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Published: August 12th 2006
The White House
Symbol of America. Home to a lunatic!After a terrifying flight I was glad to be on he ground. The initial descent over DC was spectacular; I was able to get a great view of the white house, the capitol building and the Washington monument.
DC had a good public transport system and we were able to easily navigate the underground system and find our hostel. Named the Hill Top Hostel it was about 20 minutes out from the centre. Despite being a little grotty the hostel had a real grungy feel about it and was quite a welcoming place. In the cellar was a foosball table, a pool table and some 80’s style arcade machines this provided Ben and myself with some evening entertainment.
The next morning I awoke early and headed into the centre of DC. It was decided that as Ben was not that interested in DC and American History that we would separate and explore the city individually. My first stop was to a camera shop to pick up a larger memory card, after my Giga pocket had broken my other memory card was now full and I couldn’t not take pictures in the nations capital.
By about 10.am I had made my
Wingnut
DC was a treat for me especially as I am a huge West Wing fan. It was like a pilgrimage for me. way to the White House. A magnificent looking building and a symbol of America. The roof of the building was lined with sharp shooters and security in general was very tight. After a loop around the perimeter of the building I headed to the Washington Monument, the large obelisk, which stands as the centrepiece of the capital. From there I made my way towards the monuments and memorials. The first of these was the World War Two memorial, this stood at the nearside of the reflection lake.
At the far side of reflection lake stood the Lincoln Memorial, a popular memorial for tourists and school trips, also the location where Martin Luther King made his famous ‘I have a dream’ speech. The Lincoln memorial paid tribute to one of America’s greatest presidents, a man who rescued the crumbling union from the crisis of civil war. His famous Gettysburg address lined the inside walls of his memorial. “…government of the people, by the people and for the people shall not perish from this earth”
The Vietnam memorial was a simple but affective memorial to those who died in the 1960’s war. The Korean war memorial consisted of a platoon
Washington Monument
The centre piece of DC. Overlooks Capitol hill, the White house, the Jefferson Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial. of statue soldiers in the heart of battle.
The FDR (Franklin D. Roosevelt) memorial was a short walk passed walls and waterfalls with extracts from his famous speeches carved into the walls. The only president to serve more than two terms he was elected to the greatest office in the country four times but died before he started his fourth term. He led America through the Second World War and initiated ground breaking economic and social reforms, which are still in place to this day.
The final memorial in the park was the Thomas Jefferson memorial, a tribute to one of the greatest American presidents and my personal favourite. Jefferson; Lawyer, Scientist, Inventor, Governor of Virginia, a member of the continental congress during the first Independence war, author and co-signatory of the Declaration of Independence, Secretary of State to George Washington, Vice-president to John Adams and elected to two terms as the 3rd President of the United States.
Not satisfied with my hit of American history and memorials for the day, I jumped on a tube and headed to the pentagon. Not quite as impressive as I was expecting, the best I could see was a wall
Monument reflection
The reflecting pool captures the Washington Monument. marking the edge of one of the five sides to the building, however, the place was filled with military personnel all dressed in full ceremonial dress.
My next stop was to Arlington cemetery, final resting place to JFK, another one of America’s greatest presidents. “Ask not what you your country can do for you - ask what you can do for country” and “We choose to go the moon and beyond - not because it easy, but because it is hard” Here I was able to see the eternal flame which burns as a constant reminder to those who visit, reminding them that he was the last of four presidents to be assassinated.
After that it was back to the hostel where I met up with Ben again and we discussed our day. He had been to the national archives and had also seen some of the famous buildings and memorials. Looking through Ben’s pictures I realised that what he thought was the White House was in fact the treasury department next door. He had missed the most famous building in DC. “I wondered why I could get so close to it” he said. Idiot!
That evening
World War 2 memorial
Washington is full of memorials. This is the memorial for fallen American soldiers in WW2. we met a few people from the hostel and ended up playing an old Canadian children’s version of Trivial Pursuit, needless to say it was very difficult.
The next day I agreed to meet Ben at lunchtime, I first headed to the capitol building where I queued for half an hour for a free pass to go inside. Once I had the ticket I headed to the National Archives to see the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights and the American Constitution. Locked in display cabinets, which are bullet proof and ultra-sensitive, I was able to get a good look at these large A2 size historic documents that created America.
In the queue I stood next to a 17 year old kid called Brent, he came from somewhere in the deep south and was on a school field trip to the capital, (which I think, judging by the amount of school kids in DC, is a compulsory practice before graduating). I started talking to him and he asked me some questions about England what it was like etc. He then asked me what the differences were between America and England. now this is a really tough question
Korean War memorial
Tribute to those who died in the Korean war. Statue soldiers walking on patrol in Korea. to answer without being rude about America or Americans. We clearly are different to the Yanks, but what is it that makes us different. I answered politely and gave an answer about how America, being so large in size and being populated from so many different regions of the world gives it a variety and makes it multi-cultural. I also stated how religion plays less of a part in the UK than it does in the States. His next couple of questions shocked me. Bear in mind he was a 17 year old, apparently school educated kid, he first asked me, “Are you for freedom and stuff?” I gingerly replied, “Yes we have freedom in England”. He then asked, “Do have television in England” realising this kid was a bit simple I replied quickly and left him to his own devices.
Coming out of the National Archives I had to run in order to get back in time for my Capitol Hill tour, just catching them before they headed through the security checks. The tour, although interesting, only took you to three rooms inside the capitol building all of which were historic. It was a beautiful building and I
Vietnam memorial
The controversial Vietnam war led to many unnecessary casualties and deaths. This simple but effective tribute pays respect to those who sacrificed their lives. am glad I got to go inside. At the gift shop I purchased a constitution tie, to use for special occasions and interviews.
By this time it was lunch and I met with Ben as arranged. We had quick walk around the city stopping to take pictures of the FBI building and Union station. I took Ben back to the actual White House and it gave us the opportunity to take a picture with the pair of us in it.
For the rest of the afternoon, both knackered from the site seeing we opted to go to the cinema. It was a little out of town about 40 minutes away, but it also contained restaurants and shops so we had an evening of entertainment sorted. At the cinema we saw ‘Centinal’ a film about a secret service agent accused of trying to assassinate the President. It was set in DC and it was really strange seeing all the DC sites on the big screen especially after we had only just seen the real places hours before.
For dinner we decided to go to a buffet restaurant. The food was of poor quality and was like school canteen
Lincoln Memorial
Lincoln Memorial a tribute to the civil war president. food. We still ate as much as we could. We left the restaurant and got back on the tube.
About 10 minutes into the journey Ben started to complain about needing the toilet. He started to undo his belt and loosen his trousers, he then started to pace and was getting very irate with me as I was laughing at him. It got to the stage where Ben could hold it in no longer, he jumped off the train at some random stop. I followed behind as he ran up the escalator. The tube station had no toilet facilities so he left the station. Outside there was nothing but closed office buildings and shops, nowhere for him to go the toilet. He ran down to the cross street and saw a McDonalds sign, he started to relax and made his way to the door. Unfortunately it was closed and all the door rattling was not going to get him inside. He then started to look for a dark alley way but there weren’t any. A couple of blocks later he saw a restaurant and he dived inside. Apparently they only had one cubical and it was occupied, he said
Abraham Lincoln
“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.”
it was agony having to wait. After this incident we found our way back to the station and continued our journey to the hostel.
The following day we set off together and made our way to the NASA museum. This was a fascinating museum and housed the command module from Apollo 11. It also contained some interesting exhibits on space exploration, space travel and the history of man’s journey to the stars. In the afternoon we went to the spy museum, an interactive museum where you could practice your espionage skills.
We headed back to the hostel and had a relaxing evening playing pool and meeting other travellers. The next day we made our way back to Union station where we boarded our first train of the journey. Next stop Philadelphia home of the liberty bell and obviously Ben was filled with excitement at the prospect of more history!
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Bob
non-member comment
memorial
I believe it is the Korean war memorial not the Crimean war memorial. If I am wrong, it means we are erecting memorials to wars that the British fought in and in which we had NO soldiers. You must have not been alive in the 50's.