Washington DC - land of museums & memorials

 

Route from Harrisburg to Rossyln, Virginia :

US - 15 S I - 270 S

 

Vacation Dates: 23rd June 2007 - 24th June 2007

Hmm this is special because it was my first trip after coming to US and recently my husband had got some very good ratings about his work on the project. So it was kind of a double celebration.

We got married in May 2007 and I landed in US on 18th May 2007. Planning for the first weekend getaway was exciting. We planned to drive to DC as its just two and half hours away from Harrisburg. On Saturday we drove early morning from Harrisburg to our hotel in Arlington, Virginia. The Arlington area is nice to stay in and plus the Rossyln station is just next door. We stayed at the Quality Inn. The room was good. We checked in and parked our car at the hotel and took the metro from Rossyln station to the Smithsonian station. One thing to keep in mind while planning a trip to DC is that you need to walk a lot in DC so kick off your heels and get on your shoes. I didn't know that and came wearing my short heel sandals. It wasn't very bad but it did hurt a little at the end of the day.

From the Smithsonian station we walked to the Washington Memorial that stands tall in the DC National Mall area. Do not confuse the mall area for some shopping mall, its just a long park area between the Capitol and the Lincoln Memorial with the Washington Memorial standing in between. The Washington Memorial is 500ft tall obelisk which was built in two phases with the civil was interrupting its construction. At the monument they have the tours to see the inside of the structure and see the view from the 500ft level. But for this you need to either book tickets online in advance or get the tickets from the counter near the monument in the morning. The tickets are given free on first come first serve basis at the ticket kiosk which opens at 8:30am. However people line up as early as 7:30am because there are limited tickets. We hadn't planned for it so could not take the tour. I liked the monument, its simple but yet looks nice.

 

Our next stop was the World War II Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial. The fountains at the memorial give a nice background for taking pictures. The world war II memorial has one pillar for each state of US. The view of the war memorial from Lincoln memorial is beautiful. Walking across the park we headed towards the Thomas Jefferson memorial. This one is near the tidal basin which has the very popular cherry trees that bloom in the spring and attract a lot of tourists. We then went to see the Holocaust Museum. You are not allowed to carry any food and drink items here. This museum tells the story of the planned murder of of approximately six million Jews by the Nazi regime. I was particularly moved by the exhibit which tells the story of a little boy -  Daniel's Story. Inside the museum they give passes for the main exhibition. There is a cafe in the museum campus incase you are tired of walking and want to take a break .

The best museum in DC is the Museum of Natural History. The best thing about the museums here is that all these Smithsonian museums are free and are located in the same area stretching from one end to the other.

In the museum of natural history lies the popular Hope Diamond -  a large deep blue diamond mined from the mines of Golconda, India. Oh they say diamonds are a girls best friend and here you can see some of the most beautiful diamond jewelry. The twinkling hope diamond is the biggest attraction of them all. Its simply beautiful.

Other areas worth mentioning are the Mammals exhibit, photography section, minerals and rock section. The butterfly section was closed for renovation at the time we went. We had our lunch at the food court in the museum and headed to the Air and Space museum. They have strict security check here. This museum is one of its kind. I hadn't seen anything like this before. The museum also has a 3D cinema inside. There is a Mc Donald's here incase you want to grab a bite.

Its twin brother museum is in Virginia - The Udvar Hazy Air & Space Museum. By the time we finished the tour of the museum we were dead tired. Our last stop of the day was the White House. We kind of got lost  while getting there but finally managed to reach 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Just at that time they had blocked the roads because president Bush was leaving the white house. After waiting for about 40 min they allowed people to cross the road and see the white house from the across the iron bar fence. Outside the White House area lies the big Christmas tree which they decorate during the Christmas. Well I wouldn't say that I was impressed by the White House because from outside it looks quite small. Our own Rashtrapati Bhawan in India is more magnificent than this.

It was already quite late and we decided to have dinner in Georgetown so we boarded a circulator bus and arrived at Zed's. Zed's is an Ethiopian restaurant serving some very authentic and tasty Ethiopian dishes. This was the first time I was having Ethiopian cuisine and I loved the 'Anjeera Bread'. We had the vegetarian platter. It was about eight in the night and the temperature started to drop a little and it was cool. After dinner we decided to take stroll along the streets of Georgetown. Walking hand in hand we reached the river side. The view with the lights is nice. There are lots of eating outlets there. Well we chose Eddy's Ice cream shop as our next stop. We had a huge banana split. With no energy left to walk, we took a cab back to our hotel.

Next day it was a beautiful sunny morning so we decided to walk up to the Iwo Jima monument which was just 5 min from the hotel. This memorial is dedicated to all the marines who gave their lives in the battle of Iwo Jima. The monument lies in the center of  a huge park.

From here we took a metro to Smithsonian and headed for the National Zoo. The zoo is quite big but well organized. One can purchase the zoo map for $1 and navigate through various areas of the zoo. We witnessed the feeding of the Sloth Bear. The main attraction of this zoo is the Giant Panda Bear called Tai-Shan. He was born to Mei Xiang and Tian Tian on July 9, 2005. We were lucky to catch Tai-Shan playing outside.

The bird house is pretty good too. The flamingoes painted a pretty picture in pink. We spent almost the entire day in the zoo. The zoo has a cafe area where we had our lunch. The cafe does not provide many choices, it just has normal sandwiches, burger, fries and drinks. Do not forget to buy a souvenir from the panda gift shop before leaving the zoo. Around four we boarded the metro for Rossyln. We still had one place to go to before ending our trip. Bodies - The Exhibition was being held in Rossyln, very near to our hotel.  My husband had already been to this exhibition and wanted me to see it. It is one of its kind exhibition showcasing preserved human bodies (some also display horses) dissected to display the intricate details of different systems of the body. The bodies are prevented from decay by a means of a rubberization process whereby acetone and  plastics like silicone rubber & polyester are used to replace the water and fatty material in the body cells. All of the systems - skeletal, muscular, nervous, circulatory, digestive, respiratory, urinary and reproductive have been shown in detail. I was amazed to see the veins and arteries in such great detail. There is a section which shows the fetuses at various stages of development. Any amount of praise seems less for this work of art. This exhibition keeps moving and is held in different states. I would recommend to catch this display if possible. But if the mere mention of cut up human bodies makes you sick then this exhibition is not for you.

I had promised to be out of the exhibition by 6:30pm but I turned out at 7:00pm which worried my husband as I wasn't carrying a cell phone with me. It was  around 7:30pm that we left Rossyln. We stopped at Taco Bell to grab some grub and drove ahead. We reached home around 10:00pm that night. The first thing I wanted to do was hit the bed and that is what I did.