Thursday, June 30, 2005
Last Day in Washington, DC
Hi,
Well, that's almost it then; I fly to England at 7pm local time tonight after over 7 weeks of travelling. I've enjoyed Washington DC but this has been tempered by several factors, not least my weariness and the sapping heat and humidity here which took me by surprise. This week the temperature has been in the low 90s °F (32°C+) with high humidity of around 80% RH.
I've always wanted to go to Washington, DC because of the museums there; I'd have to say I had no interest in paying George Dubya a visit (the Whitehouse probably isn't big enough for two daft people at once!). My travel guide proved very useful for understanding the history and design of this 'Enfant' capital; meeting Sheldon (Jeannette's cousin) and Carol-Ann was great company after lonely Las Vegas and another great source of explanation of the sights and American history.
The City is very beautifully laid out following the designs of Pierre L'Enfant, and as such has a very PArisian feel to it with consistent building heights and nice vistas everywhere you go in the Mall. The Holiday Inn Capitol hotel was located almost perfectly for the short walk to several of the Smithsonian museums and Capitol Hill. I'd hesitate to recommend visiting this city at this time of year to someone in my condition though - people say "it's just two blocks" but one block can be several hundred yards! The underground Metro System is not as extensive as Paris' or London's but nonetheless was cheap and very useful.
On Sunday I visited an Episcopalian church, St Augustines, which is currently working through a merger with the local Lutheran church for logistical reasons. I was made very welcome by the congregation and was invited to a church picnic afterwards! Later in the afternoon I visited the American History Museum. The best & worst thing about this was their putting an industrial revolution exhibition near the entrance! As a result I spent absolutely ages enjoying my pet subject and missing out spending more time on a lot of other great things - a (biased!) history of the war of independence and other conflicts, a history of American inventions and Thomas Edison, and a history of American transportation (development of canals, railways etc).
I rested on Monday and spent a short while at the Air & Space Museum (some great experiments for kids big & small), then visited the Holocaust Memorial Museum on Tuesday. You cannot enjoy a museum like this; it's more of an opportunity that should be taken to remember and respect thouse who lost their lives. I don't know who said the quote, but the idea of "not learning from our history leads us to repeat it" is very apt here. And yet we see genocide continuing in Darfur, Sudan, and less recently in Rwanda and the Balkans. Why?
I would strongly recommend visiting this building, but expect to be saddened greatly by what you see and learn. One horrible thing for me as a trained process engineer was the realisation that the death camps were in effect a form of industrialised killing. Maybe some process engineer designed this system once - if so, how could he live with himself?
I'll leave it there for now as I will meet Sheldon for lunch again before I make a move. I know I've omitted Las Vegas, but hope to return to it. Sorry.
Best Regards,
Martin
Well, that's almost it then; I fly to England at 7pm local time tonight after over 7 weeks of travelling. I've enjoyed Washington DC but this has been tempered by several factors, not least my weariness and the sapping heat and humidity here which took me by surprise. This week the temperature has been in the low 90s °F (32°C+) with high humidity of around 80% RH.
I've always wanted to go to Washington, DC because of the museums there; I'd have to say I had no interest in paying George Dubya a visit (the Whitehouse probably isn't big enough for two daft people at once!). My travel guide proved very useful for understanding the history and design of this 'Enfant' capital; meeting Sheldon (Jeannette's cousin) and Carol-Ann was great company after lonely Las Vegas and another great source of explanation of the sights and American history.
The City is very beautifully laid out following the designs of Pierre L'Enfant, and as such has a very PArisian feel to it with consistent building heights and nice vistas everywhere you go in the Mall. The Holiday Inn Capitol hotel was located almost perfectly for the short walk to several of the Smithsonian museums and Capitol Hill. I'd hesitate to recommend visiting this city at this time of year to someone in my condition though - people say "it's just two blocks" but one block can be several hundred yards! The underground Metro System is not as extensive as Paris' or London's but nonetheless was cheap and very useful.
On Sunday I visited an Episcopalian church, St Augustines, which is currently working through a merger with the local Lutheran church for logistical reasons. I was made very welcome by the congregation and was invited to a church picnic afterwards! Later in the afternoon I visited the American History Museum. The best & worst thing about this was their putting an industrial revolution exhibition near the entrance! As a result I spent absolutely ages enjoying my pet subject and missing out spending more time on a lot of other great things - a (biased!) history of the war of independence and other conflicts, a history of American inventions and Thomas Edison, and a history of American transportation (development of canals, railways etc).
I rested on Monday and spent a short while at the Air & Space Museum (some great experiments for kids big & small), then visited the Holocaust Memorial Museum on Tuesday. You cannot enjoy a museum like this; it's more of an opportunity that should be taken to remember and respect thouse who lost their lives. I don't know who said the quote, but the idea of "not learning from our history leads us to repeat it" is very apt here. And yet we see genocide continuing in Darfur, Sudan, and less recently in Rwanda and the Balkans. Why?
I would strongly recommend visiting this building, but expect to be saddened greatly by what you see and learn. One horrible thing for me as a trained process engineer was the realisation that the death camps were in effect a form of industrialised killing. Maybe some process engineer designed this system once - if so, how could he live with himself?
I'll leave it there for now as I will meet Sheldon for lunch again before I make a move. I know I've omitted Las Vegas, but hope to return to it. Sorry.
Best Regards,
Martin
