sold everything! Halloween products featured prominently as Halloween was only a few days away. What astounded us about the pharmacies that we went into was the huge range of stuff you could buy there, more like a supermarket, including cigarettes incongruously placed next to the rather small dispensary. We managed to buy necessities like extra coffee and milk along with crackers, so we were satisfied.

Later on we tracked Tom down in the bustling hotel bar where he was chatting to another visitor. We decided it was as good a place as any to have a meal, although it was unmemorable.

Our first impressions of Washington was that it was a beautiful, tree filled city, with lovely stone bridges and buildings, and although it was dry, the gardens were well tended and green. It was early fall and the trees were just putting on their autumn frocks and looking quite spectacular.