Museums and Monuments

After a lovely few days in Boston with Lynne and Ralph it was time to say goodbye and start our East Coast travels! Our next stop was Washington DC, before heading onto Justin's uncle David and family in the Baltimore area.

From Boston South Station we caught the train to Union Station in Washington, DC, which was about an 8 hour journey. The trains in America are quite different to European trains. The windows are much smaller and they feel noisier and more rickety. Although our train was quite busy the whole way, train travel is not very big in the States, people seem to prefer to drive. We enjoyed the trip though and passed through all the major East coast cities on the way including our first glimpse of New York with all its sky scrapers.

We arrived at Union Station in DC in time to join the rush hour traffic after queuing for a taxi. It took us 50 minutes to go the few short blocks from the station to our hotel! Simply crazy. But we had a very friendly and entertaining cab driver who we enjoyed chatting to. Afterwards we realized that Union Station was only 5 stops from our hotel on the same metro line! Would have been much faster and cheaper to catch the metro. On the way back we would definitely take the metro!

After finally arriving at our hotel, we set off again almost immediately to go exploring! It was already dark by the time we worked out how to get a metro ticket but decided to head out to see some of the memorials and monuments on the Mall anyway. From the Smithsonian metro station we made our way to the Washington memorial, the DC landmark needle, through to the World War II memorial, along the reflecting pool and on to the Lincoln memorial. The World War II memorial is a series of pillars, representing each state that sent troops to the war, arranged in two semi circles around a fountain. The Lincoln memorial has a huge seated statue of Lincoln in a house-type structure surrounded by pillars. Two of the important speeches he made whilst president are inscribed on the inside walls.

The Washington Memorial at night

The fountain of the World War II memorial

The Washington Memorial with flags at half mast

The giant statue of a seated Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial

Nearby to the Lincoln memorial on one side is the Korean War Memorial and on the other side the Vietnam War memorial. The Korean War Memorial is a series of bronze soldier figures moving through a war area. The artist captured the expression of the soldiers faces so well, it was quite eerie being there at night. Inscribed on one side is the names of all the countries that sent troops to the Korean War effort, South Africa and the Netherlands were amongst the many. The Vietnam War Memorial is a long wall inscribed with names that decreases in steps from the centre on both sides. Seeing all these memorials together is quite sad and one cannot help but think of the waste of life caused by these seemingly pointless wars. We saw a few military and marine vehicles around DC while we were there and I was really saddened by how their slogans make war and being in the army sound so glamorous. I was also saddened by how so many of the young people walking around the memorials were not showing the appropriate amount of respect for a place remembering those who died serving their country.

It was quite late by the time we got back to the hotel but not late enough for Justin and Dad Cross not to take advantage of the great find that our hotel's pub stocks over 500 beers! Bron was happy to be able to totter upstairs to bed =)

We only had two days for exploring Washington DC and full busy days they were! It was hot and sunny both days which we really enjoyed. Our first stop on the first morning was the Smithsonain Air and Space Museum. We arrived in time to join a free guided tour of the museum which lasted about an hour. Our tour guide was an elderly lady who had worked as an air hostess when passenger flying was new in America and her husband had been in the air force for a long time. She spoke of slide rules and other antiquied things and was pleased to have been chosen to be a volunteer at the Air and Space museum while her husband was 'only' chosen to volunteer at the Natural History Museum! It was quite a whirlwind tour through the museum but it was really nice to hear some of her stories about life during the times that the planes we were looking at were flying.

The Air and Space Museum is Massive! The main hall where you enter the museum is dedicated to the Space Race and has the original Apollo 11 and Gemini IV capsules as well as a replica Sputnik. The other rooms contained original World War I and II aircraft; some of the first passenger aircraft built, or at least parts of it; exhibits on Important early aviators such as Amelia Earhart and Charles Lindbergh; a display on the Wright Brothers including one of 5 remaining original bicycles that was made in their workshop; and a display on the planets to name a few. The space of the museum has been really well used with things hanging at all angles from the ceiling. After the tour we spent some more time on our own wandering around the Wright brothers, early aviators and planets display. One can spend the whole day in each of the Smithsonian Museums but it was time to have lunch and move on.

The Smithsonian 'Castle' 

A Mars Rover at the Air and Space Museum

The Wright Brothers flyer

There was only time for one more museum and we chose the Natural History Museum. This museum is also massive and we only had time for a quick look around the Oceans Hall, the Ice Age Hall, the Evolution of Man Hall and the photographic display. It was quite a good museum with lots of interactive displays but I still think that London's Natural History Museums is better.

The Smithsonian Natural History Museum

Elephant in the main hall of the Natural History Museum

In the late afternoon we had another walk around all the memorials in good photo taking light. It was nice to have seen them in the day and at night. From the Lincoln memorial we walked across the Potomac River Bridge to the Arlington Cemetery. Arlington Cemetery is where America buries their military. You may know it from movies with its fields and fields full of rows and rows of the same white tombstones. At Christmas time every stone gets a wreath. So many people are buried there, we passed plot number 33, headstone number 10 000 or so, and there is still open field space for more.

It was a much longer walk across the bridge than it looked on the map so by the time we got there we had less than 30 minutes before closing time. There was only enough time to find the graves of the Kennedy family before we had to leave. We decided to come back the following afternoon when we had some more time to find the grave of the Unknown Soldier from the world and other wars, by metro this time. It felt a lot less eerie walking around all the graves the second time. People seemed to have more respect in the Cemetery than around the memorials area.

The Washington Memorial

American flags at half-mast around the Washington Memorial. 

We arrived in Washington on 9/11 so the flags were at half mast in remembrance. They remained at half mast for another 4 days for the storming of the US embassy in Libya. 

The Washington Memorial with flags at half mast

Our photographer in action 

A cute, cheeky and inquisitive squirrel in search of a snack on the Mall along the reflecting pool

A column of the World War II Memorial

Arlington Cemetery

The graves of the Kennedy's at Arlington

Before going back to Arlington Cemetery on the second day, we visited the Capitol Buildings and had a peek at the White House. It is free to enter and have a tour of the Capitol Buildings, you only need to apply for a pass online. Fortunately we were able to apply for a pass and get a time slot for a tour at relatively short notice. The tour starts with a short video titled 'Out of Many, One' which explains how the American system of ruling themselves came about and works. Then we split up into groups, picked up a headset and followed a guide around the Capitol. We saw the central rotunda and many of the rooms where Congress was originally held. Congress has outgrown these rooms and now operates put of other rooms. Each of the States is allowed to display two statues in the Capitol Buildings and we really enjoyed seeing who had been chosen to be displayed. After the tour we wandered around the museum in the building covering American history in short from the beginning from a more political point of view. However, after the introductory video, tour and museum, the three of us are still confused about how the American system of government works! lol.

The US Capitol Building

Inside the Rotunda

Statue of astronaut Jack Swigert from Colorado in the visitor's welcome area in the Capitol 

Unlike the Capitol Building, it is not possible to get a pass to visit the White House at short notice. They do all kinds of background checks and the latest you can apply is 3 weeks ahead of time but the waiting time is more like 3-6 months! So we settled for a visit to the visitor centre instead where we watched a video showing the inside of the White House. You can't get very close to the White House, all the roads surrounding it are closed and there is only one space between the hedges where it is possible to get a glimpse of the famous house. It is certainly large and impressive. We saw a lot of gardeners about and some people setting up something on the balcony and of course snipers on the roof.

View of the (back of the) White House

Our last visit was the National Geographic Museum. Dad Cross decided to head back to the hotel but we carried on to the expo of aerial desert and extreme weather photography. We didn't go into the actual Museum but just wandered around the photo section but it looked like a nice museum to visit.

Our time in Washington DC had come to a close. On the third morning we clambered upon a Megabus headed for Baltimore where we were met by Justin's uncle David.

More about our time in the Baltimore area next time! Hope you are well and having a good week!

x