In Washington DC

  A city that rose from a swamp, though it's hard to see that now. A capital city. A city of grand, monumental statement buildings. A city of museums and art galleries and tourists, of government, of diplomats and bureaucrats of bright, earnest, neatly dressed young people hurrying to work in well-paid government jobs. Thus a city like no other in America.

 
A city with ever-so-slight totalitarian undertones. Security is far edgier than it used to be, especially around the White House. You almost expect a "Zil lane" as they used to have in Moscow for the grand limousines of the apparatchiks.
  The monumental statement building below is the home of the Internal Revenue Service, America's equivalent of the taxman, who have been shown to be naughty boys, scrutinising groups with conservative leanings. The saga continues...
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And in amongst the monumental buildings, some quaint old houses still cling on in this part of downtown. There are many more, of course, in posh, picturesque Georgetown, to the north-west. The houses here are opposite Ford's Theatre where Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in 1865. They give you an idea of what the city once looked like.

There's a bit of the modern too -

 New reflecting older...

...to be continued......