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Photo of Bush.........
A very poor picture of the president's motorcade, heading towards Capitol Hill. His car is the one on the left behind the skip in the foreground!!!Sorry for the huge Blog again, I know they are turning into essays but bare with me, don’t worry I’ve added lots of pictures too!!!
After such as good time in Chicago we wanted to have a more relaxing (alcohol free) visit to Washington, a city more famous for its landmarks, monuments and museums than its nightlife which was probably a good thing as we were both feeling pretty worn down, its a hard life all this traveling ;-)
We arrived before midday at the Hill top Hostel in Washington, feeling pretty tired we decided to just chill for the day at the hostel and have a venture around the city. At first glance the hostel seemed to be a half way house full of middle ages perverts again. While there were a few weird characters it ended up being more like a frat house, Kim for the first few days was pretty much the only female there any other girls staying were pretty ugly or perhaps they were men who knows. The staff were pretty funny Tony, who kept trying to impress everyone with magic tricks that always went Wrong and Greg who kept trying to put porn
Washington Monument
Kim posing infront of it, pretty big, ill show it in another picture fully. Steve do you rate the brickwork??? on TV and depress everyone with his life story. However after we got to know the staff and some of the people staying there they all turned out to be a decent group, the good new was that we didn't have to be out of the hostel at any times of the day and could afford to have a good lay in, which we really needed (we both slept like a log). We also promised ourselves that we wouldn't go out drinking while in Washington which we managed to keep, though we did have a sneaky few in the hostel on one evening though a weird Austrian guy took one of my beers, bastard! He also used to butt into conversations with comments that no one ever understood because of his accent, though I think he was just strange and talked nonsense anyway.
The next day we woke up relatively late and eventually went into the city to have a look around at some of the famous monuments Washington has on offer (we have all seem then on TV). We took the metro into town and first headed for capitol hill passing the National Archive Building (which houses Archives....),
Nice view
View from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Forrest Gump stood here.... I mean Martin Luther King! A more complete picture of the Washington Monument aswell. and the FBI building (which houses FBI people). While we sat and ate some lunch we suddenly heard police sirens wailing, I got up to see what it was, just as I stood up the presidents motorcade drove past and I had just enough time to take a picture of his armored Limousine (not enough time to take out my sniper rifle though). The Capitol building, to be honest it was alright but nothing special and even shabby in parts. It looked like the area needed a good clean! We headed down the national mall which is a long strip of park land that leads down the center of the city with museums and government buildings located on both sides. Once again we weren’t all that impressed it seemed badly kept compared to what we expected you would see in the capital city of a rich country (maybe we are just getting snobby, after 5 months of traveling. It takes a lot to impress us now you know!).
While walking down the mall we could see the huge 'Washington Monument' that stands tall in the center of the mall opposite the White House. As we headed toward it we
Lincoln
Nice beard, Not sure what that geeky looking Asian Kid is looking at though! Since I've been traveling i've also learnt they do to computers what Germans do to sunbeds!! realized how huge it actually was a took the opportunity to takes some pictures of it. Further up the mall we passed the WWII remembrance monument, it was quite impressive and had a central water feature and famous quotes from generals and presidents during the war, there was also 4000 military stars on a wall each standing for every 100 men lost during WWII (that’s a lot).
At the end of the Wall we walked past the famous reflecting pools to the Lincoln memorial (everyone will remember it from a scene in 'Forrest Gump' or where Martin Luther King gave his 'I have a dream' speech, see pics). The memorial held the giant statue of Abraham Lincoln (president during the civil war) as statues go it was a nice one..... (I’m no expert but I’ve seen a few, actually I’ve seen enough!). The area was very busy with tourists, mainly high school kids. Lots of famous speeches and quotes of his were inscribed along the walls. Nearby we walked to the famous Vietnam, and Korean war memorials which were quite solemn places. We then headed back up the mall to see the white house.
It was actually very
Korean War Memorial
Similar to the Vietnam memorial but instead of names there are images engraved into the stone. Remembers not just the Americans who died but all UN soldiers including Brits. It looks quite amazing. inconspicuous and harder to make out than we thought it would be. As we got closer we noticed the very clear and obvious presence of armed security and police (there were probably many more we couldn't see as well). After the terrorist attacks in 2001 white house tours no longer take place, a large concrete barrier runs right across the road opposite, you can still however walk along the path that stand right outside the White House lawn, we made sure we took a few pictures just to show we had been there, but it wasn't really all that spectacular, not like TV! We decided to call it a day as it took a good while to walk around and we had got up pretty late.
The day after we visited Arlington cemetery, it actually ended up being one of the most interesting days we had in Washington (that’s sounds pretty bad really, nothing like starting your day with a trip to a grave yard!). The Cemetery houses over 290,000 graves and covers over 600 acres, that’s bigger than Alton towers!. Buried there soldiers killed from various wars right up to current day and the 'war' in Iraq. It
White House
Can't go to Washington and not have a picture taken infront of the white house. We have other but none show both of us. Kim says the way I stoop in the picture makes it look like a beer belly, its not beer its American junk food thankyou! Just noticed it looks like we are holding hands, we really aren't!! also houses Famous American leaders and monuments to those killed in various tragedies or who did honorable service to their country. Our first stop was to see the tomb of President Kennedy (no need to explain who he is right, he wasn't in Neighbours that was Carl Kennedy!). Though it was just a tombstone you defiantly got a sense of history while there, it was such a big event in modern history everyone knows where they were during his assassination unless you were like me and not alive. Our last stop in that day was just outside the cemetery at the impressive 'Iwo Jima' WWII memorial, you may not know the name but everyone knows the statue so take a look at the pics.
On our final day we decided to go and visit some museums, the main museums in the city are all free which is a bonus. We started at the National air and space museum and saw some fantastic exhibits, though it was more my kind of thing than Kim’s, I was like a kid in a Candy store! Among the things on display were all manner of aircraft from various wars civil aircraft, space related
Tomb of JFK
Might be hard to make out the engraving. The flame behind burns at all times. craft, exhibits about the history of flight, space flight, cold war, space science and lots of interactive exhibits plus much more the place was huge and I thought it was great, Kim liked it too. Ill leave the main highlights to the pictures included with the Blog, otherwise ill go on all day! The next museum we visited was the United States Holocaust Remembrance Museum. It was pretty depressing and unsettling in places as we expected it to be we went round rather quickly but got to see most of the exhibits, it was very interesting and thought provoking however on leaving we were on a bit of a downer, its very important though that people know about such events in history. People were not allowed to take pictures inside though we didn't really feel it would have been acceptable it you were. Finally we stopped to have a quick look inside the Natural history museum but didn't stay to long as there will be plenty more opportunities to visit museums when we finally arrive in New York, by this time we were pretty much museum’d out.
Overall Washington was fairly interesting but definitely over hyped and not the
Columbia Memorial
Remembers the astronauts killed in the recent disaster. Stands alongside the Challenger one and one remembering troops lost the an Iranian embassy siege. greatest city we have been too, however it was well worth a visit because of the museums. Its the kind of city you can't really miss if your travelling through the states, so we didn't really have a choice.
On the train to Boston I ended up chatting to the woman sitting next to me and found out that she was actually an advisor to the President and works in the White House she talks to him regularly (probably not a good thing poor woman). She was actually a very nice woman (even if she was a republican!) she even offered to give us a tour around the white house which I would have loved to have done as no members of the public are allowed in anymore however we were already headed for Boston on a tight schedule so sorry Mr. Bush I didn't have space for you in my Diary.........not.
P.S. My arm is itching like crazy because there were bed bugs in the hostel in Washington!
P.S. Sorry about the length of the blog again and I apologise to Rachel if there are spelling mistakes, internet costs money you know so I have to
Iwo Jima
The famous memorial showing American marines raising their flag after the taking of the Japanese Island in WWII. Its based on a real picture. rush!!
Trev
P.P.S Trev does not rule and even i fell asleep reading this one!!! And his spelling sucks!! - Kim xx
P.P.P.S She fell asleep because she keeps drinking Jan, all that alcohol tsk tsk!
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jackie
non-member comment
dont apologise for the lenghty blogs they are a great read........so there!! so its new york next? plenty of retail therapy opportunities there for you kim!! spose you will be picking up an outfit for the wedding next month? have a good time . see you next month .