I woke to a beautiful sunny day, crisp and cold outside, but the sky is a fabulous deep blue, perfect sightseeing weather.
I started off by heading for the White House, just around the corner from me. You can’t get that close anymore, but I managed to get on the road in front of it taking in the view, just before the security service guys decided to close the road. I know you’ve seen a thousand pictures of the White House, but the difference with this one is that I took it 🙂
Next up was the National Mall, starting at the Washington memorial, the wind is brutal, god knows what Chicago will be like! The memorial is impressive and was the highest building in DC for many years. The marbled stone wasn’t cold to the touch despite the wind. 
Leaning against the monument taking a photo upwards, gives the impression of how high it is. DC is just wall to wall impressive buildings, monuments and wide boulevards. It’s certainly impressive, but at the moment I’m feeling it lacks a little soul.
I then headed in the direction of the Lincoln memorial, taking in the Vietnam war veterans monument on the way. On a whim I looked through the book of all the fallen for my surname. 
There were 4, no relation I’m sure, but I add the photo with their names to this blog in their memory. 
A curved wall then looms up, covered with 4046 gold stars. Each star on the wall represents 100 soldiers who died in the Second World War. It is sobering to look at and reflect on the terrible losses incurred by all sides.
Finally at one end of the Mall you arrive at the Lincoln memorial. To either side of his statue are some of the speeches that he made. Including the one starting ‘four score and seven years ago’. 
He sits at ease in a chair, larger than life, towering high above you, a study in white marble.
Rather than work my way back up the National mall to the Capitol building at the other end, I continue on across a bridge, guarded by two golden statues, towards Arlington national cemetery. I can’t begin to explain the size and sense of calm you feel here. 
There are some 400,000 graves, from the thousands of small white gravestones of individual servicemen and women, to the tomb of the unknown soldier. 
I watched the changing of the guard, which culminated in one lone soldier pacing endlessly from one side to the other. Stopping only at each end for a short pause, to turn and to carry out manoeuvres with his ancient rifle, complete with bayonet.
In most instances the wives of the great men or vice versa are also buried here as you can see from the engravings on the headstones. 
The graves of those that died in the space shuttle disaster are here and many of the Kennedy family, including of course JFK himself together with his wife Jacqueline. There is an eternal flame that burns behind the two simple granite slabs laid flat on the earth.
I visited the house of Robert E Lee, upon which much of the 624 acre cemetery sits and looked at his desk, where he signed the surrender of the confederate forces at the end of the civil war.
After spending several hours there I hopped on the metro for the two stops to Foggy Bottom, rather than walking. I’ve already clocked up over 30,000 steps today and it’s early yet. I stopped at a whole food cafe and had some lovely red lentil and dahl soup, which was spicy and warming against the biting wind.
I thought I would then visit a museum, but unfortunately they are nearly all closed on Monday and Tuesday, again ‘due to Covid’ what these people are going to do when they actually have to do a proper weeks work again, I don’t know!
There was a bar/restaurant I very much liked the look of that I came across in my wanderings. Called the Old Ebbitt grill, it has been around since 1856 and is situated right near the White House. It is the oldest saloon in DC and has refreshed many a president in the past. McKinley is even said to have lived there. I booked a table for later and headed back to my hotel.
So suitably attired (outfit number one!) I headed back to the Old Ebbitt grill and I can confirm it is fabulous. In fact it has dislodged La part des Anges on Rue Esquermoise in Lille, France, as my favourite place. The Fraunces Tavern in downtown New York came close, but this is it. I don’t think I’d ever tire of coming here. Every dish is beautifully prepared and presented and tastes amazing. The waiters are outstanding, the list of beers wonderful and the wine good. If you don’t fancy sitting at a table you can grab a seat at the 20 odd metre long bar and take pot luck with who you end up chatting to. I ended up chatting to a young lady, who works at the White House. 
She asked me what I meant when she heard me order my steak blue as she had never heard the expression before, although thankfully the waiters had, as you can see. We talked politics, of course, not sure we were on the same side though 😬.
Suitably fed and watered, I headed back to my hotel. Definitely feeling the 33,118 steps and the wind blasting of today.