Washington D.C is like a wonderland for museum goers and a good spot for the tourist since its filled with Frankly speaking too much museums … they are of high quality no doubt … but too much of anything regardless of “masterpeices” or “spectacular” will just leave your soul a teeny bit dull. So hence my excuse of not visiting every single one of them …..
monuments and history. Plus even if you are not a history or museum buff there is always the movie addicts …. Too much American movie will do that to you I guess …. Who haven’t seen the capitol been blown up to pieces in ermmm …. So many different shows … favorite is still “Independence Day” and how many movie scene was shot at the white house … or replica … and shows like “National Treasure” just makes the place a little more mysterious …
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| National Archive |
National Archive
By chance the first museum I went into was the national archive. Saw the Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights and the Constitution of America. It was awesome how they document everything thou sensitive item are top secret and only release to public once everyone forgot about them like 80 years later. Hence you have freedom of information just not now but when you die and your legacy can understand why. Still it was a young country with deep history. The three treasures were written beautifully like a poet …. You don’t see that anymore these days …
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| U.S Capitol |
The Capitol
Truly an icon to the world and doubtlessly hated by so many for the politician resides inside for their daily duties. Why else would it be bombed, destroyed, held hostage in so many fictional novels , movies , and some cartoons too ….
The Capitol reminds me a lot of home such as Putrajaya. Yet they did it with masterful planning. Government building apart blending of the museum which are world class with memorials and gardens mask the time that is spend here. I tried to get in … legally …. Apparently its opened to visitors but with my new Metalhead friend there was no way we could have gotten pass the metal detector. Plus there was so many regulations and requirement such as no water bottle …. Not no water … but no water bottle …. I decided to keep my precious water bottle and just admire the sight from outside ….
The Air and Space Museum
If you asked why I choose to go to the Air and Space museum out of all the other museums and museums that I did not even step foot into …. Well the reason was simple … The Americans was the only ones who placed a man on the moon … where else would you go to see a space museum ….
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| Touch The Moon Rock |
( you can say NASA but I did that too later when I was in Houston )
The museum was awesome especially if you like airplanes … I would say perfect for kids ages 8 to 88 J One small step for man ….. I always wondered if the quote from Niel Armstrong came at the spur of the moment he step on the moon or had he contemplated for days on earth and during the flight what to say if he actually manage to set foot on it. It sounded too profound to be spontaneous …
The White House
“I bet you 10 bucks if you jump over the fence and make it to that bush” says Metalhead
I’ll double your bet if you do it for half the distance I told him …. We just smiled while looking at the white house from outside the garden fence nearly 200 meters away.
The White House was disappointingly small … I always imagine it bigger … but still the security guards were just steps away from us next to the fence regardless. We were told that the place was open to a guided public tour which we need to register online and only after answering tonnes of question and background check would they give you tickets for the white house…. Remembering back to my USA visa application days I decided to pass …. Metalhead looked down at his choice of cloths and decided to pass too ….
National Gallery of Art
I am a sucker for art …. Thou I do not obsess for it … still imagine my surprise when I found Rodin’s work and the famous piece “The Thinker” in the museum. I was way way way smaller than I thought it would be. Always the replica was so big but the original was made like it was meant to be put in a home instead of outside. Like the British Museum , the gallery is like where they looted / transferred / pass down when the people migrated from Europe to USA … a wealth of masterpieces for I do not know who the painter / sculpter was but the works speaks for itself …. Or maybe it was because its in a museum
Monuments & Memorials ….
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| WWII Memorial |
Who could not love walking along the pond / park visiting memorials of great halls. Lincolns Memorial was definitely a fav one although the bad timing during my visit meant that the reflecting pool was deprived of water …. Why the hell do they have an Egyptian spire in Washington D.C named the monument …. Puzzling ….
One thing I did notice was that the World War II memorial was grand big and proud but the Vietnam War Veterans Memorial was a quiet affair for the families who lost their love ones. ….
Things to come back for
And some of the museums I left out listed below…. For traveling is not a one time thing …. Always leave something to come back for .. or in this case ... it was too much i got sick of it and had to leave ....
1. Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
2. National Museum of American History
3. International Spy Museum
4. Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
5. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
6. National Museum of Crime and Punishment
7. The Pentagon
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