Bienvenue au Canada

Wow, 2 days is not long enough to do Washington D.C.
Tip No. 2: Don't try doing Washington D.C. in two days, it's not long enough.

Seriously though, despite being smaller and much more spacious than New York, it's easy to spend months here and still not see everything. Here is the writer's guide to D.C. if you want to do a whirlwind tour:
     -Get up early, have breakfast and a coffee and get on a Metro (tickets are pretty expensive considering that you can get a daily back home for around $6, you can easily spend that in a day in D.C.). My local station was Metro Center which is on the Red, Blue and Orange lines.
     -Catch the train to Capitol South which is on the Orange and Blue lines as well. Jump off and take in the Library of Congress from the outside before heading into the Supreme Court of the United States (its an incredibly building).
     - Walk past the Capitol Building through the surrounding gardens and stop to take some photos from the Reflection Pool. On a nice day, the views from there, right up the mall to the Washington Monument and back to Capitol would be great (typically it was cloudy and raining when I was there).
     -If you stick to the south side of the mall, the first building you see will look like a giant carved tree stump. This is the National Museum of the American Indian and is well worth a visit.
     -Jaunt across to the north side and you will enter the eastern wing of the National Gallery of Art. You can walk all the way through to the western wing via a tunnel.
     -Walk back south the the Air and Space Museum. This is the best, most popular attraction of the all the Smithsonian Institutions. Grab a bite to eat from the food court and spend a couple of hours transfixed by the amazing technology and artifacts from the USA's conquest of the skies.
     - Continue heading west towards the National Museum of Natural History (on the north side). This is also a place where you can spend many hours looking at all the different exhibits.
     -Once the sun begins to descend, head to the Washington Monument. If you want to go to the top, you have to buy tickets in advance and tickets for the evening are usually sold out so take it in from ground level.
     -Take in the White House at night under illumination. Jump on the Federal Triangle Metro back to wherever you are staying.
     -It's worth also taking a trip to Georgetown to look at the university and the surrounding neighbourhood and also into Chinatown which is a big district in D.C.

That's it for now. Arrived in Toronto today and jump on The Canadian tomorrow for the epic 3.5 day ride across to Vancouver. Until then, a bid you adieu and will see you on the other side!

HIBC