It’s fortunate that I’d thought to sling my older DSLR and kit lens into the suitcase at all – I’d harboured an inkling that maybe my wife would want to use it (nope) – because this did give me a fallback option to simply using my phone, but it just wasn’t the same.

This was the second visit we’d made to the United States in two years and both to similar geographical locations as the main purpose of the trip was to pay a visit to my wife’s sister who was living there at the time for work-related reasons. Our America 2011 trip saw us based in Virginia at my sister-in-law’s apartment with occasional hops across the state border to Maryland where her boyfriend was based. In 2012 we actually stayed with the boyfriend as his house was substantially larger (everything’s bigger in America) and we were also travelling with my in-laws this time since their US-based daughter was now pregnant. Both spots weren’t too far from Washington, D.C. hence us checking the place out both years.

When we’d seen the city in 2011 – Washington, D.C., 2011 – it had just been the pair of us and we’d hit museums and galleries because those are the sorts of things that interest us. For 2012 there was less of that as it didn’t interest others quite as much (plus we’d done it before, plus I was still fuming about leaving my camera at home), hence the following photos being mostly just external shots of some of the American capital’s tourist landmarks.

Brace yourself now for some photographs of the White House, the Jefferson Memorial, the Capitol building, the Washington Monument, and the Lincoln Memorial, just like every other person who visits Washington, D.C. While the material for the buildings and structures and general appearance looks similar and aesthetically-pleasing it’s interesting to see the different styles of architecture surprisingly working seamlessly together.

Those photos were obviously from a simple walk along the length of the National Mall in Washington, D.C., and if you’ve never visited the city before then you can expect to do the same thing when you eventually do because everyone does.

During this trip we hit the city of Washington twice. On the second occasion we made for the Chinatown area in order to have a meal together; sister-in-law and boyfriend, parents-in-law, and my wife and me. The place we ate at was Tony Cheng‘s, an Asian restaurant, and while I can’t remember the specific details of why we ate there – it might have been because our anniversary and my in-laws’ anniversary had all been in that week but it could easily have also been to celebrate the pregnancy, or both, or none – and I can’t recall what we ate, I’m going to assume it was good because we didn’t really have a bad meal in America. I can tell you that some of us had Polynesian Grog cocktails, though.

Our trip included a visit to a spy museum (I’d show you the pictures but then I’d have to kill you) and a meal before a little bit of a wander around the streets on the way to the main area of galleries and Smithsonian museums.

We like art and I’m drawn to more of the cubist, modernist trends rather than classical as a general rule so we weren’t disappointed with what Washington had to offer.

The science and aeronautical museums, though, were a great draw for us and a good number of visitors too. We tried to hit as many museums as we could, getting a feel for them rather than exclusively fixing on one or two but we still didn’t have time to visit every museum we wanted. Still, plenty more chances to hit America again.