Mr Powell Goes To Washington...

The term is nearly over and Mr Powell has finally been to Washington. We took the 4:00pm shuttle from the CAC and started out towards DC. The journey took 90 minutes, so we arrived just as darkness fell on the city. The metro was decidedly easier than New York and we made good time heading towards the hostel that we had booked. All was going well...

After a bit of a walk, we arrived at the hostel and things took a turn for the worst. When we were inside, the girl at the desk told us that she had not got our booking on record and we could not stay in the same room together. With hindsight we should have asked to see the rooms before paying because it turned out to be extortionate for the bed that we received in a variety of rooms, alongside some shady looking strangers. It quickly became apparent that, unless we wanted to experience our own version of 'Taken', we needed to leave. So we did, taking some of what we had paid with us and thanks to Eoin's handy work with his 3G, we found a last minute deal on a room at Embassy Suites. 

Shannon contacted Gerred's uncle, Tony, who picked us up from the hostel where dreams, and very possibly people, go to die, and drove us across to the hotel. It's amazing the difference dropping that 's' can make. The suite we received was great for what we paid, with breakfast and a happy hour included. Uncle Tony then took us around all the monuments to get photos and show us what would have taken all day otherwise. He then lead us to Willard's where he bought us drinks in the bar after our eventful evening. All of us cannot thank him enough for taking the time out of his day and being so generous. 

On Saturday me and Sam headed out early to the Natural History Museum and then onto the Museum of American History before we met up with the others. Then we headed to the Spy Museum, which, although we had to pay to go inside, was really great. From there we walked over to the White House, where Shannon realised she didn't have her camera. Briskly returning to the Spy Museum, we picked it up from the front desk, after it had been left on the Enigma we had been decoding. All feeling relieved, we moved on down the street to a pannini place that was serving some much needed free hot chocolate with the food. 

Feeling that we had done enough walking for the day, we went back to the hotel suit to relax for a while with Christmas music. Deciding that we didn't want the hassle of trying to find somewhere to eat, we went down to a nearby grocery store for some food and drink that we took back to the hotel room and enjoyed with The Big Bang Theory. 

Sunday arrived and with it a harsh arctic wind that battered us all day as we hopped from building to building to keep warm. In the morning we went to the Eastern Market and then we caught the metro back down to the mall, where we took refuge in the tropical climate of the Botanical Gardens. From there we went into the Native American Smithsonian to have something to eat and then onto Space and Flight. It was then time to start back to the hotel to grab our bags and then travel to the end of the line, where the shuttle would take us back to campus. 

We made good time and arrived back on campus at 7:00pm. After dropping our things off at our rooms, we went over to KC for some ham (yes, just ham, and it was great) that Shannon had in the fridge from home. Once it was glazed and cooked, we squished up in the warmth and watched Skyfall - a great end to an eventful weekend.