I went with Jakob, Sam, Jordie (the Aussies), Hannah and Simon (the Pommies) and we missioned around Washington like it was our last day on earth. It was madness. These Aussies - Jordie in particlar - are priceless entertainment I tell you. Jordie has us cracking up every time he speaks. Our first stop was the Capitol building, where we all went on a tour through the building which is huge and so stunning! It looks like it should be part of the Vatican. There are statues everywhere and there is a whole section of the interior of the main dome of the building which is covered in intricate 23 carat gold designs, with a painting right in the centre of the dome of George Washington and the thirteen original states. We also went through the Congress Library which is just as fancy as the Capitol Building. The size alone is enough to boggle the mind. Those two buildings alone took us three hours to appreciate. We learnt that District of Columbia (DC) is in actual fact not a state at all in America. It is simply a small area (for lack of more appropriate wording) appointed to be the pinnacle of all American politics. This has led to a disagreement between the people of DC and the government because they are not represented in government/parliament (seats here are allocated according to population of state) and as such have no voting rights, so they feel they should not be paying taxes. Interestingly, the saying "taxation without representation" is printed at the bottom of every DC license plate. I believe there is also some form of petition to get DC recognised as a state.
After the Capitol building, we took a stroll down Pennsylvania Avenue with the White House as our ultimate destination. We saw the FBI, the National Archives, the Supreme Court, many Federal Buildings, an American strike in the Freedom Plaza (what a beautifully ironic choice of location), went to the top of the Old Post House which has gorgeous views over all of Washington, and finally arrived at the White House. Security here is higher than at Buckingham Palace! The ENTIRE street in front of the White House is permanently barricaded off, there is a security detail scattered along the whole road, two men on the roof of the White House with telescopes and rifles, and apparently all police within a 50 mile radius of the president are always in contact and know what's potting. I was blown away by this concept.
We left the White House and headed down to the Smithsonians we wanted to see. We started at the Holocaust museum. But it was very full and incredibly depressing, (they literally had videos of mass executions playing on a loop in the one room) and we had been on our feet in very humid weather (dressed for the rain that threatened all morning and then simply dissipated!) lugging around heavy rain jackets since 9am, so we headed across to the Air and Space Museum to something a little more enjoyable. Wow! :)
We donated two well spent hours to this amazing place. We saw everything from missiles, to moon landing pods, to old war planes, to the Amelia Earhart and Wright brothers' planes. It was incredible. There were dissections of cockpits to show the control panels and such; uniforms, ammunition and medals from wars that were fought using planes; everything from the earliest machines right up to current spy drones, passenger carriers and little Cessna planes. I was a kid in a candy store :)
We had arranged to meet up with our guide, Anita, at 6pm in front of the Capitol Building. She arrived with a massive box full of food and we had an impromptu American picnic in the pre-sunset in between the Capitol Building and Washington Memorial! Who gets to do that?! :) Best of all we ate all-American, heart-stopping grub. Fried chicken, potato crisps, root beer floats and Popsicles. I could feel my heart slowly grinding to a halt with every cholesterol-filled bite. Luckily we had been walking in winter clothing in hot humid weather for ten hours, so our bodies had at least burned enough calories to survive this calorific onslaught. But I will be drinking and eating water tomorrow just to be safe :-P
On our way home, we stopped to buy beer (I shan't go there) and I headed to Ikea to buy a towel. It is MASSIVE!!!!!!!!! I got lost twice. Once I found myself, it took ten minutes to walk from the towels to the tills because they really are that far away! Picture the biggest Builder's Warehouse you know, combine it with the biggest Mr Price Home (or any home store) you have ever seen, throw in a bathroom bizarre, a Lighting Warehouse, a furniture store, a garden centre and an electronics store, put them in a warehouse type building large enough to store Noah's Ark, and that is STILL smaller than this store. I wish I'd had my camera with me. Un. Be. Lievable.
We arrived home just after 8pm (sun stays up late here! It's light until at least 9pm) and the boys started a fire. We sat around it sharing war stories and playing games (it felt and smelled like home...) until the flames died and the long day started to hit all of us square in the ability to stay conscious department. I am now blogging from the cushy comforts of my awesome sleeping bag in which I shall very soon be ridiculously tangled. I don't know what it is, I have this thing with sleeping bags where I go to sleep like a princess, perfectly poised and elegant, and wake up like a five year old that had a tantrum during the night and was unwittingly tied down in the sleeping bag by mom. And the better the sleep, the worse the tangle. It's a long extraction process each morning. But I am so looking forward to my sleep, so I shall now bid you adieu.
Tomorrow we head to Pennsylvania (Amish country!) and will also be seeing the Gettysburg site. Anita has also said she has a surprise for us... We're all on tenterhooks! I'll let you know what it is!
Stay tuned and stay classy c",)
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