Washington D.C.: Day 2
The Day 2 started with a bowl of cereals and some toast.
Then we got on subway to go to the Capitol -- CapitOl is the building for the house & senate, and CapitAl is the city.
Washington D.C. is full of cool buildings, by the way -- even though I don't know what each of them are. This one says "CANNON house office building."
This is the Library of Congress.
Another view of the Library of Congress.
Here's the Capitol!
Don't let your eyes fool you. I didn't use any kind of special lens here -- it's just the shape of the building.
We waited in a line to get free tickets to take a tour of the Capitol. I looked around, and there were a lot of these flowers. They are big and very pretty.
There were also very cool trees that look just perfect for ninja cosplaying. I envy the kids.
The Capitol Tour tickets are given out by first-come-first-serve basis. Our tickets were for 2 O'Clock tour, so we had a few hours to kill. We regretted having left our water bottles and sandwichs at the hotel -- foods and drinks are not allowed in the Capitol, and we didn't know we wouldn't go inside teh Capitol until after lunch -- that could have saved us a little money. Oh well.
We started walking in the general direction of Smithsonian museums. Then we decided to take a look at the Native American Museum.
Native American Museum is very curvy both outside...
...and inside.
We were there for a while, and went through an exhibit. But frankly, Native American History is not my favorite subject. We moved on to another Smithsonian Museum.
We stopped on the way for a quick lunch consisting of hotdog and lemonade.
The exterior of the Air & Space Museum is minimalistic, but its inside is full of stuff!
They have tons of airplanes hanging from the ceiling.
The Museum is HUGE. I heard people say that I could stay in DC for a week and still not get to see everything in each Smithsonian Musuem -- and it's true. There is a lot of stuff to see. I was there for about two hours, and I barely got to see a quarter of the museum! I went through the exhibits of the two world wars, and a part of another one on space exploration.
This is "Fokker Machine Gun Synchronizer." It synchronizes the propeller and the machine gun so that the bullets will go between the propeller blades, rather than through the blades. I wonder, how did pilots use their guns before they had the synchronizer?
More planes.
Aircraft carrier.
Medals given to Gen. Doolittle.
Various Uniforms.
At the last minute, I went to a souvenir shop and bought "4 Documents of Freedom" (Declaration of Independence, Gettysburg address, etc.) reproduced on antiqued parchment. I got some stamps and mailed them to myself. Then we headed back to the Capitol.
The U.S. Capitol is very impressive. It is massive. That dome in the middle is absolutely huge -- the guide told us that the Statue of Liberty could stand in there, with room to spare!
The area under the dome is called the rotunda, and it is very beautiful.
Here's a better view of the painting on the ceiling, featuring Washington.
There is a lot of detail in that room. Huge 8-by-12-feet paintings depict moments in US-American history. The black-and-white picture that goes around the room took decades to finish. The dome is very heavy, too. It's made of iron. And the center of the dome is the center of Washington D.C.
We moved onto the next room, which had statues all around the wall. The statues were sent from the fifty states, two per state. But of course, not all 100 statues were in the room itself; the room wasn't big enough. (The rest were downstairs int eh Hall of Statues.)
This room has a very unique characteristic, because of its arched ceiling. There are two specific points in the room, and if one person on one point is whispering, another person on the other point can hear him. Our guide demonstrated it to us, andit was really cool. We huddled around one point, while the guide was standing on the other. I could hear him while he was whispering on the point -- but his voice faded away when he started walking toward us!
Then we were led downstairs, and we were free to roam there as we pleased.
Here is the hall under the rotunda.
Here is the center of Washington.
Here is the old Supreme Court, where some important rulings were made.
Here is the Hall of Statues.
When the Capitol tour was done, we went right across the street to the Library of Congress. It is a beautiful building. My camera ran out of battery, though, so I could take only cell-phone pictures.
There are a lot of details in this building, too. The walls are heavily decorated.
The actual library was off limits, so the researchers could do their work without being molested by tourists and flashing cameras. So I couldn't take a picture, but I can tell you there were a lot of books, and it was beautiful.
We went through an exhibit of modern Japanese art, and another exhibit of American History (I can't recall the exact name).
When we got out the Library, we headed to the Union Station with intention of purchasing trolley tickets.
Here's a cool-looking building I saw on the way.
The Union Station.
More of the Union Station.
When we got there, though, the only thing on our mind was to get something to eat and head back to the hotel. So we did exactly that.
I ordered a cup of chili and turkey dinner. At first, the waitor expressed his doubt that I could finish the plate. Indeed, I did not finish the plate, but I ate quite a bit. The waitor said I had "done well" and that he had underestimated me. XD
During this trip, I really don't know if I lost weight because we walked so much, or if I gained weight because I ate so much.
On the way to the hotel, I saw this sign in the metro elevator.
What tickles me that the person on the wheelchair is highly abstract, but the baby in the stroller isn't.
And that was all for Day 2.
Then we got on subway to go to the Capitol -- CapitOl is the building for the house & senate, and CapitAl is the city.
Washington D.C. is full of cool buildings, by the way -- even though I don't know what each of them are. This one says "CANNON house office building."
This is the Library of Congress.
Another view of the Library of Congress.
Here's the Capitol!
Don't let your eyes fool you. I didn't use any kind of special lens here -- it's just the shape of the building.
We waited in a line to get free tickets to take a tour of the Capitol. I looked around, and there were a lot of these flowers. They are big and very pretty.
There were also very cool trees that look just perfect for ninja cosplaying. I envy the kids.
The Capitol Tour tickets are given out by first-come-first-serve basis. Our tickets were for 2 O'Clock tour, so we had a few hours to kill. We regretted having left our water bottles and sandwichs at the hotel -- foods and drinks are not allowed in the Capitol, and we didn't know we wouldn't go inside teh Capitol until after lunch -- that could have saved us a little money. Oh well.
We started walking in the general direction of Smithsonian museums. Then we decided to take a look at the Native American Museum.
Native American Museum is very curvy both outside...
...and inside.
We were there for a while, and went through an exhibit. But frankly, Native American History is not my favorite subject. We moved on to another Smithsonian Museum.
We stopped on the way for a quick lunch consisting of hotdog and lemonade.
The exterior of the Air & Space Museum is minimalistic, but its inside is full of stuff!
They have tons of airplanes hanging from the ceiling.
The Museum is HUGE. I heard people say that I could stay in DC for a week and still not get to see everything in each Smithsonian Musuem -- and it's true. There is a lot of stuff to see. I was there for about two hours, and I barely got to see a quarter of the museum! I went through the exhibits of the two world wars, and a part of another one on space exploration.
This is "Fokker Machine Gun Synchronizer." It synchronizes the propeller and the machine gun so that the bullets will go between the propeller blades, rather than through the blades. I wonder, how did pilots use their guns before they had the synchronizer?
More planes.
Aircraft carrier.
Medals given to Gen. Doolittle.
Various Uniforms.
At the last minute, I went to a souvenir shop and bought "4 Documents of Freedom" (Declaration of Independence, Gettysburg address, etc.) reproduced on antiqued parchment. I got some stamps and mailed them to myself. Then we headed back to the Capitol.
The U.S. Capitol is very impressive. It is massive. That dome in the middle is absolutely huge -- the guide told us that the Statue of Liberty could stand in there, with room to spare!
The area under the dome is called the rotunda, and it is very beautiful.
Here's a better view of the painting on the ceiling, featuring Washington.
There is a lot of detail in that room. Huge 8-by-12-feet paintings depict moments in US-American history. The black-and-white picture that goes around the room took decades to finish. The dome is very heavy, too. It's made of iron. And the center of the dome is the center of Washington D.C.
We moved onto the next room, which had statues all around the wall. The statues were sent from the fifty states, two per state. But of course, not all 100 statues were in the room itself; the room wasn't big enough. (The rest were downstairs int eh Hall of Statues.)
This room has a very unique characteristic, because of its arched ceiling. There are two specific points in the room, and if one person on one point is whispering, another person on the other point can hear him. Our guide demonstrated it to us, andit was really cool. We huddled around one point, while the guide was standing on the other. I could hear him while he was whispering on the point -- but his voice faded away when he started walking toward us!
Then we were led downstairs, and we were free to roam there as we pleased.
Here is the hall under the rotunda.
Here is the center of Washington.
Here is the old Supreme Court, where some important rulings were made.
Here is the Hall of Statues.
When the Capitol tour was done, we went right across the street to the Library of Congress. It is a beautiful building. My camera ran out of battery, though, so I could take only cell-phone pictures.
There are a lot of details in this building, too. The walls are heavily decorated.
The actual library was off limits, so the researchers could do their work without being molested by tourists and flashing cameras. So I couldn't take a picture, but I can tell you there were a lot of books, and it was beautiful.
We went through an exhibit of modern Japanese art, and another exhibit of American History (I can't recall the exact name).
When we got out the Library, we headed to the Union Station with intention of purchasing trolley tickets.
Here's a cool-looking building I saw on the way.
The Union Station.
More of the Union Station.
When we got there, though, the only thing on our mind was to get something to eat and head back to the hotel. So we did exactly that.
I ordered a cup of chili and turkey dinner. At first, the waitor expressed his doubt that I could finish the plate. Indeed, I did not finish the plate, but I ate quite a bit. The waitor said I had "done well" and that he had underestimated me. XD
During this trip, I really don't know if I lost weight because we walked so much, or if I gained weight because I ate so much.
On the way to the hotel, I saw this sign in the metro elevator.
What tickles me that the person on the wheelchair is highly abstract, but the baby in the stroller isn't.
And that was all for Day 2.