Wandering in Washington

Mosaic in the Resurrection Chapel, Washington National Cathedral
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Bev dropped me at Beverly´s (another family friend, thanks ma and da!) in Bethesda MD (which is a suburb of Washington, DC.)

After lunch and a catch-up we went to Washington National Cathedral, which is just beautiful and the 6th-largest religious structure in the world. They take their commitment to embracing all faiths seriuosly - there is a book on Jedi in the bookshop and I bought a small book called Zen Cowboy. Anyway it´s huge, with great stained glass and heaps of chapels underneath, some of which are the size of a regular church. One had amazing mosaics all over the walls.

Looking up at the Washington Monument
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Next we headed into the city to check out the Internation Spy Museum. It was so great, full of great gadgets which are real but you´d swear they only exist in movies. They also had a Bond car which was fun, and loads of other stuff which we ran out of time to see.

We walked to Chinatown for a great dinner at a Spanish tapas place.

In the morning I took the subway into town and took a hop-on-hop-off bus around the National Mall area. Be warned - this was a big day!

First stop was the Washington Monument, which is really huge actually. There was no tickets left to go up to the top, but it was pretty amazing just being up close. Next stop Jefferson Memorial, lovely view of the White House and the Lincoln across the water.

FDR with his dog
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Next up - in the rain - was the Roosevelt Memorial, which is quite different to the others, all spread out and really just a series of water features, sculptures and quotes. I liked it a lot.

The Lincoln Memorial had been top of my list and I went there next. It didn´t disappoint. He´s really big and imposing. I spent a bit of time there, and then walked to the Korean War Memorial, which is a series of sculptures of soldiers walking through a garden. It´s very well done and there is an acknowledgement to Kiwi soldiers.

Max Ernst's Capricorn at the National Gallery of Art
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After that I walked to the Vietnam Memorial, which you´ve probably seen pictures of; it´s a long wall with a big list of the names of the dead on it. Photos don´t really capture this haunting place. I walked the length of it, and by the end was completely overcome with tears. And you all know I hate to cry in public! It was really very moving and I couldn´t bring myself to even take photos.

Anyway I pulled myself together and got back on the bus which took us over the bridge to Arlington Cemetery, which is actually in VA. It is a huge military cemetery with 300,000 servicemen and women from the Civil War through to today buried there. The rows of uniform white gravestones are quite chilling. First stop was JFK´s grave, where there is a flame burning and a huge crowd of people. Next was the Tomb of the Unknowns, where I saw the changing of the guard. Last stop in the cemetery was Arlington House, where General Lee lived prior to the Civil War. It is nice but all the furniture had been removed for renovation.

Lincoln
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Got back on the bus and headed back to DC for the World War II Memorial. This I expected to be moved by and wasn´t. It is a large fountain surrounded by pillars with all of the States named on them. It was rather a victorious display and scant mention was made of the other countries who fought. The dates noted on the engravings were 1941-1945...

Headed back to Beverly´s and we went out for a Mexican dinner - yum!

The next day was very hot and sunny in contrast to the persistent drizzle of my 'monument day'. I took a close-up look at the Capitol, Library of Congress and Supreme Court but the queues (mostly school groups) put me off going inside. I made a quick visit at the National Air & Space Museum (all the Smithsonians are free, so flying visits are acceptable!) which has all sorts of planes, a rocket etc. - vast and impressive.

The Marine Corps Memorial (from the famous Iwo Jima photograph)
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After that I walked along to the Holocaust Museum, queued and went through security (as everywhere.) I got my free ticket for the main exhibit, had an hour to kill but didn´t fancy lining up again so went to a special exhibit on the Berlin Olympics (very interesting and I thought the timing was quite pointed) and watched some short films on Nazism and genocide in general.

The main exhibit was very informative and well done, but hard to get emotionally reflective with such crowds pulling you along. It was amazing to see walls from the ghettos, walk through a train which took people to the camps, and see a full-scale mock-up of a bunkroom.

After lunch I attacked the National Gallery of Art, which is huuuuge. Finally got to see some Vermeer (had been looking at every single gallery!) which was worth the wait, and of course so much more. The Gallery is in two parts, so the more contemporary stuff is separate. I did both, fairly briefly.

I tried the National Archives after the Gallery closed, but the line was horrific so I called it a day. We went out for Thai, very nice.

The next day was Saturday so we jumped in the car and headed to Great Falls, which is a lovely waterfall on the Potomac. We also explored some ruins nearby of an old canal town, and then saw a snake! Argh! It wasn´t venomous, but I didn´t know that until we went to the Information Centre!

Anyway I got over the snake and we went to the Marine Corps Memorial, which is a statue of the famous photo from Iwo Jima. It is really cool.

Last stop of the day was the hot, crowded National Zoo. Highlights were the pandas, the Amazon exhibit (a replica rainforest where there´s no glass between you and the monkeys) and the gorillas.

We went home, I cooked tea and then packed - again - for my last Amtrak voyage in the morning.