Background

I had always wanted to visit Washington (or DC as it is referred to, to prevent confusion with Washington state) and the US Presidential election at the end of 2004 only increased my desire to make a visit. I had originally planned to take it in as part of a longer trip to the US, but having used up a lot of leave on my 3 week New Zealand holiday, I decided to make it a long weekend instead.

Itinerary

Unfortunately the weather was appalling throughout my stay - all three days were heavy rain and low cloud . This made it difficult to see much other than the inside of various museums (DC has a lot of these!). There was a slight break in the weather on the Saturday, which enabled me to take some pictures and get around a bit more, but the rain soon resumed in the afternoon.

Over the three days, I visited the National Museum of American History, the National Holocaust Museum and the National Air and Space Museum. Due to the long lines (of mainly schoolchildren) at most attractions, I decided to select a few places to visit thoroughly, rather than try and get around as many places as possible. I also did some walking (when it wasn't raining too hard), managing to take in the Capital, Library of Congress, Supreme Court, White House, Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials and most of the National Mall.

Capitol Building

Washington Monument

White House

Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials

Smithsonian Institution, Library of Congress and Supreme Court

Union Station