Washington DC

What can you say about Washington DC which isn't already known? At the end of the day, it is what it is, the decision making centre of USA.

I got to see all the places seen in all the movies! From the Lincoln Memorial which is exactly like it is on the TV, to the Washington Memorial, which when I was there the clouds were so low that looking from the Lincoln Memorial across the stretch of (brown) water to the Washington Memoral the top was obscured by the mist! You can see it in the photo's posted further down.

The statue inside the Lincoln Memorial Building:

From here I walked past Washington Memorial, and went to the WWII memorial where there was a band playing music - and I suddenly recognised the tune they were playing - the theme from Pirates of the Caribbean!!! Not what I was expecting!

From here I walked further along to reach the Smithsonian Castle, I did not go in but got a photo from the outside. A little further along I reached the National Air and Space Museum, which was really interesting, including some well known craft such as 'The Spirit Of St Louis' and the original Wright Brothers first flying plane. There were many other craft from air craft carriers, space programmes, WWII planes from all sides, and even a replica of the Hubble Space Telescope.

There was also an exhibition on the Cassini-Huygens space flight, a project to examine Saturn and its moons. some of the photography was simply stunning, and search as I might I cannot find anywhere to buy a copy of any of it, which is a real shame because I would have if I could.

This picture is not mine, but from the Nasa website to show what the project is about:

The Wright Brothers:

Pictures here from National Air and Space Museum

I then walked across to see the Natural History Museum which proved interesting, although rather crampt and busy. Espcially now that the sun had come out and it was getting quite hot, having dressed for a cold and rainy day, I was certainly feeling the heat!

I've included a random selection of photo's in my link. Overall it was much like any other natural history museum, it was very well presented and I would have enjoyed it much better if there were slightly fewer other people crowding it!

As always the dinosaur part was of interest to me, and they also had an ocean exhibit including a dead Giant Squid and an Angler Fish (from the deep sea, sharp teeth and lure above the head, scary looking thing!).

They also had a mix of current marine animals skeletons to historic ones, much like the display here, with the skeleton of a seal/sealion (the info listed both, so was hard to tell!):

Images from Natural History Museum here.


From here I then walked up to the National Archives to see the Declaration of Independance and other things, however after waiting an hour nearly to get in, in that heat, and then another 2 hour wait once in to see them, I decided I could live without seeing it, so I went through the archives and saw some of the other bits there, but nothing spectacular there.

Next stop was the White House, which was cool to see but looks so small, probably because it was so far away! When back in the hotel I looked at the pictures and when seen in a full size you can spot lots of armed guards in various places on patrol!
Picture at the top of this update.

So this was my day in Washington DC, summarised slightly, i'm pleased i've seen it, but I don't think I have any huge desire to return in a hurry.

Rest of the photo's from Washington DC here

New York City

Somewhere I HAD to visit on my trip, and my friend who came with me to Boston, actually lives in the State of New York, about 3 hours north of the city, but his parents were kind enough to put us up for a couple of nights, making it an hour-and-a-half train ride into the city itself, which is noticeably easier than attempting to drive around in the city!

We pulled into Grand Central Station, and from there we walked down to see the UN building, since it was so close. From there we walked to the Empire State Building, which is quite tall (1,250 feet), we then queued for the best part of 2 hours to get to the top, a sight worth waiting for!



After the Empire State Building we grabbed some lunch - a real NYC "Brooklyn style" Pizza - something that had to be done! Tasted like any other pizza but still worth the experience. We then headed up towards Central Park, a sanctuary in the centre of New York, it is amazing how quickly you lose the hustle and bustle and constant noise of the city and you are in a park environment with people enjoying many recreational activities from frisbee to beach volleyball on a specially built sand pit!

The plan was to head north to the Natural History Museum, but when we looked at the map it was stil la long way to go and we had done quite a lot of walking by this time, so we headed to the west side of the city to USS Intrepid, an aircraft carrier now stationed at the harbour there. Sadly we arrived 12 minutes too late to be allowed in to the museum ship, so I took a couple of photo's from the outside, including another SR-71 Blackbird plane and Concorde which I could see from a distance.

We then headed back towards Grand Central via Time Square, which was great to see! Like a huge Piccadilly Circus back in London!

All this seems rather like a short day, but it took us all day and although we did not make it to the Statue of Liberty, the city really does require 2 or 3 days to get a good look around, but I am happy with my 1 day in the city itself for now, we walked for many hours and several hours, both our legs feeling it by the end of the day, including most of the return train ride - but this is all part of the experience and it was all good fun!

More pictures from New York City here.

I end this post with a picture of Sean and then myself, taken from the top of the Empire State Building.

Boston - from West to East!

I made it trans-American!
I left the Pacific Coast line back on the 12th Feb this year, and a month and a half later, on the 23rd March I arrive at the Atlantic Ocean!

True that when you look at my route direction it looks about as straight as the Amazon River does as it winds its way through the jungle to the coast, but it was still a 'smile on my face' moment to have arrived at the opposite side of America to that which I started on!

I visited Boston with my friend, Sean, another from my car forum. We walked the 'Freedom Trail' which was long and perhaps may have been more interesting if I had studied colonial American history, but none-the-less it went past some of the oldest buildings in Boston and some other interesting places through the town.

I did not get too many photo's in Boston as I found little to photograph of any real interest.

We saw the USS Constitution, which, was unfortunately closed for renovation, and apparently is 1 of only 2 surviving war ships of its class in the world from that era - the other is found in London - HMS Victory (1765). Since hearing this I have been unable to find conclusive evidence online, but still could be one of those interesting things you hear which is true..! Launched into service in 1797 and is still in active service in the US Navy, making it the oldest active military ship in the world - whilst HMS Victory retains the title of oldest military ship still in service - albeit in a premanent position and therefore not 'active'.

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Next to USS Constitution wasUSS Cassin Young, a WWII Destroyer, which was open for a wander around... Pretty much as you would expect a WWII Destroyer to be really!

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A trip to the aquarium was also included in our stay in Boston, with some very interesting marine life and good sized tanks. One of which a huge circular tank with all manner of sharks and rays, sea fish of all types all in their own zones, from bottom feeders to surface feeders.

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I have included some pictures of Boston here, but like I said, not too many.

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