Here we are in the most beautiful, Georgetown - Washington DC. The buildings are truly magnificent and we are in amongst the University buildings, so I feel quite comfortable! A flea-market at the nearby school yesterday was full of antiques - the other local fascination. Embassies are not far up the road, but we haven't found the Aussie one yet.

Father's Day yesterday was a fairly quiet event, where we had dinner in the hotel restaurant. Impressively, there was not a lot of commercialism surrounding this day, but Bill was wished a Happy Fathers Day in the nearby Safeway supermarket (where Laura ordered a 'small soda' and was given a 20oz cup!). Linda, who served in the liquor aisles donated a nice quality corkscrew to the Aussies, as well as taking Laura for a sample 'chocolate and M & M covered pretzel'. Hmmmm. She did finish both the soda and the pretzel eventually, but this proved to be an extended event! I made her eat an apple today!

Once again today we were on a big red bus. We caught the highly efficient Metro (which puts the Australian public transport systems to shame) into the city, then did about half the tour. The weather is quite hot (90 degrees plus) and sitting on top of a bus was not so 'cool'. By lunchtime we left this tour for some much needed water and decided instead to view a couple of the Smithsonian museums - American History and American Native. Some good learning opportunities for Laura, but probably the highlight was posing beside Dorothy's ruby shoes for a photo shoot!

An advantage of the much slower pace here in DC is that we have been able to relax by the pool of an evening - today's solstice giving us daylight until after 9pm - when the pool shuts.