Washington, DC: Day 9

After the trip to the Cemetery yesterday afternoon, I thought today I’d focus on what makes America great – its weaponry, democracy and shopping. Haha, well some would definitely debate that, and those of you who know me can detect the sarcasm in my writing.

Regardless, today was spent largely in awe. My first stop was the Smithsonian Institutions’ Museum of Air and Space Udvar Hazy Centre. What a mouthful. More commonly known as “Udvar Hazy” or “that new place near Dulles”, it’s essentially 3 or 4 large aircraft hangers containing about 100 aircraft. They’re just there, without any big displays or historical information. The aim is to walk over, under, around and in them. Most are huge and completely overpower any attempt to compare humans to the machines we create.

There’s a full-size Boeing 707 there, a Concorde, a Space Shuttle and the Blackbird – the fastest plane ever built. There’s also a new Joint Strike Fighter – the plane that’s destined to replace the F-18 as the main fighter jet for the US Air Force. Now all this usually wouldn’t interest me, but what with my connections to the defence industry and the way it’s all just, well, there, it’s hard not too. You just look at them in wonder. Even after a tour of the place by an ex-air force general, I knew more about them specifically, but was still even more dwarfed by their size.

The final thing I saw at Udvar Hazy was the Observation Tower. Designed to look like the one at Dulles airport, it comes with mock controls and an awesome view. Pity the weather wasn’t so crash hot today, or I would have been able to see Virginia, DC and apparently even Western Virginia.

After being dropped off at the Metro station by Ellen (thanks again!), I went downtown to buy some phone credit (I had been at zero balance for 2 days, which was causing many problems!!), and walked over to the Capitol Building.

This place, often mistaken for the White House, is HUGE. It contains Congress, the Senate and some of the administrative functions that go along with running what is arguably the single most powerful government in the world. The building itself has crazy security procedures (incl. no sealed food/drink), but is very impressive. It’s built with mixed Greco-Roman styles, but the overall impact is one of power. It’s designed to look imposing, and it’s location at the end of the National Mall reflects that. There are only a few places one can visit within the building in this post-9/11 world, but there’s a nifty museum outlining the history of the various parts of the building downstairs. Definitely worth visiting.

My final sightseeing stop today was a return visit to the National Building Museum to see the Globe Theatre exhibition, and admire the official collection of artifacts from DC. The exhibition on the Globe Theatre was excellent, although I found myself focusing on their obsession with the spelling of ‘theatre’ vs ‘theater’ more than the content! They had a disclaimer at the front stating they would be spelling it the American way unless it was the name of an actual theatre outside the US. Wow, I’m really glad they cleared that up, or I would’ve been totally confused!!! Odd, eh?

Finally, before heading back to Jen’s I went to H&M to buy some clothes. I had hoped to find a nice coat on sale, but that wasn’t too be, so instead I got myself a long sleeved top (which is SO warm) and a new pair of jeans to replace the ones that I am throwing away. How I wish there was an H&M back home - $30 fashionable jeans are hard to say no too!