I think I've found my ideal job... while at one of the Smithsonian museums yesterday i found the children's science lab. Inside there we're three chemists playing with Lego (to explain organic chemistry) and making bangs and explosions for the kids - what fun.

So I've finally made it to Washington D.C. and the last week of my trip. Back into full tourist mode, after the relaxation of Cape Cod, I've been on tours of the White House, the Capitol building, National Museum of American History (highlight being Kermit the Frog...), the Holocaust museum, danced to Welsh folk music (?!? - Smithsonian folk festival which basically consists of Welsh, Mexican and African American folk, they are showign teh similarities between them all with a final concert with a welsh harpist and male voice choir, performing with Maraichi band and a gospel choir - wish I was here for that). I am currently in the student union of Georgetown University (Alma Mata of Bill Clinton).

D.C. is hot! 97 F for the Imperialists ( ~35 C for the Europeans amongst you). But the city is really great, I've learnt more about American history than I really ever needed to know, and its pretty amazing to see the places where decisions that affect us all take place. For instance did you know that the room that originally housed the Senate (I stood on the square where Lincoln had his desk) has a strange acoustic trait that means its impossibly hard to hear the person sitting next to you, but you can hear people at the other side of the room loud and clear? Or that the original Capitol building was nearly burnt to the ground by the British in 1815? Or that the oldest house in DC was built in 1765 - which makes it more modern than most Oxford colleges. A host of stereotypes were then displayed by two lovely ladies from Mississippi "oh my god! its so old, (then turning to me), I bet you've never stepped foot in a building this old before" - then upon learning that I'm from England where many buildings are this old "my ancestors are from England, from London, do you know any of my relatives" ?!? Surprisingly we failed to find any of her relatives that I knew - I tried explaining that the UK has a population of ~60million but...

Seriously though D.C. is a great city, there is an efficient and clean public transport system (admittedly the metro crashed on Monday killing 9 people, so maybe the systems not that safe), the museums are free (thanks to a legacy set-up by Englishman James Smithsonian who wanted to educate the American people, even though he never went to America) and everyone I've met has been extraordinarily friendly.

I've finally found a way of using the internet so should be able to update my blog more often for the last couple of days. Finding internet access during the second half of my trip has been harder than expected! Australia had internet cafes on every corner, I think due to its status as a backpackers mecca. Nepal had a number of internet cafes, I suspect this is how most Nepalis get online, but the power situation was so bad that finding and internet cafe with power got to be quite difficult at times. At the other end of the scale America has no power troubles, but is also not as popular with backpacker type travellers. Every second cafe has free wifi access, but i have no computer to access it with. Sublime to ridiculous?!? Anyway I finally found out, via a trip to Borders to browse the travel guide section, that FedEx Kinkos offers internet access. This took looking in 12 separate DC travel guides, asking bewildered student attendants at book shops and getting hopelessly lost in possibly the largest book shop I've ever been in. Its the simple things that are hardest right?

Oh well today I'm taking a break from monuments and museums and am exploring Georgetown, looking round some amazing boutiques that would make Paris proud and reading Obamas book in the Park. Tomorrow I sample the wonder that is Amtrak (Americans have pretty much abandoned trains for long distance travel, so I'm quite intrigued to see what the trains are like?) and head north to Philadelphia.