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Reflections on my three days in Washington, DC: Well, I’m aware that adjectives such as “amazing”, “incredible”, “wonderful”, “moving”, “fantastic” and so on get a little repetitive, and I’ve certainly been using them a lot. But I’m out of words that do justice to my time here. Let’s be honest...

It's another beautiful Winter day in Washington! Before I checked out I had one final look outside at my WW/BD. Check-out was 10am; even though my flight doesn’t leave until 1pm I called an Uber to take me to the airport. I was at the airport about 20 minutes later – it’s nice that the airport...

There's nothing outside at Udvar-Hazy. It's all indoors and well heated. If you get there by bus, it will drop you right outside the entrance; the bus stop to catch the return bus is about 40m down the road. The car park is a little further away but not too far.

Before I write anything else I should mention (and this is something the tour guide reminded us of yesterday) that today, January 13 in the USA, is the anniversary of the Florida Airlines flight 90 disaster. On January 13, 1982, a freezing cold day, the 737 took off from Washington National...

Not sure how serious you're being but here goes... When I'm in cold climates (and the coldest I've been in is Iceland in December/January) I wear merino t-shirts underneath all my layers. They're absolutely perfect for travelling -- lightweight, comfortable, breathable, and they have this...

It definitely was. The tour guide was excellent: he had an encyclopedic knowledge, was passionate about his subject matter, and was a great communicator. I found the tour on Viator but this is the tour company. I'm seriously considering doing a NYC tour with them on the strength of this one...

Our final stop was this place: We couldn’t get too close, because it’s all set up for the Inauguration on January 20. It was amazing to see the Capitol itself, but also amazing to see it in “Inauguration mode”. It was incredible to be able to look across at the actual place where, next week...

There were two more stops before the end of the tour. First stop was the huge (7 acres) Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial. The Memorial was interesting and notable for its two areas of focus. First, it focused on FDR’s amazing achievements – the New Deal, his other efforts to drag America out...

The lobby of the Kennedy Center (it’s Washington’s major performing arts complex). After an overpriced lunch, I had a quick (too quick!) look at an exhibition that focused on the cultural legacy, and life and times, of JFK. It was excellent – informative and fascinating. It was still...

After that we walked over to the Korean War Memorial. Then it as into the bus to the Kennedy Center for lunch. On the way we passed the Watergate complex.

Next stop was probably the most emotional, inspiring and moving moment of the day for me: the Lincoln Memorial. First, in terms of architectural splendour it’s amazing… As I climbed the steps, I could get amazing views of the (frozen-over) water and of the Capitol beyond it. I came to the...

The emotionally moving experiences in the National Mall were just beginning. Our next stop was the Vietnam War Memorial. First, we went to the Ladies’ Memorial. Most of the women who served in the war were nurses. Eight died. Then the main Memorial itself, which features the names of all...

The next stop was the Martin Luther King Memorial. I had been genuinely moved by the Jefferson Memorial; at the MLK Memorial, exponentially more so. As you approach the Memorial, it looks like you’re walking through a mountain… And then you walk through and read MLK’s words: “Out of the...

Next stop was the Jefferson Memorial. There’s an incredible view of the White House from the Memorial. Seeing the statue of Thomas Jefferson, and reading the words that he helped write from the Declaration of Independence, was genuinely moving. It was interesting to read his pretty strong words...

Next stop was the World War II Memorial. You’ll see a wall with stars on it: each star represents 100 American lives lost. The Washington Monument was visible for most of the day. What I didn’t know was that there is not one gram of mortar or cement in the entire structure. It’s held...

Ah! That solves a mystery: that's what all those black trucks with "ACME Executive Relocations" plastered over them were for!

Today I swapped my “space geek” hat for a “history geek” hat. I have to say that it was, yet again, a really special day. I largely have my wife to thank for it (yes, she still exists and yes, we FaceTime every day!). I had always earmarked one day in Washington for sightseeing, but she...

Yeah, things were pretty grim for a while there after the Space Shuttle programme ended. Things started to turn around when SpaceX started having success and also the space programme got a lot of great publicity and confidence with New Horizons. The vibe is definitely upbeat now!

Thank you so much for this information! And also thanks for all your amazing trip reports which are wonderful to read.

And that was my day at Udvar-Hazy! A few pics of the outside of the museum and from the trip home, which went smoothly although both the bus and trains were a little more crowded: Once back in my hotel room, I observed a lovely sunset over my Winter Wonderland/Bus Depot. And had a...