Craig and Sal Go Global
Washington DC
August 03, 2012
After New York we headed south to Washington DC We were immediately hit by the heat – it was almost 40°C while we were there!
With dozens of free museums on offer in DC it was hard deciding what to see in our short time here. We ended up going to the Holocaust Museum, the Air and Space Museum and the Natural History Museum. We definitely have to build up our museum and gallery fitness – we often find our energy and legs fading after three hours or so!
The Holocaust Museum was very moving. We got to see a special exhibition on propaganda, hear a holocaust survivor speak and see the permanent memorial exhibition. We already knew a lot about the holocaust – but the exhibit had a whole new emotional impact. For example, one of the rooms contains hundreds of pairs of old leather shoes that belonged to holocaust victims before their deaths at the camps. Chilling.
The Air and Space Museum has an awesome collection of aircraft and spacecraft. It’s a great illustration of the rapid progress of technology since the industrial revolution - it was only 66 years between the first powered flight to landing on the moon! We also saw an early Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile. It was strange to see something that looks fairly innocuous but that can drop a nuclear warhead anywhere on the planet.
The Natural History Museum was also fascinating. Our favourite exhibition was on forensic archaeology. The exhibition explained how much historical information can be uncovered by examining human remains – including a population’s nutrition, health, death rate and even what jobs people may have done.
Hmm, on re-reading our post it all sounds a bit morbid! The museums weren’t all about death, promise!
Gina and her family kindly hosted us while we were in D.C. We stayed in Georgetown, a suburb near Gina’s university.
Gina showed us her campus. We were surprised to find out how different US and NZ universities are. Many US campuses are like self-contained towns – some even have their own police and transportation services. Students typically live on campus longer than in NZ – particularly those in fraternities and sororities, who live together on campus for their whole degree (although Georgetown University doesn’t have any frats or sororities). Also the US drinking age of 21 means students stay on campus for house parties rather than going out. The all-inclusive experience of studying, living, eating and drinking on campus contributes to the very high cost of US education.
Georgetown University
No wonder it’s an American cliché to think of University as the “best days of your life” – the average worker in the US gets just 10 days of annual leave per year! No wonder so few Americans travel internationally – it would take forever to save up enough leave.
One day we went on a walking tour of National Mall to see some of the monuments of DC. We’ve put some photos below – our favourite monuments were the WWII Memorial, the Korean War Memorial and the Martin Luther King Memorial.
Unsurprisingly, DC has a different feel to New York. Most of the buildings by the National Mall are huge, fortress-like buildings for various federal government agencies – many taking up a full block. These closed-off buildings sit on large, multi-lane streets, making it quite a dead area to walk around.
Once you get away from the big government buildings, you find more vibrant areas of the city. One thing that really helped to explore the city was the Bikeshare scheme (which is also in several other cities around the world). You pay a modest daily fee and can then use the Bikeshare bikes for 30 minutes at a time at no extra charge. There are lots of points around the city where you can sign out and return the bikes. It was a really convenient and fun way to explore the city (and a change from busses, subways and walking).
Of course no trip to DC is complete without a visit to the White House:
Officers from the “Secret Service Uniformed Division” were standing around outside the fence (not very secretly). Hollywood presents the secret service as made up of tough men who look serious, wear suits and drive dark sedans or SUVs. We were, therefore, somewhat underwhelmed by the young, dopey-looking secret service officer in a polo shirt and shorts, riding a bicycle. We would have taken a photo, except that there was one very serious looking bloke standing on the roof of the White House, looking down at us through some massive binoculars.
On Friday night Gina’s Dad invited us to a concert that opened the 2012 International AIDS Conference. He works for a sponsor, so we ended up at a VIP function before the show. This really tested our limited travel wardrobe – our best attempt at formal dress included jandals for Sally and zip-off pants for Craig! In this elegant attire we were introduced to our first and only political celebrity: Barbara Bush, daughter of George W Bush. The show was both informative and entertaining with a mix of performances and speeches, including some by Annie Lennox, Herbie Hancock, Joan Osbourne, Bill Gates and Alicia Keys. We were surprised to learn that DC has one of the biggest AIDS problems in the US.
Another night we went out together for dinner. DC has the largest Ethiopian population outside of Ethiopia. This makes it easy to find good Ethiopian cuisine, something neither of us had tried before. All of the orders come out on a huge platter and are served with a kind of savoury pancake made of tef, a grain native to Ethiopia. You tear off a piece of bread and pick up the food from the platter.
On Saturday Gina took us for a drive through the countryside of Virginia. It was really nice to see a different side to the eastern US. In one small town we found a maple-glazed donut topped with bacon :-) We know a few of you back home will appreciate this.
You’d need weeks to really explore all of DC’s museums (and by then you’d definitely have museum legs!) We really enjoyed the few that we had time to see. DC also has a lot more to offer than museums. The monuments, National Zoo and trip to the countryside were also great. We’re now saying goodbye to the US. It’s always sad to leave a place we’re enjoying, but it’s also exciting to be going somewhere new, and London’s calling! Talk to you soon from the Motherland :-)
Comments from WordPress
-
LeeLee 2012-08-06T02:33:50Z
Hey guys! Loving your DC Post! I bet the Natural History Museum was amazing. The ‘mountain of despair’ sculpture is incredible and the soldier night shots are brilliant! I bet it just wouldn’t have been the same during the day.
I must say it’s a bit of a bummer being at work reading your posts :-( Makes me incredibly envious that you’re off exploring the world. I hope you’re enjoying Scotland - I look forward to your next post. Ka Kite <3
-
Did you try the maple glazed donut with bacon?
-
Craig and Sal 2012-08-15T22:22:16Z
Yeah we tried it! (although we shared one between three). It was pretty tasty :-)
-
Debs 2012-08-12T06:19:28Z
Hi Craig & Sal,
Finally caught up on reading your posts. What an amazing journey so far… look forward to reading more. Definately understand Museum legs… they will become ‘finding obscure but important cathedral legs’ in Europe soon.
xox
-
Tam 2012-08-18T20:27:20Z
Mmmmm so much deliciousness!!!
-
Thought you might notice this Tam! We thought of you while eating it :-)
Written by Craig Drayton and Sally Robertson