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We're now signed up members of ZSL so thought we'd take the opportunity to revisit London Zoo. It's probably been more than 10 years since we've been and last time we weren't terribly impressed so we were a bit apprehensive and probably wouldn't be going if it wasn't free. It is worth noting that the zoo would normally cost £29.25 each today and £31.50 if we had left it until the weekend so the membership is worth it if you can go more than once as it would quickly add up for a family. 

This time around the zoo did seem so much better than the last time we came, I think the enclosures are perhaps a bit smaller than Whipsnade, but nevertheless the lions and tigers seemed to have plenty of room to explore. The gorillas were great to see and were all out roaming in their outdoor enclosure, but we had a great view of the lions and tiger too. Right now it seems the be the annual weigh in at both Whipsnade and London zoo, and whilst we were there today we saw the porcupine getting weighed - it was quite a mission getting them to stay on the scales one at a time, but fun to watch. There is plenty to see and we made it to closing without seeing a number of the animals including the aquarium, so will probably be revisiting before too long. 

In short the zoo was a good day out. I think the pricing is a little steep, but I guess it is central London and if it's practical the membership is definitely worth it. I've added some photos from our day out, but I'll stop there as it's probably about time to call it a day as it's results day tomorrow! 

This is just a quick one to wish Dani a very Happy Birthday. We went to the zoo again this year and are now members so we'll be able to go a lot more!

So today is our last proper day in Washington, we fly home tomorrow. We had some breakfast and headed out just before 10. We had decided to start at the Licoln memorial as there were a few other memorials nerby that we hadn't seen the other day. We caught the free circulator bus to Union Station and then changed to the circulator to Lincoln Memorial. We got off a stop earlier to have a look at the Martin Luther King Jnr memorial a 30 foot statue emerging from the mountains of dispair, represented as two large boulders in the background. Many of the words from his speeches and sermons are etched into the surrounding inscription wall, with the words "Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope" taken from his 'I have a dream' speech carved directly into the side of the statue itself.

We moved on visiting the Korean war memorial which is represented by a series of statues of soldiers wading through undergrowth. The memorial is really poingnant with each of the statues looking out in a different direction just as the troops would move in a platoon. The statues are surrounded by a polished mural wall with pictures taken from the archives of other forces that suppored the Korean war including Army, Navy Marine corps and Air Force etched into the surface. We continued on past the Lincoln memorial but not stopping this time and instead continuing to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. This consisted of the names of over 58000 men that gave their lives engraved in the memorial wall. The wall is sunk into the ground rather than have a raised profile, so it's difficult to see until you reach it. 

We continued on past the reflecting pool that sits between the Lincoln memorial and the Washington monument, and stopping at the WWII memorial. Dani had a paddle in the water and we sat for a while before moving on. Our last two stops of the day were at the American museum where we grabbed some lunch but didn't stay long and then at the African American museum which had some really interesting exhibits. Feeling a bit tired we headed back to the hotel for a break as we were planning to head out later for photos. We ended up going to a place between the hotel and the National Mall for tea called Matchbox - we went to another Matchbox restaurant last time we were in Washington, part of the same chain. Tea was very nice with us both having pizza and sharing cheescake for dessert. We left the restaurant and headed down to the mall to take few night photos of the Capitol Building and the Monument. Got back to the hotel quite late and packed up ready for tomorrow.  

We set alarms to get up a bit earlier, not entirely successful but we were out just after 9. We headed the metro having decided it was probably the quickest way to get to the zoo, although we had seen the free bus also goes that way. We ended up waiting nearly 15 minutes for the train to arrive so it took a bit longer to get there than we had thought. We eventually arrived just before 10 and headed straight down the Asia Trail for the Pandas. Last time we were here, we had been unable to see the giant pandas so this time we wanted to give ourselves the best chance. We were in luck, having checked the live feed screens that show the 'Panda Cam' we saw one of the pandas outside playing with a ring. He was right at the back of the enclosure initially with his back to us, but he did get up and move around a litle bit before heading back inside. We decided to head on and see some of the other animals.

We started by revisting the earlier parts of the Asia Trail that we had skipped enroute to the pandas. The red panda was no where to be seen and the clouded leopard was asleep at the back of its enclosure, we moved on. We saw the American Bison, and then had a bit of a break on some benches, stopping for some water and cookies. From there we went to look at the Elephants and visited the small mammal house where they had a range of species including a sloth, some tamarin, and naked mole rats amongst others. We headed back up the Asia trail as it was getting on for feeding time for the Pandas so we thought we might get a better luck. When we arrived we found one of the pandas slobbing about on a hammock chewing bamboo, it was really close, which was awesome. Feeding time consisted of a frozen fruit so we stood for a while watching the Panda scoff its way through it and then walked along to the other part of the enclosure to see the other panda that was also out - amazing!

We stopped by the Panda Plaza for some lunch sharing pizza and crisps and then cracked on to see some more of the animals. We went in the Great Ape House to see some of the Apes and then walked on to the big cats. The tigers weren't out unfortunately and the male lion was asleep but the female lions were a bit more alert and moving around so we stood and watched them for a while before moving on. We headed back up the hill through the American trail looking at the sea lion and stopping for an ice-cream. Continuing on, we saw the American Eagle, and the river otters, but that was about it as we werent able to see the bear, the wolf or the beaver. Before heading out, we decided to revisit the bison, Dani had spotted a small yellow bird when we there earlier in the day, but I hadn't managed to get a photo, we didn't really expect to see it again, but suprisingly it was there, I guess they must be nesting nearby. There was a mention on some signs about the zoo within the zoo as birds, insects and other animals that aren't part of the zoo are attracted to the site. We did infact see a range of butterflies, birds and chipmunks on our way around. 

Feeling a bit tired we decided to call it a day a bit after 5. Despite not seeing everything, it really is a great day out and incredibly, free to visit, the enclosures are well designed and I would highly recommend a visit if you get a chance. We decided to catch the free bus back which went from just outside the metro station about a 10 minute walk from the zoo entrance. We had a bit of a break at the hotel, before heading to Nandos for tea, it's our last day tomorrow! 

We had tickets booked for 12 for the Capitol Building today, but we were suppposed to arrive an hour before so had to set off a little earlier. Dani had spotted some information online about a "Circulator" bus, so we decided to give it a whirl. Turns out the bus is free and there are four routes that visit all of the main sites around Washington DC including the zoo. Happily the bus runs every 10 minutes, and so cut the walk down significantly. We joined the queue to get into the Capitol; the rules these days are quite strict - no food, no liquid including water, so we couldn't take anything in with us apart from some empty bottles that we figured we might be able to fill at a water fountain. Inside, we joined another queue to get our tickets for the 12 o'clock tour and then had a little wait before it started. The tour took about 40 minutes visiting the Crypt, the Rotunda and the National Statuary Hall. There are lots of statues dotted about as each of the states gets to submit two each to display. The guide, Elizabeth, was very knowledgeable, although we did feel that there was less information than last time we were here, as we remembered something about the whispering gallery. We wondered if it was much less busy last time - there seemed to be about 6 concurrent groups this time.

Because we were unable to take any food or drink in with us, we ended up visiting the Capitol Building cafe for some lunch. We shared a slice of pizza, caesar salad and drink and then had some cake. It was nice and not too expensive. We dropped by the shop and bought a new badge and a Christmas decoration that was made from the old marble steps of the Capitol Building. We then headed on to the Library of Congress, opting for a self guided tour. We looked at the Gutenberg Bible and some old maps that were gifted by Germany. We also saw some objects belonging to the native people that pre-dated the formation of the USA. We also went up to the gallery overlooking the reading room a couple of times - it's a pretty epic room and features in the film National Treasure. Leaving the library, we walked around the front of the Capitol Building and down the National Mall towards the Natural History Museum.

There was a queue to get in the Natural History Museum as again you have to go through security. Once in we had a wander about. It does seem to have changed a lot over the last few years. We had a look at the special narwal exhibit and we also walked through the mammals section and saw the collection of dinosaurs. It was all pretty interesting but time was marching on again and just coming up to 6pm. We decided to get the free bus back, but it did involve walking down the National Mall to get to the stop. We went to Capital Burger for tea which was a few minutes from the hotel. Back at the hotel, we had a chance to look at some of the photos and update the journal before calling it a night. We've decided to go to the zoo tomorrow!

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!   

Our train wasn't until 11.20 so we didn't have to get up too early. We packed up and got the metro just after 10, arriving at the station in plenty of time. We decided to grab something to eat at the Pret in the station, sharing a grilled ham and cheese sandwich and some fruit (it's been a while). The train journey itself was pretty quick taking just a couple of hours and arriving about 10 minutes early in Washington. We caught the metro to the hotel, we had to pay $2 each for a travel card and then calculate the cost of the journey on the journey planner and add that to the cards costing $4 in total each. 

We found the hotel easily and managed to check-in straight away. Had a a bit of a break in the hotel to cool down before heading back out to explore. We walked down to the National Mall which is about a 20 minute walk away. It was really hot and humid, so we tried to stick to the shade. We walked along the mall to the Washington monument which isn't covered in scaffolding this time, but is still closed for restoration, and then continued on towards the White House. It felt a bit further than I remembered and you now have to stand much further back than the last time we were here. We stayed for a while to take some photos and then sat on a bench back along the path, taking pictures of some the birds on the Elipse area behind us. 

Headed back towards the hotel just before 7, grabbing some tea on the way back and then going to a nearby Safeway to get a few bits before finally making backaround 9. Put some washing on in the hotel laundry which happens to be a few doors down from the room. Happy days!

Today we decided to visit Eastern State Penitentiary, which was once famed for its progressive system of imprisonment but is now a crumbling ruin. We booked tickets online,, to avoid queuing and also to get a slightly cheaper rate. Even better, we had a coupon to get a further two dollars off - winner, winner! We also discovered that there is a really useful bus that operates around Philly - the 'Phlash' - primarily for tourists, I think, but it loops the city, stopping at key tourist hotspots and single tickets are only a dollar! A day of bargains so far. It conveniently stopped outside the prison so we were soon 'in the clink' and getting our audio tour started. 

The audio tour covered the most significant features of the prison - it was designed to promote 'penitence' hence being named a 'penitentiary' and it was all about completely isolating the prisoners. They had their own cells, their own yard (open to the elements) and were not released from cells at all. Theoretically, it was to encourage reflection and repentence. Over the years, as the war on crime picked up in the States and masses of people were being incarcerated, they had to extend the prison, so things changed gradually. But there is a lot of the original prison structure to have an idea of what it must have been like, although it is beginning to disintegrate and crumble away. It is really quite eerie in some parts. 

From there we wandered towards Fairmont park, immortalised because of the 'Rocky' steps that lead up to the Philadelphia museum of art that's near the bottom of the park. We walked up the steps - we could have run to be like Rocky, but no! - and had a little sit on a bench at the top. It started to rain a little bit so we had to put ponchos on but it passed over, so we 'de-ponchoed'. We decided to walk into the rest of the park and, as we were going down the steps, it started to rain again, so we 're-ponchoed'. But this time, it didn't stop. In fact, it rained more. And more. We ended up having to rush back up the steps and under the shelter of the museum, running through the flash flood water so we were pretty soaked by the time we got there. Thankfully it passed over again, so we decided to head back to the hotel. We waited for the Phlash again and were lucky to get on it before the heavens opened. It was a deluge! The bus saved us a fair bit of walking but we still had to walk a bit and the bus also stopped just before a river running down the street - so any part of our feet that weren't wet before, were certainly wet now! When we got back to the hotel, we muct have resembled drowned rats!

Ended up ordering Dominos for tea, rather than face the rain again.

We had planned to get up early but ended up sleeping in a bit, getting out just after 10. We had decided to explore some of the history of Philadelphia today starting with the Liberty Bell. Philadelhia was the first capital of the United States before it was moved to Washington in 1800, so there are some of the original buildings from the time that it served as capital city. After visiting the bell, we went to the vistor center to get tickets for Independance Hall. You have timed tickets to get in and fortunately we able to get tickets for entry just 20 minutes later. 

We had a short tour though Independence Hall which is where both the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution were signed. From here we joined a queue to enter Congress Hall, which is where the US Congress met when Philadelphia was the capital. When we came out, it did start to rain a bit so we made use of the Niagra Ponchos to keep us dry. Having explored the main site, we decided to look around the local area where there are few other historic buidings including the first and second bank. We started in the Washington Park, where there is the tomb of the unknown soldier before heading out onto Chesnut street to get some lunch from Knead Bagels, a bagel shop. We shared a BLT and a Egg and Ham bagel before continuing to explore. There was a film crew and lots of equipment and cast around on Chesnut street so we stuck around for a bit to have a look, apparently it was for a new TV show.

Walking on, we ended up in an 18th century garden, stopping to take a few pictures we heard a bird cry nearby and saw a brilliant red Cardinal. Whilst taking pictures, we both managed to get bitten a lot - joy! Out the corner of my eye I saw a bird with a much larger wing span fly overhead and seemingly land in the trees across the road in the gardens of a church. We headed out to take a look, but couldn't see anything and then moments later as we were about to leave, a Cooper Hawk landed on a low branch right infront of us, with a mouse that it had just caught. Spent quite a while taking photos before moving on again. Walking off the historical mile, we decided to head for some ships Dani had spotted on the map, the USS Olympia and SS Becuna (submarine).

Arriving at the dockyard, we found that we could go on both the USS Olympia steam ship and the USS Becuna submarine for $10 each, it was really quiet so we headed on exploring the submarine first. It was amazing inside, and we spent quite a long time working through the submarine as we were the only people on board. It's only the second time we've been on a submarine with the last time being at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, this time we saw much more of the submarine looking at living quarters, the engine room and the tornado tubes amongst other things. The USS Olympia was also impressive set over 5 floors including the top deck, we were able to explore 3 of the floors again seeing the more generous living quarters afforded by a bigger ship. 

Leaving the dockyard, we headed back towards the Independence hall visitor center to have a look in the shop and stop for a drink. The weather had also picked up a bit from the morning so I took the oppportunity to get some additional photos of the Independence Mall and surrounding area. As we were getting ready to head off, a gentleman saw me taking photos and suggested we look inside the Bourse Building which is to the side of the Independence Mall. As we were close by, we decided to take a look. The building dates back to the end of the 19th century and inside it is an artisian food and shopping market providing a range of dining options. The architecture is amazing with the centre portion of the building open all the way to the skylights at the top, it really was quite an impressive sight. Whilst there we stopped for a snack, Dani had a sticky bun parfait and I had an enourmous chocolate icecream - amazing!

Back at the hotel, I decided to take the camera out to get a night shot of the council building which is down the road from the hotel. We stopped just outside the hotel on the way to get some tea, managing to get the photo I was after first time!

It was another early start today to catch our bus to Philadelphia. The Greyhound bus was leaving Boston at 10.15 so we left the hotel just after 9. We had decided to walk over to the bus station as it was close to where we'd been yesterday. We stopped on enroute to pickup a Subway for lunch as the bus was due to take nearly 7 hours to get to Philadelphia. We didn't have to wait too long at the bus statioj before it was time to board. The coach was fairly comfortable with onboard wifi and power points should you need them. The journey itself was fairly starightforward, with a short 10 minute stop in Hartford and a slightly longer stop in New York, though we couldn't leave the bus in either case. We eventually arrived in Philadelphia just after 5pm and quickly found our hotel which was only a short walk away. We didn't do much with the evening after our long journey ordering pizza online for tea and watching a bit of TV before calling it a night. 

After our long day yesterday, we decided to take things a bit easier today. We had a later start, grabbing Starbucks for breakfast again before leaving the hotel. We decided to spend a bit more time in the nearby parks, having only really walked through them enroute to other places the last couple of days. We started in the public gardens, sitting by the lake for a while and watching the dragonflies floating about. There was also a cormorant diving close to the edge of the lake for fish, which was interesting to watch but difficult to photograph as it was tricky to know where it was going to pop-up.

Moving on we wandered towards the Frog Pond in Boston Common, stopping off to take photos of the 'make way for ducklings statue' and also managing to get photos of a white breasted Nuthatch and a Southeastern Blue Jay on the way out.  Reaching the frog pond, there were lots of children playing in the water, Dani had a paddle and a wander but retreated after getting splashed a bit by some of the children.

We decided to have a wander down by the harbour, near the aquarium and started heading that way, stopping at Pret for some lunch and then again a bit further down the road at Tatte for some cake. We eventually reached the harbour about 4 o'clock wandering around for a couple of hours before heading back towards the hotel, stopping at Five Guys for tea. As we were walking back through Boston Common, they were just seting up for the last night of Shakespeare in the park which was due to start at 7. We nipped back to the hotel to drop some bits and then headed back to watch the play. The play finished around 9.30pm, giving us a bit of time to sort the cases out ready for our bus to Philadelphia tomorrow.  

It was an early start today, we had alarms set for 7am and were up soon after as tickets were booked 9. After checking directions again in the morning, we found that there was a partial closure on the metro so we were going to have to walk a bit further when we arrived. With this in mind, we decided to get going and grab some breakfast enroute. We took the metro from Arlington station which is close to the hotel and got off the stop before Fenway as the rest of the route was replaced by bus. We decided to walk the rest of the way as it was only supposed to take 10 minutes and we had plenty of time. We stopped at Starbucks and grabbed some Pain au chocolat's for breakfast and then headed on to Fenway park to pickup our tickets for the 9am tour. 

The tour was interesting even though some of the sports talk went over our heads, the ground has quite a bt of history and is the oldest ball park still in use dating back to 1912. The tour took us all over the ground giving us a chance to see the view from the different areas including in the media box. The whole stadium is much smaller than you might think, and you could sit pretty much anywhere and still have a good view of the game. I took quite a few photos of the ground, but unfortunately it was a bit cloudy so the sky looked a bit washed out. The tour finished up in the museum where there is lots of memorabilia including signed baseballs from each of the world series games including signatures of well known players including Babe Ruth.

Following Fenway Park, we stopped for a drink and ice-cream in McDonalds, they're running a promotion at the moment so all sizes of soft drinks are $1. After a bit of refreshment, we caught the metro over to the aquarium. We had toyed with getting the combination ticket for the whale saightseeing tours and the aquarium but the only tour tickets left were leaving at 5 and wouldn't be back until dark at 9 so we decided to stick with just the aquarium this time. The queue was pretty long, but we managed to connect to the WiFi and buy tickets online instead so skipped the queue. We came here last time we were in Boston and despite being very busy, it didn't disappoint. The highlight again had to be the penguins and the giant turtles, we managed to hit both areas during feeding, so with the giant turtles it meant they were swimming around the top of the big tank.

Feeling tired we caught the metro back past the hotel to the Cheesecake factory for dinner. It was very filling although service was a bit hit and miss. After a long day, we made it back to the hotel just after 8pm for a bit of rest. 

We were up a little later after the long day yesterday, but made use of the hotel Starbucks to grab some breakfast. Once we were ready, we set off for the information centre on Boston Common. We were initially after a map, but once there we decided to buy the Freedom Trail map for $2. The Freedom Trail takes you around all of the historic landmarks in Boston, but last time we were here in 2013, we bought trolley bus tickets, so had never actually followed it properly. The trail is clearly marked by a red brick path and can be followed for free, but the map we bought gave us some additional information about each of the stops. There were 16 stops in total, taking you across the city by foot, starting at Boston Common and ulimataely finishing at the Bunker Hill Monument.

Along the trail, we stopped off in churches and burial grounds tracing the steps of legendary American patriots including Benjamin Franklin and Paul Revere. There is plenty to see and covering the whole trail took us the whole day. The real highlight was visiting USS Constitution or old iron sides as it was knicknamed due to the way cannon balls bounced off the sides. Last time we were here in 2013, we managed to see the ship sailing out into the harbour and firing cannons, we since found out this happens only 6 or 7 times a year, so this time when we visited it was docked for visitors. You go through some security and have to show photo ID before you're able to board the ship as the site is an active military base but then we were on board. We spend some time exploring the ship both above and below deck, taking a few pictures as we went before moving on to our final stop at Bunker Hill. Just before we left, we made full use of the water vapour spray they had on the way into and out of the base - it was another scorcher today and so the water spray was a welcome treat.

By the time we reached the last stop at Bunker Hill, we were feeling pretty tired so we decided to get a drink and look for somewhere to eat on the way back to the hotel. We stopped at Starbucks and making use of their WiFi, we found a place to eat close by. It was a pub and so we both got ID'd on the way in - first time in a while! I had a steak sandwich whilst Dani had a seafood sandwich, it was very nice, but feeling tired we headed back to the hotel soon after. We spent the evening catching up on some journal and photos, booking tour tickets for Fenway park tomorrow, before calling it a night.