The only glimpse you are likely to get of George Bush is of a silhouette through the tinted bullet-proof windows of a black limousine in a motorcade. But then again, given that even the limos now travel in pairs to further confuse any potential assassin, which limo?My own regular contact with the world's most powerful man comes most weekends but is even more remote - when a trio of dark green helicopters sweeps high above our house, one of them carrying the world's most powerful man back and forth from the White House to the presidential retreat at Camp David, 60 miles to the north.Mr Bush's daily schedule is not published, and you now need a congressman to get you on a tour of the White House (and then only of the ceremonial bits). If politician-spotting is your inclination, then Capitol Hill is a better bet. Queue for the regular morning tours, and with a bit of luck, and after being thoroughly body-scanned, you might get into the Senate visitors' gallery when Teddy Kennedy, Hillary Clinton and the rest are taking part in a roll-call vote.But Washington has far more to offer than live politicians. If you're lucky, and happen to arrive in the right place at the right time, you can have a wildlife encounter at sea to match any foreign safari. I travelled to St David's, in west Wales, to join a wildlife-watching tour around its jagged coast. As well as being the smallest city in the UK thanks to its 12th-century cathedral, St David's is blessed with offshore riches. More than 20 species of whale, dolphin and shark live in the plankton-rich waters that circulate Britain, and as we go about our business on land, these majestic cetaceans live unseen lives, sharing fish dinners with the seals, gannets, and shearwaters that breed on the craggy cliffs of remote islands.

Observing their watery lifestyles was once the preserve of sailors and fishermen, but now several boat operators run tours for interested landlubbers. The walls at the Occidental Grill are smothered with photos of its great patrons of the past. Just Like Diego's barbershop.The FactsGetting thereReturn fares to Washington start from £263 with British Airways (0870 850 9 850; ) if booked before 30 November for travel until 18 December and from 25 December-31 March 2004.Being thereA free Capital region guide is available on 01234 764 553 or .The International Spy Museum (001 202 393 7798; ) is open daily, 10am-5pm, November to March Admission $6 (£4) for adults.. The Old Ebbet Grill near the White House comes cheaper, as does the Monocle on Capitol Hill, another restaurant of choice for the political crowd.My own preference however is for the Occidental Grill, a slice of a vanished, slower-paced Washington, with waiters in long aprons, and burnished dark wood booths that have witnessed more than their share of history over the decades.Take October 1962, when over lunch at one of those discreet tables, a Soviet agent passed on to John Scali, an executive at ABC News, a Kremlin offer to withdraw Soviet missiles from Cuba The encounter led to a negotiated solution to the crisis.

Typical Washington, where pleasure is rarely separated from business And you have probably guessed. A sighting of Michael Jordan during the two years he was with the Wizards was better than a Bill Clinton sighting. Now we adore the visiting Hollywood luminaries when they shoot yet another movie about the presidency. Sometimes life and art become indistinguishable, as when George Clooney made a recent TV series on Washington politics - and every real-life lobbyist, congressman, hot-shot campaign strategist and TV pundit in town stampeded to get on the show.To see this breed in its natural habitat, you must visit the power watering holes they frequent. The Palm restaurant on 19th St is one, where $64 (£40) buys a 36oz slab of sirloin steak, and lobsters start at 3lbs each. As noted above, the really big players are rarely spotted; the genuine Washington frisson comes when you are sitting in a bar and suddenly realise that the elderly man having a drink at the table in the corner is a former director of the CIA whom you have just seen on CNN.But real celebs have the city weak at the knees: above all, movie stars and sports stars. And if you want to taste the age when the special relationship really was special, stand before the equestrian statue of Field Marshal John Dill, one of the handful of foreign nationals buried at Arlington, whose work as chief British military liaison officer in Washington during the Second World War made him one of the great unsung heroes of Anglo-American co-operation, until his death in 1944.But the city has a present as well as a past, and a bizarre relationship with celebrity.

• Other creatures have made Grassholm their home too
• 
• Over the past five years the Isis fund is up 26
• 
• Taper relief can also reduce the tax you pay on a sale
• 
• Sir Andrew said: At present the main beneficiaries are those who exploit the system
• 
• Somebody in here must know more about what's happened
• 
• Visitors do assuming that it will hold their weight
• 
• The fundraiser is expected to raise as much as 7m
• 
• The bomb blew a crater two metres deep in the road
• 
• We will see in the coming days decisions along these lines
• 
• That has included luring clients from larger banks
•