Sunday, July 29, 2012

Washington DC 2012 -- Vacation or Information Overload?

This post comes really late... mainly because Blogger wouldn't post, and I gave up for a while.  Not to mention I ended up taking another trip (unexpected) after this one.  But better late than never!

After my trip to Fiji, I went back to work for a week... and then took off for another vacation!  I went to Washington DC, and it was a vacation all about walking, sight-seeing, and getting tons and tons of information.  Fortunately, the weather in DC was not as humid or hot as it could have been.  I was there from Saturday (flew red eye Friday night to arrive Saturday morning) through Thursday... and that was just fine.  Any more than that, I think my brain would have exploded with information.  So below are some pictures of this trip.

 Capitol at night!!


WWII Memorial at night was quite gorgeous.


Another picture at night.  This was during my first night at DC.


At WWII Memorial.

Abe and me!  The memorials were open at night and quite pretty.  It was balmy enough to be out and about at night.


George Washington Memorial at night.


Too many museums to see... but I was glad to see one of the new Smithsonian Museum -- American Indian Museum.  It was also a smaller museum so it felt like I actually got to see everything.  I still can't believe all these great museums in Washington DC is available for free.


One of the objects on display at the American Indian Museum was calendar...

Maya calendar!


Then my friend and I went next door to Botanic Garden.


It was quite lush inside.


And looked it from outside too.


There was another garden across from Botanic Garden, which we checked out.




The Capitol... in the daylight! 



We took a tour of the Capitol.


Saw the ceiling of the dome (I think).


There was a hall where pictures like these just hung about... made me feel very patriotic.


There were so many tourists at the Capitol.


We toured the original hall where the legislature held meetings, and this was one of the floor.


We weren't allowed to take cameras but we were able to tour the Senate and House Galleries!


The Capitol was connected by a tunnel to the Library of Congress.  There were a few exhibits inside, including maps of the old world, Jefferson's library... and


Political and satirical comic strip exhibit.  This one was about debt ceiling.. and 1960's!


Supreme Court!  There was construction when we were there.  We didn't go in but saw it from outside.


Capitol and me.


We walked to see the White House but could not get a tour of the inside.


We saw snipers on top of the White House!


The next day was filled with museums.. actually just 2 but they were so big!  We first checked out the Museum of Natural History.  We started off with rocks.


Which included gems.


Including Hope Diamond... an incredibly huge diamond.



There was also an exhibit of insects... including spiders like this.


And this!  Good thing they were behind glass.


Funny enough, Natural History Museum also had an exhibit about Korea!


Which had traditional, wedding clothes, among other objects.



Isn't this huge?  Apparently,  it disappeared.

Yes, we also saw huge skeletal masses... 




We then went to check out the Gallery of Art.  




I don't remember all the paintings and sculptures, suffice to say we saw many that were famous and many that we didn't recognize. 



On Wednesday, we had breakfast with Senator Diane Feinstein! 


Proof that I was there... ;) 




We saw many, many memorials.  Jefferson memorial. 




FDR memorial, which was surrounded by greenery and water... and seemed much more peaceful. 





Waterfall at the FDR Memorial.  




I thought I would sit between FDR and his dog.  




We checked out the newest memorial, MLK JR. Memorial. 




His statue was quite grand.  




We checked out the Korean War Veteran Memorial too. 




So true... 




We went to the Arlington Cemetery and saw the change of guard in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  





Saw this for the change of guards. 





Kennedy grave. 




We went to the National Archives and saw the original Constitution, Declaration of Independent, and the Bill of Rights.  We couldn't take pictures but it was pretty cool.  




We went to the American History Museum... and was sad to see that Walkman was an object in the museum! 




And a computer! 




We also checked out the Sculpture Garden.  





Decided that chairs as sculptures was just made for sitting... 




George Washington Memorial from the Constitution Garden.  The garden actually seemed generally devoid of tourists.