Yes, I'm getting back to my Leave Time. I found my camera that I thought I lost, the point and shoot with my pictures on it. Very Grateful.
I was in Washington DC earlier this month when I was on leave. I have never been to DC but have always wanted to go. I stayed at a Hostel in the Northern Part of DC and parked my car for $5 a day and took the Trans. Definitely recommended in DC, don't take your car anywhere here, which is what I learned on teh Second day. It is a pain to park.
One thing that is really awesome about DC is the fact that there are free things to do EVERYWHERE. One upside is the Smithsonian. There were a gob of museums I wanted to go check out, including the Smithsonian Museum of American History but unfortunately it was closed for renovation.
I had to wait until the Museums opened to go check them out however, and most museums didn't open until 9:00, and I'm on military time on leave, so I'm up at 6:00 and ready to go. Their was a sculpture garden to check out, so I did that.
Some weird sculptures were to be found.
I have a fondness for modern art, and incorporating myself with it. However, i was quick to learn not to sit on the pieces when a security guard came by and scolded me for getting to close to a piece.
It must be just a flesh wound. Where the heck are this guy's legs?
Honestly, I don't know about this one. supposedly it is some woman sitting on a bench, or something. . . and it is obviously abstract and only supposed to represent something. Or something or other.
The National Space and Air Museum however, that is one I could have spent all day in. I'm a space junkie, so anything that has to do with space or flying is awesome with me, and this museum went through the history of Air and Space.
I also caught a show in the planetarium on Black Holes and that was freakin' Awesome. I was also caught up on these following sensors. One senses heat, the other, er, I don't remember. Infared or something. Gah! I knew this!
I guess I better look it up. But can you see me taking a picture?
I spent all morning in that museum, and could have spent all day if I wanted to. Unfortunately, I did not have the time allotted to spend all day in one museum. I went across the mall to the National Art Museum. It is not part of the Smithsonian, however it is still very much free. And free is good.
They had a lot of european artists, lots of renaissance art, and I have discovered while touring this museum that I am more interested in landscapes and Modern Art then renaissance art. I did find the Leonardo DaVinci, the only DaVinci in the US in fact. And I got a picture with it.
The Eastern Musuem was more interesting to me in the long run. I wanted to see more of the American Artists but that exhibit was closed. *sighs*
After the art museums, I found my way to the National Archive, discovered that this is where the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, and the Constitution (the original documents) all reside.
I checked them out. So very fascinating. There was a lot of historical documents to see here, but i was also running out of time and had a lot more I wanted to see.
Like the Smithsonian Natural History Museum.
Where I saw the Hope Diamond and a bunch of other awesome stuff. Like Butterflies!
These butterflies are in this enclosure and they just fly around and land on you and do all sorts of stuff. I'm not really much of a girly girl that swoons over butterflies really, but it is fun when bugs start landing and crawling on you.
I spent my time in this museum until the place closed down. I thought about going to check out Arlington but found that the hours weren't conducive to my being there. So I had to walk across the bridge and found my way at the Lincoln Memorial.
Abe Lincoln is the BEST!
Can you see my pockets are laden down with all sorts of Stuff? Here is the view over the mall with the washington Monument back there in the BG.
I spent the remaining daylight hours at the Wall.
My dad served in Vietnam and I asked him if there were any names he wanted me to look for. I was able to get a rubbing for him. And a few pictures of the name.
The wall is a little surreal in some ways, one of those places where you stand there and reflect on the loss of life that came with this war.
I ended up talking to an old vet near the wall, looking for the nearest metro back to the hostel, and when I told him I was a drill sergeant, he looked at me with this expression that likely had him thinking 'this girl is a drill sergeant? what happened to the tough drill sergeants of Vietnam that could kill you just by looking at you?'
He obviously never saw me give anybody my angry eye.
Walking to the metro at night was a little interesting, but I never really feared for myself in any way. I did keep a lookout for unusual characters, but didn't see any. I didn't think DC felt unsafe in any way while I was there.
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