Archive for May 26, 2008

I was originally intending on typing this up this morning, but I ended up spending more time captioning flickr photos than I had intended to.

We got going a little earlier than expected due to a large number of bikers hanging out under our window at 8am, blasting their engines and making it a little hard to sleep. Although that ended up being a good thing as it took Wassy a while to get ready in the morning. We also didn't have any milk for oatmeal because we thought the hotel had it in this little pavilion store thingy, but it ended up that they didn't. So we went down and had the breakfast buffet thing which was decent although overpriced.

After which we proceeded to head out to the National Art Museum to wander around a bit and just take in the sights. We decided to use a different metro station to get there since it was closer to the museums than the other

ones. It also happened to come out right on the United States Navy memorial which was a pretty decent surprise. The memorial was very cool looking with a lot fountains and such.

We walked the short distance over to the National Gallery of art and began wandering around. Not much to say about that except it was cool and relaxing. We made it a point to go see the only Leonardo Da Vinci painting in the americas which was very cool. Also just taking some time to view the sculptures and such was interesting.

We also enjoyed our reprive from the hordes of screaming children that were at the zoo. It was decently busy but not super crowded which allowed us to wander freely. And any kids that were there were fairly well behaved. So that's a definite plus.

We ate lunch at the cafe in the concourse of the National Gallery of Art which ended up being a pretty good decision. Not as busy as some of the other museum food courts were, with a decent selection of stuff and prices that were high but not stupidly so.

They also had a cool looking waterfall/fountain thingy which (combined with a fountain in the court of the national gallery of art) was the third fountain on the journey. It was interesting looking as the food court was set below the level of the fountain and the water ran down a series of steps near a window. It gave off a very interesting effect.

After we ate, we didn't have anything else planned so eventually we settled on wandering through the sculpture garden which was next to the gallery of art. However on our way there, we met up with the motorcycles again.

On the sunday before memorial day in DC, a large group of motorcyclists descend upon the city, riding in memory of those who were lost in the wars the US was involved in, primarily Vietnam it seemed. In any case, thousands of motorcyclists converge upon the reflecting pool where they hold a rally and then ride through a predetermined route through the city.

We ended up meeting them as we walked to the sculpture garden, so I snapped a few pictures of the proceedings. For the entire hour and a half, two hours we were outside around the mall at this point, there were the constant sounds of motorcycles ringing through the streets. There were an awful lot of motorcyclists.

Also of note was the first time we had ever seen a group of segways. They seemed to be riding along the motorcyclist's route leading us to initally believe they were part of the procession. However, as it turns out, they were just part of a tour group. Picture below.

When we had tired of watching the segways and motorcycles drive by, we visited the sculpture garden. Viewing lots of modern art type things that nobody really knows what they are, plus a sculpture of what Wassy tells me was a bunny but looked an awful lot like a donkey with a short tail and very long ears to me. It was a strange looking thing in any case.

As we were wandering around we spotted some purple bearded iris' and Wassy made me take a picture as they were her favorite flower. That picture will be show below because it came out really welly. In fact, a lot of my pictures from this part of the trip came out REALLY well, so I'm going to throw a bunch of them down below, extra large sized.

There's a big fountain in the center of the garden which is really awesome and we ended up spending about a half hour sitting by the fountain just talking about stuff (and splashing each other with water). It was a very relaxing scene which is something we both really needed. Probably one of my favorite moments of the trip so far. And as promised, the pictures:

It was just an amazingly beatutiful day yesterday, and to top it off along with a nice walk along the national mall, we went out to the planned crab smashing dinner. The service was a bit slow, but they did apologize and explain why it was slow (and I got a free drink out of it) so overall everything went well. There were crabs to be had (in my case crab-cakes), lots of realxing and general fun to be had. We ended up sitting out on the deck and after the sun went behind a building it became a very nice experience.

After that, we decided we would take some time out and wander around the monuments at night. We ended up doing a little more walking than we wanted to but it was a fun experience and really cool seeing the world war II memorial at night especially with all of the fountains and such. I had forgotten to bring my camera so I missed out on a lot of really clear shots. However, I got a couple of decent ones with my phone so, it wasn't a total loss. Getting some pictures really wasn't the point anyway.

I'd just like to say that the Washington Monument is wayyyy taller when you see it up close than you think it is from looking at it far away. It's freaking huge! I got dizzy looking up at it from the ground and it's really a wonder the thing is still standing. Seems kinda like one solid push would topple it right over.

The real highlight though was the World War II Memorial. We again sat down by the fountain for a while and hung out. We also saw a rogue duck swimming in the pool of water next to the "Here marks the price of war" engravings. The nerve of that duck! Making himself at home in the middle of the memorial. Especially in that particular pool. Go sit in the fountain!

Exhausted and tired of walking, we managed to get back to the hotel room just in time to fall asleep.

Read and post comments |
Send to a friend