New York and Washington

 On my camera this photo was slightly less dark. I may have to do stuff to it in photoshop. Anyway. This is us on our first night in New York on Top of the Rock with the Empire State Building in the background. We were all completely knackered but it was worth it for the views. Just after I took this there was loud whooping and cheering from the other end of the observation deck - someone had just proposed to his girlfriend - ah!

 The next day we went to the Statue of Liberty. They all went to the top and I stayed at here at the pedestal level, it was much safer. It was a very hot day. We saw the 9/11 memorial after that then crashed at the hotel for a bit before heading off to the Baseball Match.

 Baseball was fun, once I'd figured out the rules. The confusing bit was why the whole team didn't come out to bat. Then Caitlin explain that they only bat til three players are out. We were quite high up in the stadium and it got a bit windy. I had to buy Caitlin and Ellie t-shirts.

 On Saturday we had brunch in Central Park and had a wander around. Then it rained a bit. So we visited the Marvel Station exhibition in Times Square. Times Square was my least favourite part of New York. It was too crowded and they are digging half of it up so all you can do is walk round the edges. Stupid people.

 Back in Times Square in the evening we met Jackie and Alan. They'd just arrived. We went for a drink and a bite to eat in a very nice Irish bar called The Mean Fiddler. It was all a bit surreal, but nice.

 Amtrack to Washington yesterday. We arrived at 12.30 and managed to see all the major sites in one day. We walked past the FBI building to the White House, couldn't get up to the black fence cos they were closing the sidewalk as we arrived so had to view it from the grass across the road. Then over to the Lincoln Memorial, stopping for a drink by one of the lakes. We walked down one side of the long rectangular Reflecting Pool and stopped for another rest. Then just beyond that was the WWII memorial where everyone sat with their feet in the water.

We did the same. After that we had our slot to go up to the top of the Washington Memorial. Great views and a bargain considering it was free apart from the $6 booking fee. We got about half a mile away from the Capitol Building before deciding we were too hot, hungry and fed up of walking to go any further, but we got some good photos of it.
   On the whole, although there is more to see and do in New York, Washington is my favourite so far. It's cleaner, spacier, fresher somehow.