12th Dec
Yet again this morning we had breakfast at the hotel, I had pancakes today and Rob had another omelette, this resulted in a cost including tip of $16.
We decided to visit Arlington Cemetery today and so set off walking. It took us around an hour to walk the distance, it was fairly chilly again today!
I think we spent a couple of hours here, it was a slightly odd experience as some people were taking selfies and posing for pictures which didn’t feel appropriate (to us). What struck both of us were the number of graves – I think it said there were over 400,000!
Once we left we decided to visit the Lyndon Johnson memorial which was apparently a distance of 1.25 miles from the exit of the cemetery – well it certainly felt longer! The wind had picked up and so it wasn’t the most pleasant of walks.
We arrived at the Navy and Marine memorial but struggled to find the Lyndon Johnson one – we did eventually but I must admit that I wasn’t impressed!
We had hoped to find a café or something but there wasn’t one so we carried on around and eventually got a drink when we got near to the Jefferson monument after walking across the windiest bridge!
After our incredibly long walk back from Arlington we decided we needed to rest at the hotel before having an early dinner at Old Ebbitt Grill around 1800.
We had a good meal but both agreed that we had preferred The Hamilton overall. We decided to have yet another early night as we were tired!
(30,463 steps, 12.87 miles)
11th Dec
This morning we had breakfast in the hotel again, today we both had omelettes which resulted in a slightly higher cost of $20 including tip.
We left the hotel around 10 and our first task of the day was to send a package of chocolate to a friend in South Carolina. On Jennifer’s recommendation we went to the USPS which was about a block away.
Thankfully it was a little warmer out today 
So our plan for today was to visit some of the monuments and memorials. On our previous trip we took a guided tour and so this time we decided we would self tour them.
We started with the Washington memorial which is currently closed for repairs so we could only take photos from the outside – it’s a lot bigger than it seems when you get close to it!
We then did a circuit which included the World War 2 memorial, the reflecting pool followed by the Lincoln and Korean War memorials. It was slightly disappointing to see that there were several signs telling people to “respect the memorials”.
We then went in search of a coffee and cake which we found at a Starbucks near GW university.
Taking a slightly extended tour we then headed back via Lincoln to see the following monuments/memorials: Martin Luther King Jr, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, George Mason, Thomas Jefferson.
We then walked past the bureau of printing and engraving and the Holocaust memorial/museum.
Continuing our long trek around the city we walked all the way across to the Capitol building where we took a few photos outside including the Ulysses S Grant statue and yet another Xmas tree.
We had decided we wanted a picture we had seen at the Christmas market and so we walked to 8th Street and got ourselves a couple of items Then finally we headed back to the hotel whilst also finding a restaurant along the way for dinner.
We arrived back at around 1700 so had a couple of hours rest before dinner at The Hamilton at 1900. It was much colder on the walk across but luckily it wasn’t too far from the hotel. We had a really good meal and had a group of secret service sat 2 tables away from us!
Dinner was $100 including tip and in the way back we stopped to take a few night time photos of the Christmas tree!
(34985 steps, 14.78 miles)
10th Dec
As we were so tired last night, we managed to sleep through to a reasonable time. I think we were awake at around 0700.
We started with breakfast in the hotel as our Gold membership gave us either a free continental breakfast or $15 off any of the items on the menu. I had the continental option today and Rob decided on an omelette. We paid the difference and a tip which came to a total of $12.
We wrapped up (it was quite cold) and headed out into the city. We took a quick walk past the White House and got a few photos of the National Christmas Tree and the trees representing each state (I didn’t photograph them all!)
Having taken lots of photos we started off towards the museums and our first choice was the Museum of American History. I’m pretty sure our favourite exhibit was a metro train which moved and made noises 😀 We spent a little while here which allowed us to warm up slightly…!
Next up we decided to find somewhere with hot drinks – we found a Starbucks a few blocks away and then stumbled across a Christmas market around 8th St. We didn’t buy anything today but decided to come back later in the trip.
On our previous trip to DC (in 2007) we ended up eating at Burger King on our first night as we hadn’t made any plans. In an attempt to avoid this, we started looking for restaurants for our dinner this evening as we walked around.
We made a brief visit to the Air & Space Museum where we had intended to get lunch but discovered the food court was closed…..so instead we got McDonalds!
We then decided to take a break back at the hotel as we were cold.
After resting for a while and warming up we headed out for dinner. We had hoped to eat at the Old Ebbitt Grill (just across from the White House) but it was incredibly busy.
So, we ended up at the Hard Rock Café – not quite Burger King but not what we had planned. We were getting tired though so it wasn’t a bad choice.
After dinner we went back and got an early night.
(28191 steps, 11.92 miles)
