I like to be in America: 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.