Sorry for the lack of posting the past few weeks-- I've been busy! In addition to the normal stuff, I've spent a weekend in DC and had family here for a weekend. Plus, class work picked up and I had my first presentation two weeks ago, a test this past week and this week I've got another test and then our final project is due next week! Sounds like a lot, but I've enjoyed it and it's all be pretty easy- I think I've got 100% so far! I don't know the grade on the presentation yet, though, but when my partner and I finished all the teacher said was "Excellent!", so I think that's a good sign.
So, on to DC and I'll blog about my aunt/cousins trip up later this week!
I took the Chinatown bus down to DC again…it’s quite a deal at only $35 round/trip. My parents were down in that area for the week so I went to spend the weekend with them. You may remember I was less than impressed on my last trip to DC. This time around was better. Mom and I got up early on Saturday morning and went to stand in line to get tickets to the Semi-Annual Garden Tour at the White House. We were sooo excited to get to do this. You can’t really tour the White House like you used to be able to before 9/11, so this was our chance to at least be on the grounds of the White House. It was beautiful. Everything is perfectly landscaped and the flowers and trees are so pretty right now. We were hoping to catch a glimpse of George or Laura, but no such luck. Between getting our tickets and actually taking the tour, we went to breakfast at a French restaurant in The Willard Hotel (mom says it’s very famous). It was a great place to go for breakfast.
After the Garden Tour, we met up with my dad in Georgetown. We just walked around the shops and neighborhood and ate lunch there. It’s a very nice area. Actually, all of DC is very nice…so clean and quiet and peaceful.
From Georgetown, we headed to Arlington Cemetery. I wanted to go there because I hadn’t been since 4th grade and I felt like it’s something you’re “supposed” to do. It was gorgeous out there because all the trees have flowers blooming. The Cherry Blossoms were all gone, but there were plenty of other beautiful trees to look at. We saw JFK’s grave and the eternal flame and the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers. It was a neat place.
After that, we were exhausted so we just grabbed a quick bite for dinner and went on back to the hotel.
Sunday we started out at the Air & Space Museum because they have a special exhibit from the National History Museum. I tried to go to this last fall, but it wasn’t ready yet. The History Museum is closed until 2008, so they have their very best stuff on display at Air & Space. This was the best way to see the History Museum! We didn’t have to spend a bunch of time looking at things we didn’t really care about—just got to see the best parts! They had a lot of pop culture items as well as historical items.
From there, we headed to the Spy Museum, which my mom heard was cool. My mom and I hated it. It was very boring to us, but my dad seemed to enjoy it and was in there quite a bit longer than we were. The first part was cool and very interactive, then it just got overwhelming with a lot of things to read.
We went to the top of the tower at the Old Post Office to see the view of DC from there, so that was cool to see the city from a different perspective.
We went to see the “Peacock Room” which is temporarily on display at a museum. It is an old room that used to be in a mansion in London. The man who owned the room had a Whistler painting and when Whistler visited and saw the atmosphere his painting was in, he didn’t think it fit well. So, Whistler painted the room with yellow peacock feathers all over it. The walls are lined with shelves with blue & white pottery. It was pretty—my mom loved it!
Finally, we went to Chinatown where I would catch my bus back home. My bus ended up being about 2.5 hours late, so we spent some time shopping in the area—it’s not AT ALL like NYC Chinatown. It’s very clean and has nice stores…no cheap purses or bargaining! We ate dinner at a Mongolian Barbeque restaurant my dad had been to years ago. It was funny because he was talking about that restaurant all weekend, but he didn’t really know where it was. Turned out it was right next door to where my bus was picking me up, so we just happened upon it!
So, I like DC better now than I did on my last trip up. It’s a very beautiful place. I just don’t have much interest in the historical stuff, that’s all!
You can see pics and narrative from my DC trip, here!
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