So I picked Washington DC to go to on the way through to Birmingham and the South thinking it would be a good place for children. It was not as I had expected. It is a museum town in more ways than one. A place created for government and crammed with politico’s, journo’s and law/political/journalist students. It has grand neoclassical museums, monuments and memorials, and government buildings by the dozen but (in the central part anyway) it doesn’t feel like real life happens. There are no independent cafe’s, restaurants, shops around the main areas- just those attached to above mentioned sites. Everything is so spread apart along the National Mall with dusty grass and pebbled paths. The whole thing feels like a monument that is trying to say “Hey look at us, forget Greece and Athens- we are the seat of democracy and we have the buildings to prove it”. We were often the only non-American tourists at all the sites which felt quite weird , but then again perhaps others had read the memo. We did manage to pack a lot in, but unless politics and museums are your thing WashingtonDC may not be yours. It was however an interesting comparison to the other cities we have visited.

We started the three days with a bike tour- interestingly here you have to be 16 years or older to ride an e bike so we couldn’t repeat the fun of Paris. As in Paris we were also stopped by a protest rally- two actually. One with several hundred people declaring Black trans lives matter, the other a counter point of around 10 people at a Donald Trump Supporters rally. These turned out to be Women of Oregon (see photo). Washington does not seem to be a Trump city.

Elise – Washington was a good city to visit if you like museums and/or politics. my favourite museums were the International Spy museum and the Natural History museum. I liked the Spy museum for its fun, interactiveness and the Natural History museum for its impressive collection of gems, rocks and minerals. We also visited the White House, the Capitol and the Washington Monument while on a bike tour around D.C.

A little note for our lawyer friends. We took a photo of the Supreme Court frontage ( the children raced each other up and down the steps). It says “Equal Justice Under Law”. Based on our later experience in Birmingham learning about the treatment of African Americans in the south, Mark’s binge watching of The Case against Adnad Sayed (highly recommended, or if you can’t watch it, try the “Serial” podcasts, in which an American boy of 17 from a muslim Pakistani immigrant family was convicted of murder. The story and his conviction is just unbelievable. Truth and justice is not a goal of the law!), and the ongoing claims that Abortions rights etc are going to be challenged by the current supreme court, it seems closer to the truth to say that America has Equal Justice Under Law for rich white men. For women, non-whites, and non-Christians, not so much…..

Tessa – Washington D.C. felt like they were telling you the past with their many Museums and Monuments, whereas in other places we have visited you were being shown the past in everyday places. I really enjoyed the Air and Space museum because I am really interested in the stars. The Spy museum was interactive and it was fascinating how technology has changed the world of espionage. The Austin Martin in the photos below is the one from James Bond.

Adam: Washington was alright but not amazing because there were too many museums and not many other things. Some museums I liked but most of them were boring. The one I liked the most was the Spy museum because it was very interactive. In the Spy museum you got set on a mission and had a taster of what it would be like to be a spy…

Sonja; my two favourite buildings were the East gallery of the National Art gallery and the National Library. The East gallery has Modern art with large installations but also some Rothko, Pollock, Leichenstein, Miro, Picasso and Warhol to look at. Some works made the children giggle- the white squares on a white background for instance, and the massive blue Rooster. The National Library was a beautiful building, decorated with murals and the reading room looked calm and cool. Might have felt a bit intimidated if I had to study there for my exams though.