We arrived Monday June 23rd, tired after the flight and a long queue to get through immigration. We were cheered up by the fact that the hotel was great. The Madera is just off Dupont Circle. We had an enormous room  10m x 5m. It had everything, including a dock for Les's iPod, a CD player and internet access.

They served a free glass of wine from 5 to 6pm, so we went to the bar. The restaurant looked good and we decided to eat. After that we kept ourselves awake by walking to the White House.

Further than it looked on the map (or maybe we were more tired than we realised), but it gave us a chance to see some of the ordinary business district, and when it rained we came back on the metro so that we could try the ticketing etc at a relatively quiet time.

Tuesday 24th we did a walking tour. W e went through Georgetown, then down to the Potomac at Washington Harbor (sic) where we took a boat trip followed by lunch. We had a long afternoon's walking past Watergate and the Kennedy Centre to the Lincoln Memorial, then past the Korean War memorial (strange but very moving), and along the reflecting pool  to the WWII memorial (they've  got the dates wrong)  and on to the Washington Monument. The day was really hot - nearly 90^o but it was OK at the start as there were lots of trees and a nice breeze. We wilted when we ran out of shade around the Washington Monument, and at that point we took a cab back to the hotel. Saw Bush/Cheney motorcades several times.

Wednesday 25th we got the open top double-decker tour bus, which lets you hop on and off. Great views, a lovely cooling breeze on the top deck, and a quick way to see all the major sites. We got off first at Arlington. JFK's grave was less impressive than we'd imagined, but the rest of the cemetery was immaculate and moving. Next hop-off was the Smithsonian, where we had a quick lunch. We then went to the Old Post Office Pavilion for the views from the tower. We took the Metro to get to Capitol Hill, and after a walk round the area hopped back on the tour bus to Dupont Circle.

Thursday 26th we took the tour bus again to the National Cathedral and had a guided tour. This just left time to get back and check out before our taxi called to take us to the airport to pick up our hire car for the rest of the holiday.