Lincoln Memorial
Washington Monument
Capitol Washington DC
Arlington Cemetery
Aerial view of The Mall
Well I have been wanting to write about the places I visited while in US and only now the 'mood' has come.
My husband joined me in my trip to US in Baltimore where I had gone to visit anu. This place is an hour or so from the Capital of The United States. I had visited DC few years back when anu was in North Carolina. The Smithsonian museums is the greatest attraction in DC. I visited the place around Smithsonian on my earlier visit but could see the Halocaust museum which is set in memory of Jews who underwent the hardships and ordeals under Nazis. It took quite some time to come back to normalcy after seeing the tortures though in pictures and documentaries, they underwent.
This time being so near DC I wanted to see the places in a leisurely pace.
Hubby and me went to the places for three days in a row. It was an hour's journey by train to DC from Baltimore. The places around the Capitol are very near the train station. There is a well connected underground trains to go from one place to another. Capitol is the Parliament of US of A and it is an imposing building. Great architecture. The road which stretches from Capitol to the Washington Memorial is called The Mall and it is a beautifully laid out road which can be seen from both these buildings which are constructed atop hillocks. Both sides of these roads are full of museums which are generally known as Smithsonian's. Lots of trees and water fountains and Statues, flower beds are laid in these areas. We had lot of time and had taken some home cooked food which we ate under the trees which became an impromptu picnic.
This time I decided to get inside those two majestic buildings. When we inquired about that, to my surprise we could get the entry pass to both the places immediately as it was a week day. Every one hour there is a conducted tour and we got our passes for a particular time and we could roam about till that hour around the mall. The best part about this is the whole thing is free of charge including all the museums of Smithsonian's which is very unlike America where even to go near a small waterfall they charge a fee.
Capitol tour was so overwhelming and I could recall seeing the Parliament House in New Delhi. It has beautiful Frescoes on the inside of the circular doom roof . we could go into the gallery where the sessions of parliament are normally held. The House was not on Session and we just sat for a few minutes in the upper gallery.
Washington Memorial is a tall pyramid shaped building which is built in the memory of President Washington. We were taken by lift up the building to the uppermost level from where we could see the views of DC all around us. I could recognize so many places which I had seen earlier including the Potomac river which I had read about in the Tamil comedy drama 'washingtonil tirumanam' by 'Chavi'
I could see the old town ship of Alexandria where we had gone earlier evening and taken a boat ride on the river. It had such a old worldly charm.
I could see the Arlington Memorial Cemetery about which I had read in the books about American Civil war. This I had visited the previous day. This place had belonged to the Confederate Commander General Lee whose house is Arlington House where he lived before the Civil War for 30 years. This is now part of the Arlington memorial park which is the resting place for the soldiers. Every hour in a given place which is called the Memorial of the unknown Soldier, ceremonious change of guard takes place. We sat and witnessed that. Many many rows and rows of crosses can be seen from the bus which we took to go around the park. We saw the resting place of President Kennedy and his family. We were told to maintain the serenity of the atmosphere, as even now there are memorial services/burials are being held there for dead soldiers. This reminded me of the Chinese Cemetery in Malaysia called Nirvana where a beautiful atmosphere is maintained and acres and acres are maintained well and many people reserve there resting place while living. It has a big Dragon shaped building inside which lots of urns are kept under locker as it is a custom for certain Chinese to preserve the remains of dead in urns.
We walked around the Smithosinan's but had time only for the Natural History museum which has the exhibit the Hope Diamond which was found in Golconda. This is the museum which has so much of information about our planet and some how I never get bored even after visiting it twice.
We did not have time to visit the Air and Space museum which is the most popular museum around there. I had seen it on my earlier visit years back and seen the space ship and other exhibits.
The Lincoln memorial has a big Statue of President Lincoln. I just stood looking at it wondering how he managed to bring the Civil War to an end and how he was the starting point of Free America and brought an end to slavery though it was not his intention. He wanted an United America rather than an America free of Slaves.
We just walked near the White house and stood gaping at it. They have stopped admitting public inside the white House.
I vowed to come back to this place again and see as many museums as possible in my next visit.
My husband joined me in my trip to US in Baltimore where I had gone to visit anu. This place is an hour or so from the Capital of The United States. I had visited DC few years back when anu was in North Carolina. The Smithsonian museums is the greatest attraction in DC. I visited the place around Smithsonian on my earlier visit but could see the Halocaust museum which is set in memory of Jews who underwent the hardships and ordeals under Nazis. It took quite some time to come back to normalcy after seeing the tortures though in pictures and documentaries, they underwent.
This time being so near DC I wanted to see the places in a leisurely pace.
Hubby and me went to the places for three days in a row. It was an hour's journey by train to DC from Baltimore. The places around the Capitol are very near the train station. There is a well connected underground trains to go from one place to another. Capitol is the Parliament of US of A and it is an imposing building. Great architecture. The road which stretches from Capitol to the Washington Memorial is called The Mall and it is a beautifully laid out road which can be seen from both these buildings which are constructed atop hillocks. Both sides of these roads are full of museums which are generally known as Smithsonian's. Lots of trees and water fountains and Statues, flower beds are laid in these areas. We had lot of time and had taken some home cooked food which we ate under the trees which became an impromptu picnic.
This time I decided to get inside those two majestic buildings. When we inquired about that, to my surprise we could get the entry pass to both the places immediately as it was a week day. Every one hour there is a conducted tour and we got our passes for a particular time and we could roam about till that hour around the mall. The best part about this is the whole thing is free of charge including all the museums of Smithsonian's which is very unlike America where even to go near a small waterfall they charge a fee.
Capitol tour was so overwhelming and I could recall seeing the Parliament House in New Delhi. It has beautiful Frescoes on the inside of the circular doom roof . we could go into the gallery where the sessions of parliament are normally held. The House was not on Session and we just sat for a few minutes in the upper gallery.
Washington Memorial is a tall pyramid shaped building which is built in the memory of President Washington. We were taken by lift up the building to the uppermost level from where we could see the views of DC all around us. I could recognize so many places which I had seen earlier including the Potomac river which I had read about in the Tamil comedy drama 'washingtonil tirumanam' by 'Chavi'
I could see the old town ship of Alexandria where we had gone earlier evening and taken a boat ride on the river. It had such a old worldly charm.
I could see the Arlington Memorial Cemetery about which I had read in the books about American Civil war. This I had visited the previous day. This place had belonged to the Confederate Commander General Lee whose house is Arlington House where he lived before the Civil War for 30 years. This is now part of the Arlington memorial park which is the resting place for the soldiers. Every hour in a given place which is called the Memorial of the unknown Soldier, ceremonious change of guard takes place. We sat and witnessed that. Many many rows and rows of crosses can be seen from the bus which we took to go around the park. We saw the resting place of President Kennedy and his family. We were told to maintain the serenity of the atmosphere, as even now there are memorial services/burials are being held there for dead soldiers. This reminded me of the Chinese Cemetery in Malaysia called Nirvana where a beautiful atmosphere is maintained and acres and acres are maintained well and many people reserve there resting place while living. It has a big Dragon shaped building inside which lots of urns are kept under locker as it is a custom for certain Chinese to preserve the remains of dead in urns.
We walked around the Smithosinan's but had time only for the Natural History museum which has the exhibit the Hope Diamond which was found in Golconda. This is the museum which has so much of information about our planet and some how I never get bored even after visiting it twice.
We did not have time to visit the Air and Space museum which is the most popular museum around there. I had seen it on my earlier visit years back and seen the space ship and other exhibits.
The Lincoln memorial has a big Statue of President Lincoln. I just stood looking at it wondering how he managed to bring the Civil War to an end and how he was the starting point of Free America and brought an end to slavery though it was not his intention. He wanted an United America rather than an America free of Slaves.
We just walked near the White house and stood gaping at it. They have stopped admitting public inside the white House.
I vowed to come back to this place again and see as many museums as possible in my next visit.
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