July 15 Quebec City - Washington DC

Sorry folks. Porter airlines lost my luggage with all my chargers and cables. All the paperwork also. Have to find a way to transfer all the tickets for the events I had booked to the cell phone. Will continue when it's all straightened out.

Left the Fleur de Lys at 10:00AM. The plane was scheduled to leave at 2:20PM actually left at 2:55PM. As we were landing at Billy Bishop Airport, in Toronto, we flew right by the CN Tower and our Toronto apartment. I managed to get a good video of it.

Since it was an international flight, FROM AN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, they ushered us into a waiting lounge. It was really full and took us awhile to get seats.

The flight from Toronto to Washington was also late. It was supposed to leave at 4:55PM it actually left at 6:00PM. We arrived in Washington and went through customs. Went to pick up our luggage, Rita's was there, mine wasn't. It had been left in Toronto. All my cables and chargers were in that luggage, so this blog had to go on hold (As you can see from the paragraph on top of this page).

July 16 Washington DC

All our tickets were printed and in my luggage. We had nothing in print. Had to figure out how to transfer all our information to Rita's android. Went on YouTube for some tutorials on the Samsung.

 Left the hotel around 10:00AM and took the Hop-on Hop-off. Took the Yellow Bus through Georgetown and Virginia. The tour wasn't that impressive, the only thing that I found interesting was driving by Watergate. We then transferred to the Red Bus which covers Washington. The tour guide was really good and funny. We had reserved a tour of the Capitol months ago for 3:00PM.

At 1:00PM we were on the red bus, which is supposed to complete it's route in 55 minutes. The Capitol is about half way on the route, so you figure you should be there around 1:30PM. Planed to get off at the stop before the Capitol, which is Union Station, get something to eat and drink. The traffic was so bad we arrived at Union Station at 2:30. No time to get off. We arrived at the Capitol at 2:40PM. We had to walk to the other side of the Capitol building, to the visitor center, which is about 1Km. away from the Bus stop. Go figure. They put the bus stops on one side of the building, and the Visitors Center on the other. Is it the Washington Bureaucracy that make these decisions? It was STINKING HOT and we had to walk at a good pace to make our reservation.

We made it. As a matter of fact, they put us in the 2:50 tour.

Impressive! Remember, I thought the Canadian Parliament was a Mushroom Barn, the Capitol is bright and delicate (couldn't think of another word). The Rotunda was covered up inside and there was scaffolding all over, but we were lucky because they are going to shut the tours down next week, and there will not be any tours until sometime in the middle of September.

The other pictures are in my Samsung, and since I don't have the cables, I can't post them at present.

Walked all the way around the Capitol, to the bus stop.

Got on the Red bus went around and then transferred to the Yellow bus. It was the last bus of the day. We were lucky, I don't know about Rita, but I was bagged. As we were arriving at our stop it started raining, we grabbed some Ponchos that were provided by the tour bus.

Walked to the wine store, then decided to have dinner  at a fancy Italian restaurant that was on the way to the hotel. The restaurant was full, and people were looking at us funny wearing our ponchos, while we were talking to the Maître D. We didn't feel like waiting for a table nor spending a fortune on dinner, so we left. Found a Pizza place.

It was a bit of a dive, but we could afford it. Had our Pizzas with beer, and then went back to our hotel, which was just across the street.

July 17 Washington DC.

Kept trying to get in touch with Porter Air, to see if they had found my luggage. They hadn't found it.

Had breakfast at Starbucks across the street, beside our Pizza Joint. Rita had an egg with some fruit and a cookie, I had an Egg Sandwich. I don't care for Starbucks, but the Small Latté tasted good.

We went to the Whitehouse which is  2 blocks from us.

After taking pictures, we started walking to the Lincoln Memorial. It was STINKING HOT again. We walked and sat as often as we could on benches that were in shade on the way. Made it to the Memorial.

I was taking a video of Rita where Forest Gump met Jenny at the reflecting pool. Took a Video. Rita didn't feel like walking up all the steps to the statue of Lincoln. So she sat on a bench on the bottom of the steps while I went up.

On the way down the steps I ran into some Hungarians. They were from New Jersey.

Walked back to the Whitehouse and then back to our dive Pizza parlor to have a cold one. Never thought a Budweiser could taste that good. (Sorry, Elaine and Christian.)

Walked back to the hotel, phoned Porter Airlines and they informed me that they had found my suitcase, and that it will be here in 2 hours. That was at 2 exactly. It is now 3:57. Nothing yet.

At 6:00Pm we started getting hungry.

Michelle had invited us over. She said she was making Barack's favorite dinner, shrimp with grits. We gracefully declined her invitation, didn't want her to stand over a hot stove on a hot day. Besides, I didn't feel like listening to Barack badmouthing Don during dinner. I was also kind of worried that they would forget to tell the sniper on their roof that we were comming.

Decided to have dinner at PJ Clarkes, a sea food restaurant kitty corner from our hotel, instead.

Rita ordered shrimp and grits, while I had a wild mushroom burger. It was a very hot day and we were glad we didn't have to walk the two blocks from the Obamas back to our hotel.

When we arrived back at the hotel I asked the Bell Desk if my suitcase had arrived. It had not. As soon as we were back in the room, Phoned Porter to ask what the hell was going on. I was starting to foam at the mouth. At 8:30 my suitcase finally arrived, Good news it was my luggage. I had been worried that people at Porter seemed so incompetent, they might send me someone else's suitcase. It was mine, so I'm back in business. I will charge everything overnight, and upload the digital images that are trapped in my camera tomorrow morning.