2009 13 Jun

Day 3 in DC

With each day, it is becoming more apparent that I haven’t been to the fitness center much lately as my legs were happy to remind me this morning when I crawled out of bed. However, my body is quick to get back in the groove because after even more walking today, they don’t feel quite so tired.

After my now standard bagle and donut breakfast, we headed off on the Metro again. Let me make a comment about the DC Metro trains. Every station we’ve been to has been clean and the staff has been helpful and friendly. The trains, though crowded at times, are clean and comfortable. This is definitely the way to travel when in DC. Fares are $1.65 to almost anywhere during peak times and $1.35 off-peak. Fares can be a bit more, or a bit less depending. You can purchase fare cards in the exact amount you need, or put $5 or $10 and use them up. When you get low, you can insert the old card and add money to it. If you play it right, you can ride the train for the total time and leave nothing on the card. In fact, some people we met at the hotel were leaving and gave us what remained on their cards. I plan to do the same if I have any left over.

Our first stop today was the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The first thing we did was get a free ticket to view the permanent exhibit. They do this to keep the exhibit from becoming overcrowded so you are able to actually view and learn about the atrocities portrayed. Just when I thought I knew all about the heinous acts of the Nazis, I learned more. Even the things I did learn and know about from history was made painfully real when viewing the artifacts and displays. I learned that not only did Hitler and the Nazis perpetrate hate and anti-semitic propaganda to all their citizens, beginning at a very early age, but they also ‘graded’ the German people. They used tools to measure hair color and shade, eye color, head size, nose size, etc. to determine how ‘pure’ you were so they would know if you ‘deserved’ to be a citizen of the Third Reich.

They also had sterilization campaigns to make those who didn’t match up to their standards infertile in an attempt to radicate undesirables. Mentally and physically handicapped children, as well as adults, were most often killed by gas or lethal injection. Then their bodies were used for medical research. It very much sickened me, but it certainly made the holocaust much more real in my mind. I see how easy it is for 1 man filled with hate to spread the message of hate to a hopeless people and for them to latch onto it with such gusto. What I don’t understand is how someone could have so much hate to begin with. We spent about 4 hours at this museum viewing both the special exhibits and the 3 floors of the permanent exhibit. This is a must-see when in DC.

Julia Child's Kitchen

We headed off to the American History Museum where we decided to eat lunch first and recharge a bit. Afterwards, we started exploring the first floor of the museum beginning with Julia Child’s Kitchen. In 2001, Child donated the contents of her custom-designed kitchen, including small utensils, cookbooks, etc. to the Smithsonian. After that, we saw the winner of DARPA’s Grand Challenge Race where a robotic vehicle called Stanley successfully traversed a multi-terrain course without human intervention. We even saw the only 2-wheeled entry, a motorcycle that could right itself if it fell.

Stanley

We then headed off to Edison’s inventions, most notably the light bulb. This exhibit takes you from idea to invention and beyond. Of course, with the new uses for electricity, they had to invent the electric meter in order to charge customers for using the electricity. Generators, motors, steam and gasoline engines are on display, both scale models and the real things. We were partway through the “America on the Move” exhibit when we were told the museum was closing. Darn the luck, now we have get to come back tomorrow.

WWII Memorial

Well, it was 5:30 and we weren’t ready to head back to the hotel, so we started walking westward toward the Washington Monument where we were greeted by music from the Duke Ellington Jazz Festival on the south side. We walked on past to the World War II Memorial. This is a beautiful fountain with the Atlantic on the north and the Pacific on the south. The view from the fountain looking back toward the Capitol was pretty awesome. The walls of the memorial are etched with quotes from famous military men.

After resting there a bit and cooling off, we walked on westward by the reflecting pool for the Lincoln Memorial, enjoying the shade and nice breeze that found its way to us, until we were at the steps of the memorial. Lincoln is one of my wife’s heroes and she was in awe of the statue. Mark another one off of our list.

Lincoln Statue

A long walk back to the Mall and the Metro station and it was a train ride back to Pentagon City where we enjoyed a Chinese dinner and the end of another great day.

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