WASHINGTON D.C.

We asked our friends from India who are visiting us, if they would like to take a brief roadtrip to DC and so here we are - home tomorrow.

Today was the sight-seeing day and trust me, we fitted in everything we could and more besides. There were a few things that impressed me here in the nation's capital -

This is a beautiful city - well planned, clean and with some amazing architecture.

I love the fact that so much here is free - like the National Air & Space Museum we spent a fascinating couple of hours touring this afternoon.

I think Abe Lincoln would love his Memorial, not that I make that judgement based on personal knowledge of the gentleman. There are a couple of good speeches of his on the walls. I wonder if he wrote his own - I'm guessing he did and wonder how any of the more recent Presidents would have fared if they had to pen their own stuff. Now there's a scarey thought!

The Metro is really clean.

You could take a whole week here and still have missed some interesting locations.

Since it's Memorial Day weekend, there seem to be a lot of veterans around the place.

Visited the Vietnam Memorial this afternoon for the first time. What a sobering place.

Negative adjectives abound about the war itself, but whatever the politics, it was a privilege to stand at the central point where the 58,148 killed during service are now honored. They deserve the utmost respect.

I don't know all the ins and outs about Iraq either. I have no idea what's going on behind what the mostly liberal press wants me to believe. But I do know that this Memorial Day it might be good to take a break from talking about the war and focus instead on the men and women who are defending liberty there and in other nations by laying their own lives on the line.

This has been a good city to be in at this time of year - it really has made me even more proud to be an American.