Yup, this is about my day 2 trip to DC. Scram now if this is not your thing :). Saturday yesterday was quite rainy yet I decided that I will not let it go to waste and made my second trip to DC. A Night at the Museum 2 was on TV today and as Ben Stiller walked across the Washington Mall in the movie, I thought to myself, “Hey I’ve been there just yesterday!” It was quite a thought.
I left early and reached DC at about 9 am. Google Navigation helped me find the National Geographic Society building, where I was to look for a 6 DVD set containing a collection of National Geographic magazines from 1988 to 2009 for my childhood best friend. It was raining quite heavily then so I waited in the car until the rain subsided a bit. But unfortunately there, the supposed promotion on the item was over, so I decided to wait on it as I still have some time in the US.
Then I headed to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum! You see, when I was a lot younger, one of my ambitions was to become a fighter jet pilot. I was very infatuated with aircrafts, collecting trump cards and reading all sorts of materials on them. My absolute favorite was the F-14 Tomcat, probably influenced by Tom Cruise’s Top Gun movie and the Veritech fighters of Macross. Don’t bother to understand that. My father disapproved though, citing that “nanti orang mati ada kubur, awak mati takde kubur” (regular people have dead bodies to bury, but you may end up not having a body at all). Funny I still remember that xD.
But anyway, the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum was a very, very impressive place, and to think that admission and the exhibitions are free for public is simply amazing. It was not even 10am yet people were already lining up in front of the doors. Inside, there were all manners of REAL planes, space pods, jet engines, everything related to the history of air flight and space be they myth, fact, science or fiction. There was a rock from the moon that everyone can touch, space suits, the Wright brothers’ flying machine, missile heads, and weapons, things that in life I had only read and dreamed about. It was a very amazing and exhilarating experience! There were so much to do and so much to see, one can easily spend a day just to go around the entire museum! There were no real F-14s on display though, only small replicas, nor were there any credits to the dragon race for teaching men how to fly. Oh well.
After spending a few hours walking around, I finally decided to make my way out, and headed to the National Art Museum just across the street. I went in, enjoyed a few sculptures of naked women, saw an infamous painting of Napoleon Bonaparte, and then left. I guess art is just not my thing.
Then I decided that it’s time to visit the US Capitol. To the uninitiated, the Capitol is akin to our own Parliament building where laws are made and passed. I initially thought that visitors were not allowed to go in but was pleasantly surprised to find that I was just in time for a guided tour! I had to line up outside, go through metal detectors, line up again for free pass, and then started the tour with a 15-minutes short documentary titled E Pluribus Unum on the history of the USA. It was again very impressive and informative, and I was thinking about how we can do the same thing for our own country. But of course, the USA has been around for hundreds of years; it is very rich in history and very diverse in culture.
Visitors were then guided into the rotunda, a space right under the high central dome of the Capitol where there were 8 apparently very famous paintings, artworks on the wall and right on the dome itself; everything with their own meanings and interpretations of the history of the USA, explained by the tour guide. Lucky I had my video camera with me to capture that. Then we were shown a hall of statues, some more in depth explanations that I already forgot, and then the tour ended. There was an exhibition hall right under the basement but I had enough of history lessons for the day and decided to take the underground tunnel from the Capitol to the Library of Congress just across the street.
And the library was not as what I expected. Visitors were not allowed to enter the actual library but only allowed to view from a visitors viewing area. Photographs were not allowed. Visitors were only allowed to enter the Jefferson library, and again no photographs were allowed. There were exhibitions on the third floor on the early American history about the Indians, Incas and Mayans, and some stuff on US constitution, declaration of independence, etc etc. As usual the walls and ceilings were full of artworks. I recalled some scenes from the movie National Treasure… maybe I should watch them again.
All in all I think I spent about 3 hours at the US Capitol and the Library of Congress, and by that time I decided to call it a day. It was about 4pm when I left DC and reached the hotel at about 5. I was lucky that it only rained heavily in the morning and only cloudy with slight drizzle onwards while I was indoors most of the time.
Marking my way on Google Maps indicated that I had walked about 3 miles which doesn’t include all the walking I did at the museum and the Capitol. I think I walked at least 5 miles.
I wish I could really fly.
I wish I could really fly.
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