It was an enjoyable way to spend a very sunny if blustery afternoon. It seems we are getting the tail end of hurricane Matthew.
You'll have to excuse us if there are a lot of pictures and few words as we had a meal out and it's getting rather late for blogging.
First the National Cathedral - we had to take care to avoid the scaffolding which is in place to repair damage done by an earthquake in 2011. 
Does this guy have a pair of binoculars?
Eric just couldn't take this too seriously and had to get involved
Lots of excellent stained glass and interesting gargoyles of seemingly different eras. The glass was casting a beautiful light across the inside of the building.
The cathedral also has a very pretty garden, called the Bishop's Garden, so there were numerous photo ops
In the entrance forecourt of the cathedral there was an exhibition of sculpture by a Danish artist depicting the Carnival of the Animals, which was a modern take on the old established use of animal decoration of religious buildings.
The frontage of some of the Georgetown University buildings in where our friend teaches.
We are now preparing for our return journey having had a great time in an excellently located apartment in the centre of Washington DC and more importantly seeing my pen friend. We started writing to each other in the third form in junior school so think we've done pretty well!