Washington, DC: Day 7

I have made it my mission this week to see at least one person a day. I’m here partly to sightsee and partly to meet people (or as I like to say, to ‘cold-coffee’ with them). I was intending originally to intern here for a month or so, and head north on the weekends to visit friends. Circumstances changed, however, and that was no longer an option. So a few weeks back I amended my plans and decided to spend about 4 days in each of the cities I was going to spend 2 in, and stay for over a week in DC and a week in Boston. This gave me time to meet the people I wanted to meet, as well as do some proper sightseeing around the region. The only problem with this plan was the weather. It’s traditionally bitterly cold in the Northeast at this time of year, and even though this year has been far milder than previous ones (did someone say “global warming”?), I highly doubt Montreal will be ‘warm’!

The other weather-related issue is transport. Many airports and train stations in the area close down for some or all of winter as the snow and wind makes travel hazardous. Chicago’s O’Hare Airport is notorious for cancelled flights, so hopefully I’ll be able to build some buffers into my trip to allow for delays.

Anyways, so today on my mission was the International Spy Museum, Ford’s Theatre, the National Building Museum, the Smithsonian Castle and seeing Akemi. And, surprisingly enough, I did it all! Just!

I started at the International Spy Museum, near the FBI. Interestingly enough, for one of the few non-free museums in DC, it is one of the most popular. It’s two stories of espionage, intrigue and gadgets. It’s very well done, although a bit tacky in parts. The history of spying goes right from the Chinese in 500BC to the end of the Cold War. Interestingly enough, there is little discussed beyond 1990. I’m guessing this is largely because they can’t access or display the still-classified records, but it would have been nice to speculate.

There were also some interesting exhibits on Hollywood and spying, and how one has influenced the other. Apparently, the CIA etc. took cues from the early Bond vehicles when outfitting their protected cars. Nifty, eh?

Ford’s Theatre and the Lincoln Museum, just down the road, were my next stop. It was here that Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth whilst attending the theatre. It was quite a small museum, and unfortunately due to rehearsals we couldn’t see the box Lincoln was sitting in when he was killed, but the artifacts that are there are as chilling as they are interesting. They even have the pillow that he was sitting on, and his coat! Complete with blood stains!

From there, I headed down to the National Building Museum to see what it was like. I’d heard good things about it, but to be honest architecture in and of itself is not my forte. I like admiring buildings and structures, but not necessarily reading about them. This museum though, is something special. The building itself disguises an enormous atrium, which is home to one of the Presidential Inauguration Balls. The two exhibits that I managed to fit in today were on Green Houses – or how to build an environmentally friendly house – and on DC itself. The first exhibition was fascinating, and really well done. It showed the many different options for homebuilders, citing examples from around the world, who want to live in a ‘green’ house under a budget. I picked up the booklet if people want to look at it. It makes for very interesting reading.

The second exhibition looked at the initial design for Washington DC by L’Enfant, and how the current city differs from it. DC, like Canberra, is a purpose-built capital city. It was located near the Mason-Dixon line (the line separating North and South in the Civil War), and was built on a swamp. It was originally a diamond, half from Virginia and half from Maryland. The SW part (belonging to Northern Virginia) has since been given back, and is now Arlington County. The rest is divided by the US Capitol Building and the Mall into NE, NW and SE. As it turns out, L’Enfants plan was fairly well adhered to, but only after many years. Initially only the Mall and its direct surrounds were kept to plan. The rest has come since.

I had a quick visit to the Smithsonian Castle to look around and watch the video on why the Institution exists etc. It was founded on money left to the US by Mr. Smithson, a Brit who had never set foot in the US, but wanted to create a place for people to learn (but not a university). Nifty, eh?

That night I headed to a bar in Courthouse to farewell Akemi. Akemi is a friend from USyd who now works for USAid and is heading off to Iraq on assignment with them. I met some of her excellent friends in DC and had a great Shepherd’s Pie. Stay safe Akemi!! If you want to read of her deeds, check out her blog .