Cliff's second-hand bookshop on one of the main streets in Pasadena has been in business since 1977 and now houses over 250,000 books on virtually every subject under the sun on its heaving, old fashioned shelves. More remarkably it is open every day of the year from 10 a.m. to midnight (see pix). Originally, Cliff would trade books but now he just accepts them. Jean gave in three and bought one for tonight's flight. The operation is overseen by an old guy whi may or may not be the original Cliff and overall it is quite a treasure trove. Material of a sexual nature is shelved near the front counter with a strict time limit of five minutes for browsing. The old guy keeps an eye out for miscreants ! On the other hand if you want to view all 24 volumes of the writings of Lenin they are all at the back of the shop and you can take as long as you like.
What's more to the point, what happened today? We chilled in Pasadena, where three of the museums we didn't visit yesterday remained unvisited as they don't open on a Tuesday.
We took in a film - The Duchess - which was very good, although rather a sad comment on the male dominance of the time.
We followed this with our debut on the local Metro - the Gold Line, which (apart from the noise from the freeway while we waited on the platform) was a good experience.
Jean
First of all, I must revert quickly to the happenings of yesterday and something neither of us mentioned.
There we were, minding our own business in Pasadena, when we were stopped by a policeman and asked not to proceed as filming was taking place further up the sidewalk.
When at last allowed on, we were stopped again by some of the director's mignons as "take 2" was about to be filmed. There were loads of staff, mostly hanging about and many vans with TV equipment both in the main street and a side one.
For all that happened in the ten to fifteen minutes we were there, it was much ado about nothing!
What surprised me most was the employment of so many policeman on the project - at least a dozen.
Jean
The museum garden was also beautiful, with a fine array of trees, shrubs and flowers, interspersed liberally with sculpures, particularly by Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth.
Jean
Downtown Pasadena is pleasant and we came across these tiled stairs as we were exploring - very Spanish and pretty.
Jean
We had a very lazy day today - changed hotels and mooched around. Tonight we ate at Cameron's.
Jean
Not much to report today. Dave went off to the race track fairly early and I stayed in the vicinity of the hotel - explored locally and read by the pool here. Had intended to swim, but the water was (amazingly!) too hot for that, and just dipped in feet and legs occasionally and cooled off as the water evaporated.
Took taxi to the media hotel in evening and met Dave and two of his colleagues based in the States, Steve and Mark, pictured to left at the hotel where, despite being rejected two days ago, we were treated to refreshments.
Jean
We took a while to find a suitable hotel to move to - in the end, we found one just a block down the road from the Holiday Inn.
Dave went up to the track at Santa Anita this afternoon. I had a fairly relaxed time, exploring the immediate environs of the hotel and reading by the pool.
The photo shows the view from just over the road, two hundred metres from our hotel - the contrast between the elevated freeway in the foreground with the mountains rising behind.
Jean
Delighted to be in a room which is large enough to display our lovely "Bon Voyage" cards.
Jean
After the frantic pace of New York, Washington was much calmer with wider avenues and roads and generally more space. A very fine city with spectacular views up to Capitol Hill via the Monument and Lincoln Memorial and vice-versa.
All the major government buildings and museums of which there are many are on an impressive scale, mostly in classic styles. The building housing the Archives was a treasure trove and on a smaller scale it was interesting to see the theatre where Lincoln was assassinated and the bed in the house opposite where he died the following morning. Plenty of reminders in all the museums (all free by the way) of the role of the founding fathers such as Jefferson, Franklin and Washington and then later on the Civil War with over 600,000 dead.
Back in the Archives you can see a piece of paper Kennedy wrote/semi-doodled on during one of the critical meetings during the Cuban Missile standoff. Words such as blockade and crisis can be clearly seen. Another gem was the arrest warrant for Lee Harvey Oswald.
Choice of theatres, cinemas, restuarants not as large as NY or Washington but no problem there. we found a really good sports bar where you can eat,,drink and watch the ball game on huge screens above the bar. World series tied at 1-1 at present with three games to come over the weekend.
Hotel/hostel apart (see elsewhere) a great few days but as with New York you really have to shoot round if you want to do it justice. Five or six days much better. Should add that the weather was glorious all the time and now we have reached Pasadena for the Breeders' Cup horse racing it is even more so with temperatures well into the 80s. A few winners tomorrow should help counter the hotel/fiasco (also see below). dave (posting pix for the first time).
After a long flight, we'd been looking forward to the luxury of our expensive hotel in Pasadena - the "media" one for the Breeders Cup. Not that easy, though. They had no knowledge of a Thompson and the confirmation number we'd been given had apparently been cancelled by the Breeders Cup organisers! Ah well, we're nothing if not intrepid. Landed up here at the Holiday Inn, though we're having to move again for the next two days. Still, the hotel is luxurious (compared with what we've become accustomed to) and we're happy!
Jean
Hundreds of miles of barren country and the Grand Canyon in the distance, unfortunately too far away to get a passable photograph. Will have to return!
Jean
So this is the glory of our room in Washington - and you can see both the length and width, less than two metres by two metres. We said a delighted "Goodbye"!
Jean
We'd seen a tented area in the street near one of the Metro stations yesterday, but hadn't really taken much notice. We realised today what it was all about. The Washington International Horse Show is taking place, and the long tented areas (three of them) are for stabling the horses. As we were walking by a huge, shiny horse box/truck drew up and six or seven horses were led out and into the arena.
We managed to buy theatre tickets from the half price shop this morning and went to "The Way of the World" at the Shakespeare Theatre this evening. The plot was extremely complicated, not helped by technical problems with the lighting. Dave decided to duck out at the interval and go to a sports bar to see the World Series baseball game, but I stayed on and fortunately the second half was much better.
Jean
The Air and Space Museum had been recommended by several sources, including the guide book, so we spent a session there this morning. I concentrated on the "Exploration of the Planets" section and was fascinated.
The afternoon saw me back at the National Archives and then at the top of the Monument, looking out on some breathtaking views, including this super one of the White House.
Jean
We tried to get half price tickets for a play tonight, but there was nothing available that we fancied.
We went to Union Station to keep Dave happy - as a train (and station) spotter. Over the road was the Postal Museum - sounds strange, but we thoroughly enjoyed it - before retracing our steps to the station for lunch.
The afternoon saw us at the Washington Memorial. I wanted to obtain a ticket to ascend to the top, but they had all been distributed for the day, so we continued on to the Lincoln Memorial - see picture, with Dave in the foreground.
Later we went to the cinema for the second consecutive night and saw "Burn after Reading" - very good. "The Secret Life of Bees", the offering on the previous night, was very different but also worth seeing.
Jean
. . . and ducks, searching for their lunch.
The highlight of the day was the National Archives, though. What a treat - so much of the history and heritage of the country there, and it's very well presented.
In the evening we took in a film - "The Secret Life off Bees", which we thoroughly enjoyed and would recommend to others.
Please keep the comments coming, as it's lovely to know that anyone is reading this!
Jean
The answer is, of course, to spend as little time as possible in the room, and that's what we did today. Once again, did a lot of walking and took in, amongst other sights, the White House. . .
The "hotel"/hostel is terrible - no room to swing a cat and less than basic - see image of Dave looking very forlorn outside it. The worst was at 05:30 this morning being woken by a fire engine clanging its siren inside the room - or that's what it sounded like - only to be followed by two more. We've tried desperately to find something else convenient that is not too pricey, but in vain, so we're here again tonight.
Jean
We were a little disappointed with the interior of St Patrick's Cathedral as it was rather dark.
We weren't disappointed with the evening meal at the "Outback" though - see photo.
Jean
Took a stroll in Central Park, walking about four miles in the process. Pictured is the memorial to John Lennon at Strawberry Fields.
In the afternoon we spent three hours at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and were blown away by the exhibits, notably the late C19th, early C20th European paintings, especially the Impressionists.
Jean
Another early morning swim. Another bus to the city. This time, the subway to the south and the Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island ferry. The statue, left, shows some of the immigrants coming to make a new life. 
The highlight for me was the Empire State Building with the wonderful views from the top (although it took half an hour to reach that vantage point from the bottom). It was a little hazy but the experience wasn't lessened because of this.
Everything went really well, from the lift to Heathrow by John, to whizzing through check-in and security and obtaining the best seats in economy class on the plane.
