We left Philadelphia mid-morning and headed towards Washington DC. We stopped at an IHOP on the way through and got some snacks from Target. We also filled up Cam our hire car for the first time and was surprised that petrol was only 70c (AUD) a litre. In Australia the prices are closer to $1.40 a litre.

The Drive took about 4 hours in total with the stops and the traffic on arrival in DC was verrry slow. We were gridlocked for a while on New York Ave crossing over the train line.

We arrived at our hotel which was the very fancy Hamilton Hotel. It is the nicest place I have ever stayed, but I remember it being quite reasonably priced when I was making the booking so there must have been a discount. There was a well stocked mini-bar and my husband picked up the food to have a look before realising it has sensors to tell if you take anything! He put them right back and thankfully we were never charged. Overall we found the room very comfortable and I would recommend this hotel.

We went for a stroll around the city and I felt like all of the buildings in the centre of town looked so big and powerful. It definitely feels like a lot of big business happens here.

We then walked past the White House Museum so decided to go in. There was so much security to get through, but the museum was very interesting with lots of artifacts and information about the history of the White House.

We then walked around the corner to the actual White House itself. It seemed quite complicated to get a tour (we would have had to contact our embassy prior to our visit) so looking from the outside was the best that we could do.

There were so many people in the park and protesters as well. You can get quite a good view of the building through the fence and you can even spot the snipers on the roof!

After it was then time to make our way to FedEx Field for Beyonce and Jay-Z On the Run II tour. This concert was announced after we had booked our trip and it just so happened we could make it to this one which was really lucky.

I got a hot dog for dinner at the stadium and I remember it being a very expensive squished little bun but it kept me full. It started to rain a bit before they came on stage but it did not dampen the mood. They played for over 2 hours and it was absolutely amazing.

When it was time to leave we were trying to hire an Uber but they kept cancelling on us, and the designated drop off point was jammed full of 80,000 people trying to get home as well. I think I tried about 5 times to book someone and they just kept cancelling. Finally we got a lovely driver named Tricia and she rang me to say where she was parked down the street so we could go and meet her.

By that point it was 1:30am and we were very happy to be safely driven home and get some sleep after a long day.