Washington DC

First of all, I’m an auntie! Emiline Bax was born on 13th of November and is an absolute cutie judging by the pictures I’ve been sent by Granny Jacky.

Now. DC.

I arrived after 17 hours on the train, this time in a coach seat and not a private bedroom. I didn’t like it much. It’s definitely not as snug and sleeping is painful at times. Not only is it extremely cold on the train, but the seats weren’t as comfortable as I hoped they would have been. I was lucky however that nobody was sitting next to me and so I spread myself over two seats. I woke up every hour because of pins and needles in my feet and legs. As a result, I might have been slightly grumpy the next morning.

Darcy picked me up from the station and drove me around DC quickly to give me an introduction into Washington buildings and monuments. I don’t think there is any other city in the world that has so many remembrance monuments as DC has. There’s one for every war America took part in, every president that reigned, I’m sure they would put up a sign - This is the place were Abraham Lincoln produced his most famous fart – if it weren’t for the fact there’s no space left any more.

Over the next 3 days, I saw all the famous places up close, including the White House, the Capitol (which are 2 separate buildings and aren’t on top of each other – dumb ass!), the Lincoln phallus symbol, the reflective pool (but it’s an artificial lake really), the famous cemetery, the (let’s celebrate) WWII memorial, the famous museums, etc. We visited the Museum of Fine Arts and the National Portrait Gallery which are all free in DC and had some very enjoyable tea sessions in the afternoon! Darcy took me to Le Pain Cotidien, after telling me how much she despised chain restaurants and how wonderful this lovely French inspired tea place was, I had to disappoint and inform her we also have one in Antwerp, and my favourite one is actually in Nice. Nevertheless, it is a very lovely place to have tea and their tarts are exquisite!

My favourite part of staying in DC was probably Delia! Darcy and Andy’s ‘Oh I could so eat her as she’s so cute’-7 months old baby daughter. She must have been the happiest and content baby I’ve ever seen in my life. Her smiles are unbelievable. She’s currently in the phase of testing out her vocal cords and there’s a soprano hiding in there! Cutie pie.