Another 03:30 start this morning although this time self induced. My plane leaves Dulles at 07:30 which means, in theory I should be home by 11pm this evening and knock any jetlag on the head at the same time.
The airport was barely open when I arrived, one of the ground staff kindly opened the lounge up for me so that at least I have a seat. It’s very strange sat here on my own just helping myself to orange juice and fruit.
Cheesey I know but I couldn’t resist. The last of the museums I wanted to see were the two wings of the art galleries – west was modern and, having seen the Tate, not great but the classical was excellent. A huge collection including several Monets, Constables and Turners.
The night tour didn’t work exactly as planned. First off the heavens opened so getting good photos was a great challenge. I have one or two but the night became more of an experience when the trolley broke down. We all ended up sat around for about an hour waiting for help from the driver’s husband at the FDR Memorial in the pouring rain. Not something which you experience every day!
If you don’t like museums then you may run short of things to do in Washington. I spent most of the day at the National Air & Space Museum. All of the government run museums are free which makes a nice, cheap day (although there are plenty of opportunities to buy over priced tat in the multitude of shops). And even though they are free the ones I have been to have been high quality and interesting. Obviously lots of self congratulation but that can be forgiven.
Native Washingtonians (if that is the correct term) that I have spoken to have been complaining about the unseasonable cold snap. But from my point of view mid to top 70s is just about perfect for this sort of holiday. Apparently it is going to heat up again at the end of the week but I’ll be gone by then so it should work out rather well.
I have just nipped back to the hotel to recover for an hour before heading out again on a night tour of the major sights. All of the big monuments get lit up at night, of the few I have seen it should be pretty spectacular. Can anyone say “photo-op”?
After all the walking yesterday (for which my feet have not fogiven me) I went on the now traditional bus tour of the city. Although it’s on a grid I am finding it surprisingly difficult to navigate when driving as the rules seem to be changing by the hour let alone the day.
It really is a very interesting city that contrary to opinions I had heard before coming will not have any touble filling a week of activities.
I am heading up to George Town this afternoon for a wander and then, this evening, out of the city.
Spent a few hours this morning wandering around the White House and The Mall. There are so many familiar sights that it feels like I know the place already.
Two observations so far… the War Memorials have been really well done and there is no trashy hawking of momentos which is refreshing to see. I think even in England these days we would struggle to do things like this as well.
Secondly it is really humid. I have popped back to the hotel to cool down and have shower before heading back out. Luckily this isn’t too much of an issue as everything is within easy walking distance.
The flight was easy and arrived on time but the customs was the now customary 1 hour queue. As I was driving into the city it was 34 degrees and 100% humidity but the traffic was surprisingly easy and the hotel (on 16th & K for those in the know) had me into my (rather large) room quick-snap.
Now to decide whether to just veg out tonight or to go and have a bit of an explore. I’ll get some dinner and then decide I think.
I am sat in the lounge at Heathrow Terminal 3 waiting for a flight to Washington Dulles as I am off on another holiday. I know, you are saying “Another? Doesn’t this guy do any work” but it’s been 6 months since I had a day off and I fancied a trip away for my 30th birthday tomorrow.
I drove down to Heathrow last night as I found a good hotel and parking deal. Unfortunately I didn’t know that there are two Sheratons very close to each other. So I queued for 20 minutes to check in only to be told that I was at the wrong hotel… D’oh!
In the end it worked out rather well as my hotel last night was very nice and they had obviously phoned ahead as they upgraded my room for me. It pays to be an arse sometimes.
I haven’t flown from Heathrow for quite some time and had forgotten what a hell-hole it is, and at the start of the summer holiday season it’s even worse, the queues were just ridiculous everywhere. Anyway, my battery is about to run out and I think I might go and get some breakfast.
See you State-side.
I was down in London last night, coincidentally so were Simon and Fiona so we decided to meet up. Simon’s Best Man was around as well and we all ended up at a “secret pizza place” near Holborn. An area I know pretty well as it’s very near UCL where I went to university, but which I hadn’t been to for ages. Monday nights out in London are pretty good – you can get seats in the pubs and we didn’t have to queue for the restaurant.
It was good to see them (for the first of several meet ups in quick succession). This staying down in London is turning out rather well as I’m ending up meeting people that I wouldn’t normally be able to and the lack of commuting is a real boon.
The feature list for Beta 2 of ND7 is out and there is some really cool stuff in there. One thing which ranks among the top contenders for coolest idea is “A remote Java Debugger (like Eclipse) can then be attached to the Notes Client JVMs in order to debug [agents, web services and script libraries]”. When I was at Lotusphere earlier in the year this is one of the things I was pestering the developers to include, they said they were hoping to but weren’t sure if there was time. Well I am certainly very grateful.