01/08 - Gothenburg > Washington - Mart drove us to airport where a pink rising sun met us. Flight to London was uneventful. Then 3.5 hours wait until flight to DC. Spoke to a guy next to us at Starbucks, and found him to be a lawyer specialising in LG in NSW and also involved with recruitment for councils. What a coincidence. Flight to DC tiring [8 hrs] then 75 min cab ride for $75 to our new home in Washington. Interesting area. Wow!! The "Central Washington" address turned out to be about 50 blocks from downtown. Obviously poor area, 90% black/Hispanics, some don't speak English well or at all, some houses deserted and boarded up, others poorly maintained, footpaths dirty, lawns not mown, doesn't feel too safe, "20 min walk" around corner to Safeway ended up about an hour in mid-30s temp and blazing sun, lots of police patrol cars out this afternoon and evening... hmmm. On the other hand, a young black passerby helped us get our bags from the cab to the house... insisted that he help. Nice guy, wasn't trying to mug us after all. :-) Marta's knee playing up again but she limped home OK - only to stub her big toe on a nailhead sticking out on the landing on the internal stairway. Bought a Chinese takeway up the road - Szechuan Prawns and a Triple Delight - both excellent and tasty - HUGE portions for about $9 each, enough to do us for at least 2 nights. Absolutely exhaused by now, we were asleep before our heads hit the pillows around 9:00. I found my power adapter wasn't working when we got here and nothing locally sells computer power cords so have made it priority to locate a Radio Shack in the morning.

Photos: Our home at 5521 7th Street and looking sideways from the porch to verandahs of adjoining homes. We found later that these homes are a typical nicer and of better style than most others in the area, dating back to the 1930s, with many such developments throughout Washington. They certainly encourage getting to know the neighbours, although the heat here at present would not encourage many to sit out there during the day.

Photos: Lounge, Dining/kitchen and bedroom.

Photos: Local street scenes and signs of the times.

02/08 - down to the bus stop to go downtown and join a hop on hop off tour. Had a chat to a young Latino guy waiting for a bus - nice guy, gave us the drunm on how the whole system worked. Used a temp metro pass left for us at the house to get downtown and then bought a seniors 7-day pass for $8 each - better value that Sydney even for oldies. Then the yellow route bus tour - lunch at a chop't - excellent and tasty salads - bought power cord from Radio Shack across the road, a look through Macy's next door - then hop on hop off tour red route after lunch and back home about 6:00. Bus this time to local safeway for supplies and back around an hour later. The local are really very nice an obliging. They always say hello and give way or nod in passing. Ladies at the bus stop near safeway sprang uup and offered us theur seats as soon as we approachs. Would not accept no for an answer. Simply remained standing and seats empty until we sat down. One was in her 20s, the other maybe 50s. Biy, we must look old eh? Another early night - dining on day 2 of the Chinese - still delicious - after an exhausting day.

03/08 - Washington - bus to coffee downtown at 9:15 then hop on hop off blue tour before lunch of lobster rolls at Luke's Lobsters downtown. Yummy, especially at only $15 a roll, fully stuffed with Maine lobster meat. Then hop on hop off bus to American Indian Museum - very interesting and thought provoking - before a Turle Burger downtown - only average, but adequate. Home around 7:00 to catch up with email and do some reading [books and SMH] before retiring, again tired after another solid day.

04/08 - Washington - Saturday - Safeway for supplies then downtown for coffee and a look around. Washington on Saturday is dead. Few around. Many shops closed. Blazingly hot again, especially in sun. Had lunch at a Chipotle Mexican BBQ. Not bad. A bit too hot for Marta even though she didn't have much with heat included. Found a place to get the key to here duplicated [too dangerous with only one] and buy some booze [spirits available only at "Liquor Stores" - everywhere else sell only beer and wine as "they have no alcohol". ??? Hmmm... Then bus back at 3:30, already tired and ready for ca cooling drink. Email from Marcus advising they are now in Helsinki, he has proposed to Carmen, she said yes and they will likely marry next year after the birth. That's the last one gone!!

Photos: Starting our hop on hop off tour with 2-day tickets.

Photos: Lunch venue , our bus 79 from downtown, lobster rolls at Luke's Lobster, another lunch venue, entry to American Indoans Museum and Marta at her favourite spot.

Comments...
    Having lived here now for four day and having had ten trips on the bus 70/79 route [70 is all stops, 79 is express] between downtown on one end and Safeway at the other, we have been the only whites on all but one, yesterday, which also had an elderly lady and a young lady. Are we in a coloured corridor of Washington? It doesn't look that way as downtown most folk are coloured too. Most Caucasions seem to be tourists or office workers who drop in to Starbucks and the like to get a coffee. The coloured are all very pleasant too. Always helpful if asked anything. Black or brindle, they have ALL been pleasant. They also look after each other - and other passengers. If a younger person doesn't get up or make room when an elderly person enters, he/she risks being seriously berated by others... can't you see he needs a seat... make way for the poor lady, can't you see she needs a seat... etc? Also, if someone is seen running for the bus as it starts to pull away... hey driver, someone coming, stop driver, stop. And the driver stops and opens the door!! A really nice community atmosphere. Haven't seen that anywhere else before. Also with tattoos, I have seen no coloureds with tatoos, only whites.
    Update... just found out [and remembered some history] that Washington in the southern part of the US and was the capital at the time of the Civil War and bastion for black slavery. Slaves stayed when liberated and are now a strong demographic in the area. We are therefore not in any black corridor or poor area. Most of Washington is the same, except of course for all the public buildings and museums. It is littered with both. As for size, it's much like Canberra on super steroids. Walking distances between museums, public buildings and monuments are huge. Doing it in high 30s heat certainly saps most of the energy out of the body very quickly. Marta's knee continues to slow her down so will have to start looking at alternatives for getting around.
    The other thing I've noticed is the high incidence of physically or mentally disabled passengers on the buses and down the street. It is not high in % terms but quite noticeable while travelling around.

05/08 - Washington - Sunday - even quieter than Saturday. Black ladies in their finery going to church by bus in the morning and back in afternoon when we returned. Relaxing day visiting the Spy Museum that covers many aspects of international spying and the worries for spying and preventing cyber attacks in the 21st century - very interesting and quite a worry when you can see what and how easily major damage could be done withe the latest "Weapons Of Mass Disruption". A poor lunch in their poor excuse for ChinaTown then home about 3:00. very hot again. Chicken at home tonight and to bed around 9:00. Starting to feel quite at home now in Washington.

Photos: Impressive entry to non-existent Chinatown and matching [poor] Chinese lunch.

06/08 - Washington - overcast and temp back to 30-odd, air feels heavy but at least a little cooler. Strange that even in this heat I haven't been perspiring so must have been very dry although everyone complains of the humidy. Google shows humidy around 66-85%. ??? Visit Coliumbia Heights by bus/walk. Bus had three wheelchair passengers on and off today - neat machanism to get them on/off and then "seat" them inside. Nice shopping centre with Best Buys, Target etc. Interestingly, no supermarket. Visited Museum of Unnatural History, small but interesting and humorous. Bought SIM from T-mobile - great deal - $10 for the SIM + $2 a day for any day the phone is used - the $2 includes unlimited voice + unlimited text + 2Gb internet download. Top-up online or by phone. Bus downtown for lunch [Connecticut oysters - their large = our medium] - and a prawn-based spagetti dish that was very nice. Dining out works pout expensive here as although prices look OK although a tad on the high side in straight dollar terms, plus 10% tax and 15% tip are a killer. Then tried metro train to Union Station. Checked out feasibility of a day trip to Pittsburg or New York. Too expenseive, too long and too much hassle. Dinner at home.

Photos: Buses all have wheelchair access and can carry bicycles for passengers.

Photos: Unnatural History Museum, mural at local music conservatory just around the corner, pasta lunch, metro station, Union Station, our express bus service.

07/08 - coooler - mid 20s - up late again and not off until 10:30 - bus to Silver Spring in Maryland, just out of Washington - vibrant suburb/city centre - Shark Week [whatever that is] starts on Sunday and huge signs up promoting it. Silver Spring is a big eat-city with the huge number of restaurants. Had a coffee and walk around then lunch at Copper Canyon - ribs and a bread pudding that was HUGE, especially at just $7.50 - we couldn't finish it between us. Great supermarket too where we stocked up with strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries amongst other stuff. Will definitely be back before we leave. Home around 3:30.

Photos: The eycatching Shark Week promotion

Photos: Silver Spring - part of eat street and fountains for kids to play in.

Photos: Local signs, school bus, signs, lunch, huge pudding and local tax accountant with all window barred.

08/08 - still mid-20s when we head out at 10:00 for coffee downtown, then to Smithsonian Air & Space Museum [huge] on Independence. Back got sore after a couple of hours so hoofed it back to downtown for a late lunch at Jack's Deli on Indiana. Hot & cold - help yourself - pay by the pound to cashier. Really good.Cheap. Then bus to Silver Springs for some supplied - stopped also at fro.zen.yo to try it out as day was again hot by now. Really nice yoghurt - again, fill tub with whatever you want and pay by the pound at checkout. Back home about 5:00. Sausage dinner, a bit of reading and to be about 8:30.

Photos: Air and Space Musem photos [eg Wright Bros 1st plane and planets relationships], typical huge buildings [many reminiscent of ancient Rome] in downtown area and deli lunch.

09/08 - high-20s as we head off around 10:00. Bus downtown then about 15 blocks walk to White House via Macy's for Marta to try some new jeans. Nothing suitable so continued to White House, buying some caps at a stall along the way. White House is pretty big when you get up close. Long walk just to get around it. Heaps of tourists already there. An invitation from a congressman is necessary to get inside the gates so outside we stayed. Then lunch nearby [5 blocks] at Jack's Fresh Salad Bar & Grill - almost identical to Jack's Deli where we lunched yesterday but much bigger and slightly different menu at bar. Great choice of everything you could want, good quality and very cheap. Then on to Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery some 8 blocks back. Sun blazing and stinking hot so stopped at another fro.zen.yo to cool down. These are SOOO great! The museum and gallery were both very good but, like everything else here, huge. We would have seen only about 25-30% of the displays before exhaustion and backache had us stop. A coffee at Starbucks a couple of blocks away and some grocery shopping completed the day. Home around 5:00 again for drinks and dinner before bed around 8:30.

Photos: White House - as close as you can get to it at the front, no telphoto.

Photos: White House front and rear. You can get quite close to it at the rear and that is where you enter if you have a visitor pass.

Photos: Marta looking for a cap and Jack's Fresh logo.

Photos: Some modern art at the art museum - not allowed to take photos in most of the rooms but these apparently OK.

10/08 - woke to rain and much cooler [20-ish] day. Decided on not pounding the pavements so took bus at corner to Friendship Heights, on the border with Maryland, half an hour away. Driver was a young girl - pedal to the metal all the way and stopping almost with a slide. She was gunning it through an green lights intersection soon after we boarded when a guy to our right ran the reds in his pickup, just in front of the bus. He hit the brakes when he saw the bus but ended up blocking our lane so the driver had to take evasive action at speed. No time to stop the bus at that speed. She did very well, controlled it nicely, swerving past him mid-intersection. We were sitting near the front so saw it all unfold. It happened so fast we didn't even have time to brace ourselves for a hit.
    Friendhsip is a very nice little city with high-end stores like Bloomingdales, Saks 5th Ave, Nieman Marcus etc. I was looking for a light windcheater or jacket to replace my red/blue one that is now aging but the only suitable one I could find was $448 so gave it a miss. Friendship is also a regular WHITE community, the first we have seen since we've been here. Bus going there was all coloured folk except us, mostly ditto on way back. At Friendship there were very few coloureds though. Just like in Australia. Felt too clean and antiseptic. And attitude was different. In the coloured areas they are very respectful towards females and age, of any colour. Over there it's the usual first in best dressed attidude that we're all used to. Lunch was a great sushi - will go back for more - sit-down affair. After trying sushi in Berlin, Gothenburg and DC it's interesting to see how they're all different in presentation - and all different to Australia. The supermarket there is Giant - every town seems to have its own brand, like Safeway at Brightwood near here and Whole Food Market in Silver Spring, unlike the Woollies and Coles chains in Aust - all very large and well stocked and all a little different. Bought some booze at a liquor store [Bacardi Gold $16.69 + 10% sales tax for 1 ltr bottle, a flagon for $19.99 + tax], some supplies at Safeways and back home about 4:00.

Photos: Marta in her natural element - shopping.

Photos: Friendship Heights main street interesection and relaxing fountains off street.

11/08 - Saturday in Washington again. Temp like yesterday and light overcast. Comfortable. Few shops open downtown last week so bus at 10:00 to Tenleytown - a nearby suburb we haven't visited - for a look around but nothing much there so continued to historic Georgetown. Got off at Wisconsin / 34th Street - quaint old town - quite large - lots of eateries and coffee places - shoes, dresses etc - but nothing to keep us hanging around for long. Elizabeth, our exchangee, had left us a note saying Kushi in the Chinatown area was really good so we struck out for there by foot, tp K Street near 5th Street. The streets here are laid out in a grid with letters north/south and numbers east/west, giving a rough idea of how long that was. Kushi was closed. Other restaurants nearby were open but they had decided not to. Back a couple of blocks to a bus stop and then to Friendship Heights to our sushi place yesterday - Sushiko Chevy Chase. Another excellent lunch followed by a fro.zen.yo up the road then back home about 4:00. Dinner some tacos from the taqueria just around the corner - looks delipadated from outside but tacos are great. Another racing bus driver on the way back - flat strap and crash stops all the way. Interesting item in the paper here today - the blacks out number the whites about 2:1 and the non-black & non-white community has created substantial pockets within both areas. From what I can tell on the maps, we appear to be in one of those areas, presumably Latino dominant with a good smattering of blacks.

Photos: Georgetown streets.

Photos: Boarding the morning bus at our corner, the sushi lunch and lunch area.

Photos: Typical homes in the better white areas around Friendship Heights, taken from bus.

12/08 - wind even felt cool as we set out at 11:00 to Silver Spring to see what the start of Shark Week was all about. Most buses here feel like they have no suspension at all and are very rough over even slight bumps. Today was no different. Saw several black ladies on the bus, dressed in their colourful Sunday best returning from church, looking very smart and dignified. Nothing too exciting for Shark Week - AfricaFest kicked off the week with lots of BBQ stalls, gift stalls and LOUD music. Too heavy for us so we went up the road and had some pancakes. Then downtown for a walk to Captol Hill for a closer look at the meeting place for US congress. Then back into town and bus home. Back by 5;00. We hadn't planned on much walking today but...

Photos: Our "healthy" pancakes lunch at Silver Spring.

Photos: The Capitol close up, one of the exquisite huge statues out front, a Washington homeless doing it tough with a PC, and a cute squirrel in the park in front of The Capitol.

13/08 - lazy sleep-in [surely not the aging process?] but out the door by 10:00 - nice morning, not too hot. First a nice chat to the black guy next door, doing our lawns and hedges. Nice guy, friendly, LOUD voice. Retired early after only 15 years as a bus driver with the metro transport service so can't get his pension for another three years. Tells me that full pension becomes available after working 27 years at a rate equivalent to the highest amount earned during any year while working. Hence most guys maximise overtime and allowance when they are ready to retire. "Not fair to penalise retirees and put them on a lower wage for their remaining years" he says. I agree. Marta doesn't - wants to argue. Shhhhh.
    Onto the bus and a coffee downtown and then to the Newseum. What a surprise. Brilliant. Seven floors plus basement. On entry, you go to the basement for a video intro to the museum, what is where and how best to attack it etc. They say go the level 6 and work your way down, covering the basement first as you're already there. Well... 2.5 hours later and we still hadn't finished the basement!! There is SO MUCH interesting stuff there... news in print, radio, TV, movies, video and internet. Absolutely fascinating.
    Late lunch at 2:30 at the famous Legal Seafoods on 7th Street - very nice, great service - and then back to the Newseum again. We skipped the rest of the basement for the moment and headed to level 6. Well... 3 hours later we were still on level 6 and only half way through! The tickets cover two days but we can see that is really nowhere enough. The history of news itself, old newsreels, old radio broadcasts, olkd TV news footages, interviews with reporters who did them, old newspapers... the list goes on. Not just the US but the whole world. The last 50 years of course are especially interesting as they bring back stories no longer in front of mind but were big back when they occurred. You don't realise how much has happened even just in one lifetime until you can see it all again - much like your lifetime flashing befor your eyes - plus background you didn't know about at the time, from police files etc. Back home about 6:00 after picking up a couple of bottles of wine. Nice home-cooked cheicken for dinner. Newseum opens at 9:00 tomorrow and that's we intend to be then.

Photos: Outside the Museum, the front page of a newspaper in every state is displayed each day. Makes for quite interesting reading in itself and seeing what news is of interest nationally and which is not. Most news for example, showed a shot of the Olympic Games closing ceremony last night and lauded the games and the way they had been run. Some, on the other hand, made no mention of the games at all and concentrated on purely local affairs. The second shot show the lobby of Legal Seafoods.

Photos: View towards The Capitol from 6th floor of Newseum, a part of the newspapers exhibition and a headline from Chicago in 1965 drawing attention to the cancer link for cigarette smokers.

14/08 - woke to rain and early 20s temps. Dry by the time we left at 8:30 for coffee and then the Newseum [newseum.org]. As entertaining as yesterday but we had had enough by 1:00 so headed off for a light salad lunch followed by a fro.zen.yo. Back home about 3:00 for packing and cleaning as we head for the airport and back to Australia tomorrow. Dinner of Tacos and Burrito from around the corner together [girl and mother from El Salvatore] with a bottle of Australian Yellow tail reisling. [The whole range of Yellow Tail is available here at Safeway for $10 for 2 bottles.]

Photos: Newseum foyer with huge screen and newschopper, today's front pages worldwide updated daily, print timeline for print news since 1455, headlines through the years nand a couple of the 100s of eyecatching news photos over the years.

Photos: Marta's favourite frozen yoghurt spot - selecting yoghurt froma range of 16 flavours, the extras available and sitting outside to eat - and Zombie Coffee, which they also sell.

15-16/08 - party's over - everything now packed and house cleaned - - super shuttle pickup at 11:24 for Dulles Airport for Virgin America flight to LA. We leave here at 3:55 PM [5:55 AM Thursday Sydney time [still Wednesday here] and land in Sydney 6:15 AM Friday after 4 hrs stopover in LA - total 24 hours travel time. Weather here 21-32 today. Sydney forecast 8-15 so need to travel in clothes far too hot for here.
    Shuttle driver didn't know way to airport - like taxi driver on the way in, non-communicative - black - met a nice lady poet/editor also in the shuttle - Andrea Carter Brown. She ended up telling him the way. Virgin America had us in last row of seats with no recline for 6 hours. Departure delayed due to storm front so we sat on tarmac 35 mins. Headphones $2, movies $8 each, most food and drinks cost $5+ but one free water or soft drink allowed. Flight had wi-fi on board @ $12/hr or $18/flt. First time I've been last off when we landed and had a chat to the cleaning crew who were already in. Dinner of very average tacos at airport for $55 with drinks and tip.

Photos: Farewell Washington as we head off in the shuttle.

Photos: Cramped seats in the back row with no adjustable backrest.

16-17/08 - Virgin Australia from LA to Sydney in Premium Economy was excellent for service and entertainment. Less than half full though. Also plenty of seats in business and economy. Watched Salmon Fishing in the Yemen with a couple of nice scotches then had a sleep for an hour or two. Too tired for dinner/midnight snack. Then read for a while - The Snowball. Arrived in Sydney on time, straight through customs and cab to Neutral Bay. Temp about 12, blue skies and sunny. Checked out the unit after recent rains [all OK] and then on to Wangi.

Photos: Homeward bound at LA airport lounge and then on board.

Photos: Dawn arrival in Sydney at about 15,000 feet.

Photos: Saying hello to Neutral Bay in bright sunshine.

Photos: Back home at Wangi Wangi by 12:00.

17/08 - Wangi Wangi - back home at last. It's nice to be back but the holiday was fantastic , every bit of it. Home swapping worked great and saved us five weeks accommodation and dining out in Europe and USA as well as giving us a much better insight as to what its like to live in each country as a local. Thoroughly recommended. The cruise too.