I woke up this morning with the particular feeling that if I pushed myself today I would not last the rest of the holiday, so I bit the bullet and stayed in the hotel sleeping while Russ went off armed with his camera and instructions to take lots of photos.

I slept for at least three hours and decided that, as the hotel has laundry facilities, it would be a good idea to make use of them. I did a load of washing and got all except the seams on Russ’ jeans dry, but it shouldn’t take long to finish that off. I also took the opportunity to repack the suitcases and roll each item. It is amazing how much extra room becomes available when you roll everything. Of course, the extra jackets are too big to be folded, and he is wearing the polar fleece one, so they are folded and laid atop all else.

When he finally got back to the hotel Russ was exhausted. He also – ta da! – got lost. It is a first but it had to happen sooner or later. He immediately did some meditation and a lot of snoring. We decided that it was a lot easier to get Room Service than venture out and find something that may or may not be okay in the long run.

Some of the tour group left this morning (about four of them) and a few others will be dropped off at Newark Airport in New Jersey tomorrow afternoon before we make it back to New York.

This morning they had a guide to take them to the Korean, Vietnam War Veterans, and National WW2 Memorials, a stop for photos at the White House and Capitol Hill, as well as crossing the Potomac River to see the graves of American Heroes in the beautiful Arlington Cemetery.

Russ said it was an experience of a lifetime and he had enjoyed every minute. In the afternoon they had been dropped off at the Smithsonian Museum area once again and left to their own devices until 4:30pm. Russ joined Judy and her two daughters, Kate and Jess, and they walked and walked, took too many photos to mention and were all museumed out by the end of it. Judy and the girls will be leaving tomorrow at Newark.

I have to mention here that it was very unexpected to take part in a tour group where everyone enjoyed the company of everyone else. There were no cliques formed and the atmosphere was convivial throughout our journey. Barbara and Roger also commented how well the group had interacted together. We all seemed to share the same sense of humour, give or take a moment or two, and they expected Russ to make comment and chivvy Barbara whenever the opportunity presented itself.