walking the mall and all the stuff there...

here's the view looking down the street from my hotel to the white house. location, location.

i know, i have my very own park in d.c. nice, huh?

anyway, today there was a hell of a lot of walking... and photo-taking. you have been warned. my first impressions of downtown d.c. was how clean it was, and green with wide avenues. and probably like most nation's capitals, devoid of people (except at the tourist attractions).

this white place was a walk from my hotel. it was a bit surreal standing in front of it, only because i have seen it on screen so many times (and yes, i'm a west wing enthusiast). here's one front side.

okay, i'll try and give you a taste of some of the buildings in d.c. - it felt to me very european in some ways.

at one end of the mall is the washington monument - under scaffold since the earthquake hit d.c. (in 2011 i think).

and here's the other front side of the white house.

then onto the national mall itself... which is surrounded by smithsonian buildings.

my first stop was the american history museum.

the above dress was made from flour sacks in the 1950s - don't you wish the flour bags today were so cutely patterned?

i was there for a couple of hours before heading out into the day again. this is the smithsonian castle (information centre).

at the other end of the mall stands the capitol building.

next....