Week 2 in USA

   Good old Amtrak helped us et to Washington DC - very snazzy and with free wi-fi and electric sockets - Boris take note when reviewing Londons transport policy

Our hotel, Le Meridien, was a wedding present from Upekshe and Tanya - thank you guys - the place was fab and the views from our window looked over Rosslyn bridge and Georgetown - what a lovely treat!!!!!

                                                            Below - The view from our room

Our adventure here started with a 4 hour evening tour of all the main Washington monuments - below is my first view of the Capital

                                               The Capitol-where the presidents are sworn in

                                                     Below is the monument to the marine corps

No visit to DC would be complete without a visit to the Whitehouse - Obama was in Columbia and his secret service men were in the news for hiring evening company and not paying for THEM - I'd like to be a fly on the wall when they get back to see their wives!!!!!!!! ouch

The washington monument below which was built in 2 stages so if you look carefully the stone colour changes about a third of the way up

The Lincoln memorial where Martin Luther King delivered his 'I have a dream 'speech - yes Ravi stood there and pretended he was a civil rights activist!!!

                             This is the actual spot where he stood to address the crowds - Nicolette is just below

                                  The steps of the Lincoln memorial has fabulous views of the city

                                  Below The Martin Luther King memorial carved out of stone

                                               OTT - The coach that took us around at night

                                                       The Jefferson memorial and some trees - Jefferson was against slavery and spoke about ways to change the USA- though he employed 600 or so slaves and his inherited wealth was from slave labour working on his families plantations...............mmmmm..........not sure how that works

I think he died owing money so maybe Karma at work

The following day we met up with Nicolette's school friend from Rye St Anthony boarding school
She had not seen Ella for years - so we spent a lovely 4 hours catching up on the last 20 years.

                                                                         Nicolette and Ella

Whilst we chatted Ravi wandered around the space museum and found the capsule that Armstrong and co returned in from the moon, the lunar landing module and Gagarins space suit - just a reminder that the Russians got up there first

                                                   These are not real astronauts folks just dummies

and the space shuttle model - The real one flew into Washington on the back of a Jumbo on the same day we were there but we were looking into each others eyes or the other way i think and missed this historic fly by!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                              A better picture of the Washington monument during the day-captions welcome

Ella not only did a 5 hour round trip from Petersburg to see us, Ella then treated us to a lovely lunch at the famous Washington restaurant "Ebbitts' previous customers have included presidents!!!!! - Thanks for looking after us Ella - it was great to catch up

Ravi and I then went to see some of the many Smithsonian museums around Washington. Smithson was an illegitimate son of a wealthy Englishman who left his wealth to the USA to help further education - so all the museums they run are not only amazing but free.

                                            This is a model T Ford in case you were unsure

                                          This believe it or not is an Apple computer 1980 model, we also saw Dorothy's shoes from the wizard of Oz , Ali's boxing gloves, kermit and a first generation Sony walkman

We saw a fab photography exhibition

The Hope Diamond

                                                Pictures taken at the World War 11 memorial

                                                        Yes we are still on honeymoon

                                                                     Aaaaaaaaaaaah

                                                 More aaaaaahs with a water feature

All the memorial cards and gifts laid here are kept in storage for the soldiers, many of who were missing in action

                          The Vietnam war memorial with the names of all the soldiers on  a wall-the wall starts low down and then towers above you to symbolise Americas low key involvement to full scale backing - a very moving place to select on the futility of war and the many lives sacrificed

                                   Statues that looked quite eerie at night of soldiers who fought in Korea

                                          The Korean war memorial where images were etched onto stone


Next stop Texas -  We are on our way to see Gayle, Alastair, Olivia and Paul

What a welcome, first chauffeur driven in a BMW jeep from the airport - then pomegranite martinis to start our Texan adventure - thanks Gayle

We called this our Spa house - amazing 10* accommodation.

 The Capitol built in 1853 but then rebuilt after a fire in 1886. It is 566 ft tall. It is the seat of government where the texans meet every 2 years to determine laws for the state.

The beautiful 218 ft tall rotunda with the texas star at the very top measuring 8ft tip to tip.

Ok so below is the Great seal of Texas, it has the 6 seals of the countries whose flags have flown over texas, an olive branch and oak leaves and the star of texas.

I knew Olivia the swim  instructor here  when she was only 4 months - how she has grown up

Olivia makes teaching 8 year olds to swim look easy-she looks so cute

Below is a fabulous boot store and $500 dollars a pop i think i'll stick to my all stars

There were thousands of boots in this store

and a random guitarist who just kept playing

Keep Austin weird is one of the slogans out here and these interesting food stalls are part of the campaign

A local cupcake institution - check out the flavours below- I had the red velvet

                                                  

The happy girl in action

And yes its a criminal offence not to buy a few if you walk past!

The lady above is going to be on a British pie making show - her pies have won awards.

Olivia modelling in front of a converted school bus selling subs and sandwiches

with funky names

These plastic flamingoes were randomly scattered on a grass bank where a garden centre used to be.

If you pay about $50 you can have someone you know "pinked".They come to your house or place of work when you are not there and place these pink birds around the place and take a pictures!!!

Our first baseball game was at Westlake High and Paul no.28 (above) is a pitcher and bats for them - this was Ravi's first sight of a baseball. 

 Alastair and Ravi!

Paul is the tallest one in the picture involved in a team talk here - they won both the games we watched.

My boy in action!

We went Paddle boarding with the Kirkpatricks, well Ravi and I went on a peddle boat!

 The weather was amazing and the river beautiful.

 Hoorah!

 Cute little turtles sunbathing!

 Mmmmmm.....

Coming back at the end of the session.

Happy birthday Olivia - on our last night we helped to celebrate her 18th birthday.

Off to Vegas .......

This is only one hotel - New York, New York

 i had a go, had no idea what i was doing but won 4 times what i put in!
What a shame it was only $1 i put in!

 You had to be there to believe this one, plastic flamingos, giant flamingos and real flamingos!!
Guess what the hotel is called

Caesars palace is like a town. You need golf buggies to get around it.

Below are just some of the interior shots

 This is a special glass ceiling which cost over a $1 million just to cover the lobby ceiling!?

Minnie escapes from rehab 

 In the Venetian where you can have a real gondola ride and you are sung to while you float done the canals which run outside too  this ceiling was amazing and was just one of the many italian art reproductions

Guess what these are

Above the outside of treasure island hotel.  Miss Congeniality 2 was filmed here.

Above is just one of the corridors in the Wynn Hotel. Most hotels allow you to wander through them and many have free shows throughout the day.

 The Bellagio ofcourse. These fountain shows were Ravi's favourite

 We saw 4 shows and each fountain show one had different music tracks from Michael Jackson to Frank Sinatra 

 Our hotel, the Paris, lit up at night!

 Our Honeymoon treat in Vegas was to see 'O' the Cirque du Soleil show. It was their rest day and everyone told us to see Le Reve, which has been voted top show for the last 4 years.

It is breathtaking and there is so much going on with swimming, acrobats, dancing and magic you just do not know where to look