Day 3 - Sabbath

Had a restless sleep last night, so not a great way to start the day. Breakfast was good though, so that will help make up for it. Off to the Emmanuel-Brinklow SDA church today with Gilbert and Rosemay. It has a mainly African-American congregation, so I'm looking forward to some good music! 

I wasn't disappointed, that's for sure! There was a piano, keyboard, bass and drums, led by six main singers and a backing choir, and they were excellent. We sang a mixture of hymns, kids songs and contemporary songs, and all were joyful expressions of praising the Lord – much less restrained than most churches I’ve attended, but not irreverent. Music and preliminaries went for about an hour, so I thought there’d be a short sermon, but no, it went for about 45 mins. Touched on ordination of women, and racial issues within the church, which I didn’t realise existed. There are “black” conferences within the main conference. Don’t understand why…

Had lunch at the Cangy's and then drove into Washington D.C. for some sightseeing. There was a storm predicted for between 4 and 5pm, and right on time it happened (while we were driving on the freeway). There was heavy rain and wild wind, which brought down leaves, twigs and even large branches.

It was getting close to the closing time of the Smithsonian museums, so we opted to have a quick look through the Museum of Natural History. There are some impressive things in here (Hope Diamond anyone?), but unfortunately has a strong focus on evolution. And I thought that the Melbourne Museum was just as good.

Next we drove to some buildings that you'll all recognise. The first time you see them in real life is impressive, as you don't realise how big they are. The weather did not make for good photos though...

Didn't know anything much about what was being photographed at this stage...

We decided to head home, so set the course on the GPS. Well, the traffic getting out of town was crawling, I think due to the wet roads, so it took us at least 1.5 hrs. Stopped in at a cafe that sells good soup and bread and got that as takeaway. Broccoli and cheddar soup with a toasted cheese and tomato sandwich - a good Saturday night meal! Tried to watch TV, but took way to long to flick through all the channels and find something interesting, so just ate and went to bed.