Washington

US Capital at dusk

The nation's Capital, Washington DC, city of Monuments and Museums (also the place where the President has a little place where he's currently spending time trying to figure out how to reduce the country's inconceivably large debt).

Obama's house

Some blokes fixing the roof of Obama's place

For some reason we were expecting many similarities with Manhattan and of course were we surprised to discover many differences. Except for the places where there is regular watering (eg. the White House Lawns) the place is reasonably dry. In downtown area almost everything closes in the early evening and even the trains stop around midnight. The place seems quite spread out - far more walking involved to get to the nearest station.

US Capital

There are some similarities - the streets and avenue names are mostly letters of numbers and the train lines were colours so we're starting to get the feeling that a Sesame Street education was principally designed to help American kids find their way around.

Just like our experience in New York we were blown away at the quality and quantity of exhibits at all the museums we visited. We "accidently" stopped at the Holocaust Museum and thought a couple of hours would be enough (giving us time for another museum before closing time). Over four hours later we were still captivated by detailed (sometimes explicit), uncompromising presentations that conveyed visitors through post WW1 European politics, and the forced displacement (and later the "final solution") of Jews and other ethnic and religious minorities from German occupied countries during WW2. This was a no holds barred exposition showing how so many individuals, groups and nations chose to ignore what was happening during this awful period in our recent history.

Shoes - Holocaust Museum

The Newseum "where five centuries of news history meets up-to-the-second technology" featured an amazing array of the world's greatest news stories highlighting the personal conflict for news teams as they witness and become entangled in the unfolding disaster occurs including the Berlin Wall, New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina, Oklahoma Bombing and the 9/11 terrorist attacks

Eight panels of the Berlin Wall

Remains of the TV Transmitter from WTC Tower

The array of original aircraft, space craft and associated equipment in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum is astounding. The SpaceShipOne (see pic below) was the suborbital air-launched spaceplane that completed the first manned private spaceflight in 2004. That same year, it won the US$10 million Ansari X Prize and was immediately retired from active service. It now hangs from the ceiling of the museum next to the Spirit of Saint Louis and Bell X-1 "Glamorous Glennis"

 SpaceShipOne

We also visited many War Memorials but were particularly moved by the nineteen stainless steel statues, each larger than life-size, between 2.21 m and  2.29 m tall. The figures represent a squad on patrol, drawn from each branch of the armed forces. They are dressed in full combat gear, dispersed among strips of granite and juniper bushes which represent the rugged terrain of Korea. This memorial particularly acknowledges the contribution made by other nations including Australia.

WW2 Memorial

Korean War Memorial

As we wound up our time in Washington we also said farewell to Mandy as she headed back to Australia.

Goodbye Mandy

Washinton Monument at dusk
(the world's tallest obelisk - standing 169.294m)

Don't forget, your feedback and comments are welcomed and encouraged. (Hi Sonya & Phil and Maureen & Noel - loved getting and reading your comments).

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That's all for now BUT before you leave -

Have you seen the previous page titled " New York " yet?
(click on the link to take you there)