DC

Been very lazy with updates…

Day 32 10/05

Today was just a rest day with relatives before we leave the West Coast for good and fly over to the East Coast. For fun we tried a batting cage where we had an automated pitcher pitch slow balls (at about 40 mph still)

11/05

We had an overnight flight into DC however due to time zones it was only a 5-6 hour flight and so sleep was minimal. That did not stop us upon landing navigating the morning peak using what was initially a confusing ticketing system. Basically you have to look up the exact fare required and buy a ticket of that monetary value.

After checking into our so called hostel (basically someone’s overcrowded home) we visited the following which are all close to each other in the east side of the National Mall (which is the area where a lot of american museums and institutions reside):

Library of Congress, Supreme Court, Capitol Hill and lastly the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum. Luckily the later closed late as we are big fans of military planes but there would be even more to come….

12/05

Yesterday we made slow progress as really each attraction constitutes almost a day if done thoroughly. We skipped several museums to concentrate on the following:

Smithsonian Natural Museum (where the new Ben Stiller film Battle of the Smithsonian was based on), the White House, Washington Monument, WWII memorial, Lincoln memorial, Vietnam war memorial, US Army Division I and II war memorials and lastly the Kennedy Centre of Performing Arts (the national centre was renamed to be JFKs “living” memorial).

We had dinner near the Hard Rock Café and I got talked into buying a pin of the local manager of the place, haha.

13/05

You can go up to the top of the Washington Monument!

There are tours every 30mins, chance your luck by asking for any spare tickets assigned to tours that are not utilized or like us today; go early in the morning to guarantee the tour at your preferred time slot. We went up on the 2^nd morning slot and the views are great! Downstairs is a small museum about the monument and the man who inspired it, George Washington.

For the rest of the day we caught the bus way out west to visit the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia; for planes, rockets and a space shuttle!!! My favourite plane of all time was there, the SR-71 Blackbird; the worlds fastest plane!

14/05

The famous Arlington War Memorial would close our stay in DC. Many school groups were there and each would present a bouquet of flowers to the tomb of the unknown soldier with a little ceremony thrown in. This tomb is guarded 24/7 where a sentry paces up and down for 30 mins with 21 secs exactly between each pass.

Lastly we caught the equally important memorials on the south side of the “mall”, the Jefferson and Roosevelt memorials.

The monuments/memorials of Washington DC symbolizes the history and ideals of the US of A, this is reinforced to the younger generation by the numerous school groups of almost every state that we came across. I can see why some Americans are so perhaps (viewed as arrogantly) proud of their country…

DC