Greetings from Washington DC

Greetings from Washington DC
Well hurricane Hannah has hit (well the tail of it anyway) and we are stuck in our (very sumptuous) hotel while it is pouring outside with 60 mph winds predicted for this afternoon. We really cannot complain about the weather as this is our first rainy day in over two and a half weeks. I hear you guys have been getting lots of rain too - will this affect the soccer finals James? - maybe change the grand final day? - I hope so! (For those of you who aren't intimately acquainted with the Cardiff Tigers Div R stellar season, James' soccer team has made it to the GF which is on 13 September, also the day a team member gets married and half a dozen of the team are scheduled to attend the happy event. Last I heard James was going to a) write a letter trying to get the game changed to another day/time or b) have a helicopter standing by...- only kidding Joy!) We arrived here in Washington after another uneventful plane ride - very short, only 45 mins. Gary did get a bit testy on the shuttle ride which did go to a lot of places including another airport before dropping us off at JFK...anyway, as I told him we got there safely and in plenty of time for the flight so what more can you ask for??? It was hot and steamy here and after booking in to the hotel (which is very ritzy) we took a short walk and had some lunch before going back to the room for a nanna nap - heh, I had been up since 5am!!! We then decided to do a twilight bus tour as we had seen the weather predictions for today...this was a great move! We saw the White House, Capitol Building and lots of memorials...to Roosevelt, Jefferson, Lincoln, WW2 and more. All were lit up and we took some great photos. The rain started about 9pm so we couldn't get out of the bus after that (unless we wanted to get drenched!) but still got the tour and history etc. Someone asked about tipping - we are trying hard to tip appropriately but it doesn't come naturally and seems to differ from place to place - some 10%, some 18% - I wish they'd just add it to the bill and be done with it! Gary's best tip was to our bus driver last night who asked for some Aussie cuss words - Gary whispered them in his ear and his eyes nearly fell out but he said he loved 'em. Time running out - gotta go