It rained on our parade.

We were ready before the boys this morning and sat waiting outside our room for the shuttle to take us all to the Metro. The Metro, here in Washington is clean and efficient. One can get a Seniors ticket, which allows us to travel half price!!! The boys could only get one from a Sales Office and not the Down Town Station we got on at. But they did this before proceeding out into the street.

It was only a short walk from Metro Central to the White House. Here we were surprised, as it was very much like a "Speaker's Corner". All manner of people were about, not just tourists, but men in suits carrying a paper cup of coffee, joggers and protesters too. Not at all what we expected to find in front of the official residence of the head of the most powerful nation on Earth!

We loved the fact that this reporter was rehearsing his script and standing on a box!

One more wierdo amongst this crowd was hardly noticed.

This chap had a boogey box which was providing him with squeaky music so he could sing praises to Jesus, praise the Lord!

The atmosphere in Washington was also quite different to New York, Boston, or Philadelphia. For one thing the streets are wider so the traffic noise is less. There are fewer large trucks and the black limos seem to slide silently by. The people on the streets are seemingly busy "important" people doing important things. We noticed fewer fat people too. Were they banned, do you think, for they are still out there.

Sadly it started to drizzle and so once we had had enough of the front of the building we stopped for a coffee.

Note that we have taken shelter under the table.

We walked on into the park behind the White House and found mainly tourists here and less of a problem taking pictures through the bars.

Around the park there are also lots of memorials to the fallen of the various Wars. The majority strangely have only been put up in the last 20 years or so. The main one to WWII was dedicated by George Bush for example!

That more soldiers died in the American Civil War than in WWII is an interesting fact.

On the other side of the park to the Vietnam Memorial is the one to the Korean War. This too was not put up until 1995!

The Lincoln Memorial was next on our list.

The walls are inscribed with his Gettysburg Address and the Second Inaugural Speech. Would he be turning in his grave at how the party politics of America today, hand ties the incumbent President? We think so.

We had had enough of walking in the cold rain and stopped for another drink where some feathered friends came to visit and then we made our way home.