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Got up a little later today, as we had planned to take it easy and do a bit of shopping. Headed out just before midday and headed over to ‘Five Guys’ – a renowned burger joint recommended by Chris. It was a little on the expensive side – however, on receiving the food, it was clear why. We both had cheese and bacon burgers with everything on, with a coke each and a large fries to share. Everything was massive. The burgers were double burgers, standing about 4 inches high and the fries filled a small bucket (at least, a large drink cup). It was all very nice - very filling - costing about $30.

After lunch, we decided to head over to Macy’s and ended up popping into K-Mart en route. In K-Mart, we saw a small wheelie suitcase for $39.95, that we thought may give us a little  luggage space for the journey home. We also saw some Lego we liked, but decided to leave both until later in the week.

From there, we headed to Macy’s, which seem to be running a one-day sale. We spent some time looking at the men’s wallets, as they were between 30% and 50% off. I eventually chose a Tommy Hilfiger one, as mine is looking a little tired. I also had a quick look at belts and, on the way to cosmetics, spotted a yellow leather Fossil wash bag, which I liked, and decided to think about it. We had a quick look at the luggage on the top floor to see how it compared to what we had seen; it turned out that their cheapest cases were about twice the price of the one we’d seen, so we decided to move on. Took us a while to find the women’s section of the store, as the whole shop is split over two buildings and only certain floors are connected. Eventually found the Clinique counter and Dani bought some bits as they are a little cheaper than back home.

After Macy’s, we headed along 5th Avenue to look at some of the shops. Along the way, we turned off to go and look in Grand Central Station and stayed there for a while to take some photos. Them we continued up 5th Avenue, dropping into Saks to look at some very expensive clothes ($900 for a small blue cardigan). We also stopped in Abercrombie and Fitch and the large underground Apple store. We finally reached Bloomingdale’s, having realised it was on Lexington Avenue, not 5th. Again, Bloomingdale’s was very expensive and very difficult to navigate. Once we managed to make our way out again, as it was already late afternoon, we decided to head back to the Rockefeller Centre in time for sunset. We caught the subway there as it was much faster and saved our legs – it was only $2.75 each.

We got to the top a little before sunset; it was very busy and you couldn’t really get towards the edge. I was also annoyed by the Kodak photographer, who asked us to move at one point, as we were in the ‘perfect spot’ for a photo! What cheek! As it got darker, it did get a lot quieter and the views again were spectacular. Took lots of photos using the gorilla pod and admired the lights across the skyline for ages as the sun went down.

Headed down a little after 9 PM. We went to nearby Applebee’s for a light dinner, sharing nachos (which turned out to be massive) and a Blue Ribbon Brownie and ice cream for dessert (as it turns out, ‘light’ dinners don’t really exist in the US!). It was about $50, including beers. After, as we walked back to the hotel, we stopped to take some night shots of Times Square on the way. Did some journal before bed.

We had the National Archives booked for 12 today so set off a bit later, having some of the fruit and juice for breakfast that we had bought from Safeway. We also took sandwiches that we had bought from Safeway to have a bit later for lunch. We arrived at the archives about 10 minutes early as advised, to allow time to get through security. Once in, there seemed to be much more to see than the last time we were here. Downstairs there was a large exhibition covering the different amendments that had been made to the constitution over time, with a special exhibit, 'Rightfully Hers', that looked at the struggle for the women's vote which was eventually introduced under the 19th amendment. They also had an original copy of the 1297 Magna Carta, whose premise to guarantee proceedings according to the "law of the land" was the foundation for the 5th amendment to the Constitution: "no person shall . . . be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law". We did spend quite a long time walking through; there was a huge amount of information, historic documents, letters and photographs to look at and it was all very interesting.

Moving on, we headed for the public vaults, starting with the Rotunda which houses the original copies of the Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights and Constitution. There was a lot of information to provide context to each of the documents including some details about the men that signed the Declaration of Independence, whose signatures although faded can still be made out at the bottom. There was a section where you could select videos from WWII that form part of the military archives that are also stored here.

Eventually leaving the archive, we headed across the road to the sculpture garden, sitting around the fountain to eat our sandwiches by way of lunch. Our next stop was the Air and Space museum; we'd really liked this one last time, so thought it was due a revisit. There was a bit of a queue, to get inside, through security but it moved pretty quickly and then we were in. Seemingly the museum is undergoing a large refurbishment meaning approximately half of it was closed to the public which was a shame, but we carried on to see what there was. Although there were some familiar exhibits some of the others seemed to have changed, I think there were a number of different planes hanging from the ceiling this time, but can't remember for sure. We walked through the exhibits on early flight looking at the Wright brothers' original 'Flyer' plane - the first successful powered airplane. We also spent time walking around the space exhibits including lunar modules and space suits including the one worn by Neil Armstrong.

We were feeling pretty tired by the time we came out of the Air and Space museum, and after a bit of to-ing and fro-ing we decided to walk on to the Lincoln Memorial; it was still very warm and sunny, and we thought it was as good a time to go as any. It's just under 2 miles and took about 40 minutes to walk across, stopping a couple of times en route for photos. There is a large reflecting pool between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial but given the time of day, the memorial was in shadow, however once we'd climbed the steps, we were able to appreciate the monument reflecting brilliantly in the sun. We stayed for a little while, taking some photos and having a rest before heading back towards the National Mall past the WWII memorial. We were careful not to walk next to the water as last time we were here we were bitten a lot and we're only just getting rid of the bites we picked up in Philadelphia.

Before heading back to the hotel, we stopped in the sculpture park again as they were hosting a Jazz festival; we listened to the music for a little while before heading back. We went to a nearby Italian restaurant for a late tea called Tortino. It was very nice, we both ate from the specials menu before finally calling it a night - Capital Building tomorrow!   

Mum is visiting for the bank holiday weekend, so we decided to make use of the National Trust cards today and headed out to High Wycombe to visit Hughenden Manor. It was home to Benjamin Disraeli, a close friend of Queen Victoria, and the Earl of Beconsfield. He served as both Prime Minster and as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Despite the heavy rain on the way there, we managed to mostly dodge the rain and had a fantastic time.

The house has rooms set up from the time Benjamin Disreali lived there and some rooms set up to show the role of the manor during wartime, when it's codename was Operation Hillside. It's definitely worth a visit and I suspect I may return with Dani another time. There are a few photos from the day linked below.