Monday, June 15, 2009
Chapter 7 – New York City
Saying farewell to the great historical city of DC was tough but exciting as we were beginning our next greatest adventure soon to be arriving in New York City. For those who have never experienced this magnificent site of skyscrapers towering above your head casting their huge shadows miles in every direction making you feel like ants scurrying around the sidewalk, you need to go. Words are never going to be able to explain or even describe accurately just how magnificent this great big city truly is. Although there were still frustrating elements with it – as in all major cities – we thoroughly enjoyed the visit. Arriving via our illustrious transport of greyhound thankful to be in the big apple and looking forward to getting to our hostel and offloading so we could quickly head out and begin exploring this amazing place. 461 43rd Street between 9th and 10th avenue was our eventual destination and we made it only walking for 10 minutes with our huge bags.
Then we were off, heading into Times Square where we planned to have dinner and were speechless at the sight that came before us only 2 blocks from our hostel. Towering buildings surround this intricate and sensational sight, streets blocked off during the summer for tourists to sit in the street and absorb the sight, plenty of action and attractions, more impressive billboard displays with awesome neon signs than we witnessed in Vegas, and so much more. We spent this first evening learning the area but more we were simply feeling a little overwhelmed with the sights and the simple realization that we were in this great American city from some of our favorite movies and TV series. WOW!!!
Our first full day was Sunday the 31st May and we were told that Central Park was the place to go and explore on a Sunday because of all the action that takes place in the park. So we grabbed our 7-day subway tickets and hopped on our very first subway going away from Times Square towards the famous Central Park. Arriving we set out in the bottom right corner finding the Wolman ice Rink which wasn’t icy and full of amusement equipment. But we saw the amazing sight and managed to even see the Central Park zoo where the penguins escaped from. We moved on walking around the right hand side of the park finding the Alice in Wonderland statue and Balto’s statue. Eventually we managed to come across the huge ground fields of the park where everybody seemed to be sitting around and enjoying the diverse games being played on this Sunday. Games like softball, baseball, Frisbee and many other smaller family fun games. We spent some time chilling and enjoying our lunch while watching some action and sports before moving on to reach the Jacqui Kennedy Onasis reservoir dam at the more northern end of the park. At this side of the park there was a huge Japanese day celebration happening with tents set up and many diverse cultural attractions available for us to enjoy. To chaotic and over the top for us, we quickly moved further into the park and walked up and around and along and in and out and… Seeing this park was more about spending the day enjoying and walking around gathering in how amazing the park is. We finally began the return trip back down where we managed to find Strawberry fields and more playgrounds and fields and then finally ending at the bottom left corner. On the far left from us as we exited the park was an Israeli parade happening to celebrate their special day as well. Can you believe it?
This was the beginning of the long yet unbelievably awesome week that we had in New York City. Continuing with the adventure, we became typical tourists in the big city as a result of the pace and race of these bustling get out my way Yankees. We headed down south to the ferry point of Battery Park on yet another subway trip coming up from underground to be surrounded by and almost engulfed by these monstrous buildings. We decided that since the sun was shining and the water seemed calm we were excited to go across and visit the Statue of Liberty as well as Ellis Island with our newly purchased City pass tickets (6 attractions for one outrageous price). With these tickets we were granted a short queue pass which got us on a ferry in 25 minutes and to the Statue of Liberty Island within the next half hour from when we actually arrived at the ferry park ride. WOW WOW WOW!!! An unbelievable sight awaited us as we climbed on board our ferry and found some amazing seats with 100% visibility of the entire harbour and Island areas. The insanely historical and famous figure of lady liberty overlooks the city with an unimaginable view and this whole experience almost overpowered us both.
We eventually arrived on the island and began walking and discovering the beautiful view which liberty gets overlooking the New York skyline and the Brooklyn Bridge. Seeing her from distance and then walking up towards her glistening green towering exterior was awesome. We just sat in awe of the significance of what the statue symbolized and for how amazing this experience was for us. Well unfortunately we couldn’t spend all day here and so we moved on catching our next ferry towards the famous and historical Ellis Island where all the immigrants used to have to enter into the States – now changed. The island is full of history and says as you arrive that there is more than 80% chance that one of your ancestors possibly traveled through this immigrant post to get to the states. We found some Turner’s but unfortunately no Beddy’s. They were the clever ones.
We came back on our ferry some time in the afternoon arriving to a warm welcome from the Positive dancing trio who wowed us with there display of street dancing and more with their epic sense of humour. Not feeling sure where to head next and still feeling a little overwhelmed by the sight of these towering skyscrapers, we decided that we needed to enter the dark underworld of Wall Street and began to search for ground zero – the twin towers. As we quickly found out, there was a huge amount of development happening in this southern section of Manhattan and we got lost very easily. Turning around and stumbling back towards ground zero we managed to peak at the devastation caused by the planes on September 11 so many years ago. We found out that we couldn’t actually see the spot for the buildings as construction had already began for the new memorial building in that spot and so our view was obstructed. But what a powerful and somber sight walking around the block where two towering monsters used to exist and exploring the surrounding area for stories and memories of the past. From here we moved onward to Wall Street and found the New York stock exchange as well as the federal buildings and the Federal Reserve Bank – no money or gold for us though. Bronze bull up next as we captured a very good photo for some other family to use as bribery on someone’s next birthday – head meets bulls bum.
Tuesday came and we went to our next city pass event to explore the Museum of Natural history from the movie a Night at the Museum. It wasn’t as amazing as the movie because they had given the plaque away and so nothing came to life while we were present – except the history of course. We enjoyed the museum which was very different to some of the others we have explored in DC and other areas of America. One of the highlights had to be our free planetarium show which explored the results of collisions in space – the good and bad results of these necessary collisions. An enjoyable time before we found a spot in central park to sit and relax watching people steer boats on a small pond as we ate our lunch. From here we spotted our second museum for the day which is known as the Guggenheim museum and was displaying a Frank Lloyd Wright architectural highlights package from level 1-7. Basically there was nothing else on display but this mans amazing architectural highlights, designs and drawings. We found out that nearly 85% of what was on display had never actually been built due to the timing and economic instability of certain jobs he had worked on. WOW! We both thoroughly enjoyed this exhibit and I got busted for taking photos which I wasn’t allowed too. Oh well!! My bad!
During our walk we managed to discover the Lincoln performing arts centre and Julliard studio’s where some of the greatest dancers, entertainers and musicians are currently studying. We also decided to go and visit the United Nations buildings which were a 6 block walk from Times Square and took us past or into the unbelievable Grand Central Station – just like the movies. Disappointingly we were unable to see the flags displayed outside the UN buildings as they had just been taken down and for some reason ever time we managed to come across the UN we never got the sight of the world’s flags blazing outside these buildings. After our dinner we wanted to go across and get a glimpse of the Hudson River where the pilot had landed that one flight amazingly. We both tried to imagine standing there and seeing a plane come lower and lower till it hits the water. Scary!
Ang and I didn’t want our only experience of New York to be centralized to Manhattan and so we got on a subway and headed into the Bronx to go and visit the famous Bronx zoo. Possibly the best zoo we have seen on our travels but still not really managing to outdo the Joburg zoo yet we thoroughly enjoyed our visit to the Bronx. On return we managed to find the big Bloomingdales store in Manhattan where Ang and I hiked up the 7 floors to see that everything was nicely priced at $25 and up. We decided that since we saw Bloomingdales we then had to visit the biggest Macys known as the biggest store world wide. One super result from this idea was that we got our first glimpse of the next towering structure which we would visit properly the next day – the Empire State building. Having been shopped out and starting to get rained on we rushed back home before deciding to try one last trip after dinner and after the rain to see Rockefeller centre and the illustrious St. John church which stands across the way. Impressive!!
Having seen the Empire state up close and personal we decided that if the weather permitted, we would have to go up and see just how great the view truly was from up there. So luckily and thankfully, the next morning we awoke to a beautiful sky and began our adventure of seeing the New York skyline from above. Unimaginable!! Thankfully we didn’t have to climb the 86 floors to the top and got to ride the elevator really quickly as a result of the time of day we arrived at the Empire state. The view from up top is amazing and you can see the entire city of New York with Manhattan, Brooklyn, queens and even as far up as the Bronx. Spending a good while listening to some historical facts and interesting information from our free audio tour, we gradually progressed to observe every inch of the view seen from the empire before leaving feeling like giants towering over this spectacular city. Coming down from the top we decided that we would head down towards some of the more interesting sights we had seen from above like the Flatiron building, the Union and Washington squares, the cage basketball court and even Bob Dylan’s house. These are all movie sites which were loads of fun to visit and explore.
Our last full day in New York was to be the dreariest day as the weather changed and God decided the earth needed saturation for the whole day. It wasn’t to be a sad day for us as we were able to go and explore our last two museums namely the Metropolitan museum of art (MET) and the Museum of modern art (MOMA). Both of these museums were exceptional with amazing exhibits and brand new contemporary art displays, Ang was in her element. We spent a good part of our day indoors enjoying the artistic expressions of Van Gogh, Monet, Renoir, Picasso, Pollock, Dali and many others. I eventually tired of the art and got restless pleading with Ang to give me a break so we headed back to our room to chill and while we were relaxing decided that we really needed to go to the Brooklyn Bridge and get some pictures of the skyline from the park on the other side. So we changed to stay warm, if you have forgotten it was still raining outside, and we headed for the subway to Brooklyn. So worth the trip as we got some really cool pics and had fun being in Brooklyn, we arrived back in our room close to 2 hours later drenched, soaked and dripping with water but happy for being successful. And with that we were getting ready to pack and leave this spectacular city and start our trip towards Philly and finally Glenolden.
Saying farewell to the great historical city of DC was tough but exciting as we were beginning our next greatest adventure soon to be arriving in New York City. For those who have never experienced this magnificent site of skyscrapers towering above your head casting their huge shadows miles in every direction making you feel like ants scurrying around the sidewalk, you need to go. Words are never going to be able to explain or even describe accurately just how magnificent this great big city truly is. Although there were still frustrating elements with it – as in all major cities – we thoroughly enjoyed the visit. Arriving via our illustrious transport of greyhound thankful to be in the big apple and looking forward to getting to our hostel and offloading so we could quickly head out and begin exploring this amazing place. 461 43rd Street between 9th and 10th avenue was our eventual destination and we made it only walking for 10 minutes with our huge bags.
Then we were off, heading into Times Square where we planned to have dinner and were speechless at the sight that came before us only 2 blocks from our hostel. Towering buildings surround this intricate and sensational sight, streets blocked off during the summer for tourists to sit in the street and absorb the sight, plenty of action and attractions, more impressive billboard displays with awesome neon signs than we witnessed in Vegas, and so much more. We spent this first evening learning the area but more we were simply feeling a little overwhelmed with the sights and the simple realization that we were in this great American city from some of our favorite movies and TV series. WOW!!!
Our first full day was Sunday the 31st May and we were told that Central Park was the place to go and explore on a Sunday because of all the action that takes place in the park. So we grabbed our 7-day subway tickets and hopped on our very first subway going away from Times Square towards the famous Central Park. Arriving we set out in the bottom right corner finding the Wolman ice Rink which wasn’t icy and full of amusement equipment. But we saw the amazing sight and managed to even see the Central Park zoo where the penguins escaped from. We moved on walking around the right hand side of the park finding the Alice in Wonderland statue and Balto’s statue. Eventually we managed to come across the huge ground fields of the park where everybody seemed to be sitting around and enjoying the diverse games being played on this Sunday. Games like softball, baseball, Frisbee and many other smaller family fun games. We spent some time chilling and enjoying our lunch while watching some action and sports before moving on to reach the Jacqui Kennedy Onasis reservoir dam at the more northern end of the park. At this side of the park there was a huge Japanese day celebration happening with tents set up and many diverse cultural attractions available for us to enjoy. To chaotic and over the top for us, we quickly moved further into the park and walked up and around and along and in and out and… Seeing this park was more about spending the day enjoying and walking around gathering in how amazing the park is. We finally began the return trip back down where we managed to find Strawberry fields and more playgrounds and fields and then finally ending at the bottom left corner. On the far left from us as we exited the park was an Israeli parade happening to celebrate their special day as well. Can you believe it?
This was the beginning of the long yet unbelievably awesome week that we had in New York City. Continuing with the adventure, we became typical tourists in the big city as a result of the pace and race of these bustling get out my way Yankees. We headed down south to the ferry point of Battery Park on yet another subway trip coming up from underground to be surrounded by and almost engulfed by these monstrous buildings. We decided that since the sun was shining and the water seemed calm we were excited to go across and visit the Statue of Liberty as well as Ellis Island with our newly purchased City pass tickets (6 attractions for one outrageous price). With these tickets we were granted a short queue pass which got us on a ferry in 25 minutes and to the Statue of Liberty Island within the next half hour from when we actually arrived at the ferry park ride. WOW WOW WOW!!! An unbelievable sight awaited us as we climbed on board our ferry and found some amazing seats with 100% visibility of the entire harbour and Island areas. The insanely historical and famous figure of lady liberty overlooks the city with an unimaginable view and this whole experience almost overpowered us both.
We eventually arrived on the island and began walking and discovering the beautiful view which liberty gets overlooking the New York skyline and the Brooklyn Bridge. Seeing her from distance and then walking up towards her glistening green towering exterior was awesome. We just sat in awe of the significance of what the statue symbolized and for how amazing this experience was for us. Well unfortunately we couldn’t spend all day here and so we moved on catching our next ferry towards the famous and historical Ellis Island where all the immigrants used to have to enter into the States – now changed. The island is full of history and says as you arrive that there is more than 80% chance that one of your ancestors possibly traveled through this immigrant post to get to the states. We found some Turner’s but unfortunately no Beddy’s. They were the clever ones.
We came back on our ferry some time in the afternoon arriving to a warm welcome from the Positive dancing trio who wowed us with there display of street dancing and more with their epic sense of humour. Not feeling sure where to head next and still feeling a little overwhelmed by the sight of these towering skyscrapers, we decided that we needed to enter the dark underworld of Wall Street and began to search for ground zero – the twin towers. As we quickly found out, there was a huge amount of development happening in this southern section of Manhattan and we got lost very easily. Turning around and stumbling back towards ground zero we managed to peak at the devastation caused by the planes on September 11 so many years ago. We found out that we couldn’t actually see the spot for the buildings as construction had already began for the new memorial building in that spot and so our view was obstructed. But what a powerful and somber sight walking around the block where two towering monsters used to exist and exploring the surrounding area for stories and memories of the past. From here we moved onward to Wall Street and found the New York stock exchange as well as the federal buildings and the Federal Reserve Bank – no money or gold for us though. Bronze bull up next as we captured a very good photo for some other family to use as bribery on someone’s next birthday – head meets bulls bum.
Tuesday came and we went to our next city pass event to explore the Museum of Natural history from the movie a Night at the Museum. It wasn’t as amazing as the movie because they had given the plaque away and so nothing came to life while we were present – except the history of course. We enjoyed the museum which was very different to some of the others we have explored in DC and other areas of America. One of the highlights had to be our free planetarium show which explored the results of collisions in space – the good and bad results of these necessary collisions. An enjoyable time before we found a spot in central park to sit and relax watching people steer boats on a small pond as we ate our lunch. From here we spotted our second museum for the day which is known as the Guggenheim museum and was displaying a Frank Lloyd Wright architectural highlights package from level 1-7. Basically there was nothing else on display but this mans amazing architectural highlights, designs and drawings. We found out that nearly 85% of what was on display had never actually been built due to the timing and economic instability of certain jobs he had worked on. WOW! We both thoroughly enjoyed this exhibit and I got busted for taking photos which I wasn’t allowed too. Oh well!! My bad!
During our walk we managed to discover the Lincoln performing arts centre and Julliard studio’s where some of the greatest dancers, entertainers and musicians are currently studying. We also decided to go and visit the United Nations buildings which were a 6 block walk from Times Square and took us past or into the unbelievable Grand Central Station – just like the movies. Disappointingly we were unable to see the flags displayed outside the UN buildings as they had just been taken down and for some reason ever time we managed to come across the UN we never got the sight of the world’s flags blazing outside these buildings. After our dinner we wanted to go across and get a glimpse of the Hudson River where the pilot had landed that one flight amazingly. We both tried to imagine standing there and seeing a plane come lower and lower till it hits the water. Scary!
Ang and I didn’t want our only experience of New York to be centralized to Manhattan and so we got on a subway and headed into the Bronx to go and visit the famous Bronx zoo. Possibly the best zoo we have seen on our travels but still not really managing to outdo the Joburg zoo yet we thoroughly enjoyed our visit to the Bronx. On return we managed to find the big Bloomingdales store in Manhattan where Ang and I hiked up the 7 floors to see that everything was nicely priced at $25 and up. We decided that since we saw Bloomingdales we then had to visit the biggest Macys known as the biggest store world wide. One super result from this idea was that we got our first glimpse of the next towering structure which we would visit properly the next day – the Empire State building. Having been shopped out and starting to get rained on we rushed back home before deciding to try one last trip after dinner and after the rain to see Rockefeller centre and the illustrious St. John church which stands across the way. Impressive!!
Having seen the Empire state up close and personal we decided that if the weather permitted, we would have to go up and see just how great the view truly was from up there. So luckily and thankfully, the next morning we awoke to a beautiful sky and began our adventure of seeing the New York skyline from above. Unimaginable!! Thankfully we didn’t have to climb the 86 floors to the top and got to ride the elevator really quickly as a result of the time of day we arrived at the Empire state. The view from up top is amazing and you can see the entire city of New York with Manhattan, Brooklyn, queens and even as far up as the Bronx. Spending a good while listening to some historical facts and interesting information from our free audio tour, we gradually progressed to observe every inch of the view seen from the empire before leaving feeling like giants towering over this spectacular city. Coming down from the top we decided that we would head down towards some of the more interesting sights we had seen from above like the Flatiron building, the Union and Washington squares, the cage basketball court and even Bob Dylan’s house. These are all movie sites which were loads of fun to visit and explore.
Our last full day in New York was to be the dreariest day as the weather changed and God decided the earth needed saturation for the whole day. It wasn’t to be a sad day for us as we were able to go and explore our last two museums namely the Metropolitan museum of art (MET) and the Museum of modern art (MOMA). Both of these museums were exceptional with amazing exhibits and brand new contemporary art displays, Ang was in her element. We spent a good part of our day indoors enjoying the artistic expressions of Van Gogh, Monet, Renoir, Picasso, Pollock, Dali and many others. I eventually tired of the art and got restless pleading with Ang to give me a break so we headed back to our room to chill and while we were relaxing decided that we really needed to go to the Brooklyn Bridge and get some pictures of the skyline from the park on the other side. So we changed to stay warm, if you have forgotten it was still raining outside, and we headed for the subway to Brooklyn. So worth the trip as we got some really cool pics and had fun being in Brooklyn, we arrived back in our room close to 2 hours later drenched, soaked and dripping with water but happy for being successful. And with that we were getting ready to pack and leave this spectacular city and start our trip towards Philly and finally Glenolden.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Chapter 6 – Annapolis and the Capital city DC
After yet another torturous drive on greyhound we managed to find our way to the small town of Annapolis, state capital city of Maryland. Another name for which it could be known as is the sail boat capital of America as we have seen more boats here and around the Chesapeake Bay area than anywhere else in my entire life. A very quaint town, which gave me an ideal picture of a small English village by the sea with old buildings and historic sites and surreal settings on the water, as we began to explore our new home. I don’t think Ang and I could’ve ever imagined we would come to such a beautiful and amazing place with such awesome people like Lynn and Martin. God has truly blessed us on this journey as Martin and Lynn accepted us straight into their home and began to offer facts and information about Annapolis and Washington that we were so stoked for our visit. Since we had come from a week of intensely early mornings and insanely epic stretches of just undeniable fun, we took a few days to settle down and relax around their home on the water front and explore the small town of Annapolis. One thing you need to know about Annapolis is that it has a naval academy base which the town is literally built around.
Our travels into Annapolis itself were interesting and very refreshing from some of the other cities we have explored. Probably the smallest next to Modesto but completely different to any other city we have visited yet in the states. With the naval academy being the sole focus of the town and with the amount of historical sites we unearthed on our trips, there was a lot more to this small town. Choosing to spend a few short days exploring was the most rewarding thing for us as the town isn’t that big but it gave us more time to really dig inside the history and learn some of the interesting facts about this town. Like the fact that of the four Maryland declaration of independence signers, all four were from Annapolis. We found some beautiful old churches with amazing stained glass windows, uncovered some historical legends and wandered through some mysterious areas taking in everything our eyes saw. But I don’t think anything could compare with the experience of the naval academy and the day we spent wandering around their campus.
Martin and Lynn had conveyed to us that the week we had arrived was probably the most ideal week for us to see all that Annapolis and DC had to offer as it was memorial week and graduation week. For those like us simple SA people who know little about the American traditions, Memorial Day is a celebration (somber) of their troops and soldiers in every field fighting the good fight for their country. God bless America!!! On the other hand, graduation week was a celebration for all naval officers to enjoy and look back on their year spent at the academy. We got to see the Plebe’s climbing a slicked up pole for initiation to retrieve a captains hat on the top – took them 1hr 15minutes to do. We also would’ve seen president Obama give his congratulatory speech to the graduating fourth years but we weren’t on the guest list – we did however see his helicopter fly him back home to DC after his speech. The highlight of these celebratory practices had to be the Blue Angels flying directly over our heads as we sat floating on the Severn River watching their mesmerizing displays of speed and precision. The Blue Angels are the navy’s personal flying team who are trained in combative practices but can perform these “stunt shows” as I would refer to them. WOW!! The only place to really see and be part of the action was on the river with possibly the entire town of Annapolis joining us.
We have ridden two different boats in our time in Annapolis, one being Martins that was returned after a long absence and one being his colleague and friend Rob. I say they were different because Rob’s boat was all about speed as we cruised (75mph) to view the Blue Angels whereas Martin’s boat was more about luxury and comfort (35mph) as we sailed around the Chesapeake Bay area and got some impressive views of the bay bridge and Annapolis from the water. We were also lucky enough to spend a beautiful evening out on the open yet closed waters of the Annapolis harbour where we docked to a buoy for the evening and had a delicious breakfast at a small restaurant called Chick and Ruth where every morning they say the pledge of allegiance to the American flag. Interesting!!
DC is one of the greatest cities I have ever had the privilege of exploring. We have been blessed and lucky enough to travel into this spectacular city 4 times. Blessed because Martin and Lynn were able to lift us in on two occasions and lucky because the other 2 we could utilize other forms of transportation to marvel over the city. I am not quite sure what I was expecting upon arrival at union station for our first visit but the sight set before us was spectacular and not exactly what I had pictured. For architectural buffs unlike me, I think the cities design is a mix of ancient Greco-Roman style with columns and arches molded in a type of marble looking material, interiors filled with sculptures and mezzanines, sky lights and stained glass windows, pillars reaching to the heavens and creatures overlooking the whole buildings. I hope that paints a fair enough picture for you as it is very difficult to describe in-depth how beautiful this city truly is.
Our first visit was an attempt for us to see what the city has to offer and explore as much as we could before being picked up at around 9pm. So in our usual fashion, Ang and I quickly began cruising through the city taking in as much of the architectural beauty as is possible for people to do in one day. Union station is breath-taking with high arch-ways and huge ceilings holding decadent murals and unforgettable meaning. From the interior to the exterior the beauty just leaves a person speechless as we began our descent into the heart of this magical city known as the National Mall. When people mention the Mall in DC they are not talking about the shopping centre but rather the area which is covered by all the museums, the capital buildings and the memorial structures. So we started walking towards the Capital building – one of the oldest and most known structures in DC apart from the White house. Very impressive with a huge dome climbing to the skies and possibly the best view of the mall from the interior (which of course we could not enter). Some other impressive structures, more so for their interior contents, were the Supreme Court building and the Library of Congress directly in front of the capital. Inside the Supreme Court we were able to view past judges and interesting legal facts but more importantly the official Supreme Court room where big trials and oath reading ceremonies occur for new Supreme Court justices and other hierarchical figures. The Library of congress was just as magnificent with another Domed head this one holding a more spectacular interior verse exterior. Inside we could explore the great hall which held two old bibles, marble floors and statues with great significance to America’s historical past. We also managed a peek at the Thomas Jefferson Library – big dome – which is your typical book storage facility only this one had huge pillars and statues wherever you looked standing surrounding the circular floor from their balcony view watching all the goings on inside. What was super cool about the statues was that they were of great philosophers of all time like Plato and Aristotle and others. One of the other super sights in this massive library was the Inca, Mayan and Aztec art/archeological findings which we could look at and awe over.
So much already and around every bend and in every corner we could find a statue or memorial of some great hero from the past. The Mall is a daunting walk with mammoth sized structures containing history, art and artifacts which are all free donated by Mr. Smith which explains why they are known as the Smithsonian’s. Unfortunately we were not going to have any time to explore these great halls today but knew we were coming back soon so we could continue our leisurely stroll on the grassy Knowles of the Mall heading towards the next monstrous structure known from its peak as the Washington Monument. We attempted to hug this structure but I think even with 400 Ross and Angie’s we still wouldn’t have surrounded this intense monument. Beautiful!! From here we casually strolled along the waterside of the Reflecting Pool which the Washington Monument and Lincoln’s memorial both overlook. If you remember the scene from Forest Gump where she runs through the reflecting pool, well we couldn’t and probably wouldn’t have but the awesome structure of Lincoln overlooking his Capital city was impressive. Big highlight for me so far!! Surrounding this prestigious area were 3 other awesome memorials from the epic World War 2 to the Korean and lastly the Vietnamese war. Breath-taking and somber! Continuing our walk we began to cruise around the Tidal Basin just off the Potomac River where two more amazing structures lay in wait. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a great president and therefore he was given an incredible memorial built over 4 stages with different sections to represent each of his 4 terms in office. Spectacular and we still had one more memorial where Thomas Jefferson is housed holding a bronzed statue of the great man and some words of wisdom he left behind as in many of the other great memorials.
Our last stop for this day was to be the greatest and most memorable for us – The White House. We had been told some tales about the White house Christmas tree which stands proudly just outside the old mansion and on the outer ring of the garden known as the Eclipse. Since it wasn’t Christmas we didn’t see the brilliant display of lights and action but it was still a great visit before we moved around to the front of the White house to view the garden and fountain display with the Obama’s waving to us – NOT!! Seeing the front of the white house was different and I kept saying to Ang that I didn’t recognize it from news and TV which we learnt was because they normally show the back of the white house on TV. We had to go visit the back and so our next journey into DC began with us viewing the rear of this great building.
Leaving this beautiful mansion we walked down and around the two infamous theatres in DC, one where Lincoln was shot called Ford’s theatre and the other called Warner theatre. I also persuaded Ang to walk around the FBI building as we passed through the Federal Triangle and saw some huge buildings downtown. This was also to be the day we would begin our intrepid route through many of the free Smithsonian museums starting at the museum of American History. I guess it would be difficult for me to explain piece by piece each artifact and interesting discovery and equally it would be pointless for you to read up on everything as I would probably waste a good 5hours of your life. Although I suppose I could enjoy that! Inside the American History museum we discovered numerous pieces of ancient history from Asia, Africa and the America’s. Thoroughly enjoying ourselves we moved onto our next exhibit in the Museum of Natural History where we found our good friend the T-rex from Night at the museum. After exploring the different spheres of this museum and seeing their special displays of wildlife from various regions of the world, we moved on to our first art museum of the day – gallery of portrait and art photography. Ang being the artist took the lead guiding us through a maze of art and design mostly contemporary art until we reached the portrait designs of yester year which I must admit I raced through being unimpressed and rather bored. This changed quickly when we emerged from our first and traveled into our second art museum called the National art gallery. I would have to say that this was a far more impressive art museum with many more famous artists’ paintings and sculptures like Van Gogh, Picasso, Rembrandt, Monet, Leonardo and Raphael. I think of all the art museums we have entered so far on our trip this had to be the greatest gallery we had seen with the most diverse art and artists we could only dream of. It even included a more modern and contemporary art section in the east wing with some Pollock and . Unbelievable!
We could only complete the museum rush on our following trip as there are way to many and they are so big and interesting we really wanted to take our time and explore as much as we could. We arrived to begin our next adventure exploring the alternate side of the museums starting at the Air and Space museum. A very impressive museum respecting and praising the advancement and ingenuity with air and space travel exulting the great vessels many of us have seen fly overhead and possibly wished to even travel in. they had a great exhibit/s which showed the progression from initial flight – the Wright Brothers – all the way to technology controlling the cock pit and more. Fascinating! Yet the space exhibits were not as impressive as NASA unfortunately. Onwards to our next museum called the Hirshorn art gallery where we could learn and observe a broad selection of contemporary art from paintings, to sculptures, to displays and more. We then confronted the monster of a building called the Smithsonian castle, a beautifully designed building in red brick; this castle is the epiphany of the Mall and the Smithsonian institutions. Inside is just as impressive with a new display from the brand new movie – Night at the museum, Smithsonian strikes back.
Attached to the rear of the castle were three separate yet joined galleries – the African art museum, the Arthur M. Sackler art gallery and the Frick gallery. All completely different with art pieces from multiple regions of the globe (yet none from SA), but none as impressive as what we had seen already on our adventures. The last museum we had on our plate for the day was to explore the Holocaust museum, an American tribute in memory to the lives lost during World War 2. A cleverly designed interior demonstrating the ruins of Germany as well as the contrast between concentration camps and housing and the progression many areas experienced during the war. A captivating yet solemn building of remembrance! Our last great monument for the day was the National Archives which holds either an original or copied version of the declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, America’s constitution and numerous other national treasures one would’ve seen in the movie National Treasure. I guess I could keep on going on about these amazing buildings but eventually you will get bored and so our time here in DC was coming to an end.
We did manage to utilize Lyn and Martin’s offer to drive their one car around when they left for a wedding in New Jersey. We gladly hopped in and drove off heading further east crossing the great Bay Bridge and going closer towards the ocean as we ventured towards St. Michaels, a small town right on the opposite side of the Chesapeake Bay. With one driving adventure successful, we were volunteered to try and make a DC trip which would be our last. Feeling confident – maybe a little too much – we drove back into DC aiming for a few treasured sites further away from the Capital. We managed to find and explore the National cathedral, an unmistakable building with sky reaching towers and a real roman gothic style. Simply marvelous church with an interior almost as magnificent as its exterior. From there we successfully drove down through George town and across the Potomac river too Arlington Cemetery, the national cemetery. Here lay the late great president JFK and his family, the tomb of the unknown, two memorials to the flights of September 11 (Pan Am and Pentagon), numerous burial sites of past hero’s, the sensational Columbian where 3 funerals were happening for soldiers at war and great views of the Potomac, the Mall and best of all the Pentagon. With that we were driving and unfortunately our directions couldn’t keep us from getting lost where we eventually crept back towards the Capital to escape this great city and travel back with some amazing memories.
After yet another torturous drive on greyhound we managed to find our way to the small town of Annapolis, state capital city of Maryland. Another name for which it could be known as is the sail boat capital of America as we have seen more boats here and around the Chesapeake Bay area than anywhere else in my entire life. A very quaint town, which gave me an ideal picture of a small English village by the sea with old buildings and historic sites and surreal settings on the water, as we began to explore our new home. I don’t think Ang and I could’ve ever imagined we would come to such a beautiful and amazing place with such awesome people like Lynn and Martin. God has truly blessed us on this journey as Martin and Lynn accepted us straight into their home and began to offer facts and information about Annapolis and Washington that we were so stoked for our visit. Since we had come from a week of intensely early mornings and insanely epic stretches of just undeniable fun, we took a few days to settle down and relax around their home on the water front and explore the small town of Annapolis. One thing you need to know about Annapolis is that it has a naval academy base which the town is literally built around.
Our travels into Annapolis itself were interesting and very refreshing from some of the other cities we have explored. Probably the smallest next to Modesto but completely different to any other city we have visited yet in the states. With the naval academy being the sole focus of the town and with the amount of historical sites we unearthed on our trips, there was a lot more to this small town. Choosing to spend a few short days exploring was the most rewarding thing for us as the town isn’t that big but it gave us more time to really dig inside the history and learn some of the interesting facts about this town. Like the fact that of the four Maryland declaration of independence signers, all four were from Annapolis. We found some beautiful old churches with amazing stained glass windows, uncovered some historical legends and wandered through some mysterious areas taking in everything our eyes saw. But I don’t think anything could compare with the experience of the naval academy and the day we spent wandering around their campus.
Martin and Lynn had conveyed to us that the week we had arrived was probably the most ideal week for us to see all that Annapolis and DC had to offer as it was memorial week and graduation week. For those like us simple SA people who know little about the American traditions, Memorial Day is a celebration (somber) of their troops and soldiers in every field fighting the good fight for their country. God bless America!!! On the other hand, graduation week was a celebration for all naval officers to enjoy and look back on their year spent at the academy. We got to see the Plebe’s climbing a slicked up pole for initiation to retrieve a captains hat on the top – took them 1hr 15minutes to do. We also would’ve seen president Obama give his congratulatory speech to the graduating fourth years but we weren’t on the guest list – we did however see his helicopter fly him back home to DC after his speech. The highlight of these celebratory practices had to be the Blue Angels flying directly over our heads as we sat floating on the Severn River watching their mesmerizing displays of speed and precision. The Blue Angels are the navy’s personal flying team who are trained in combative practices but can perform these “stunt shows” as I would refer to them. WOW!! The only place to really see and be part of the action was on the river with possibly the entire town of Annapolis joining us.
We have ridden two different boats in our time in Annapolis, one being Martins that was returned after a long absence and one being his colleague and friend Rob. I say they were different because Rob’s boat was all about speed as we cruised (75mph) to view the Blue Angels whereas Martin’s boat was more about luxury and comfort (35mph) as we sailed around the Chesapeake Bay area and got some impressive views of the bay bridge and Annapolis from the water. We were also lucky enough to spend a beautiful evening out on the open yet closed waters of the Annapolis harbour where we docked to a buoy for the evening and had a delicious breakfast at a small restaurant called Chick and Ruth where every morning they say the pledge of allegiance to the American flag. Interesting!!
DC is one of the greatest cities I have ever had the privilege of exploring. We have been blessed and lucky enough to travel into this spectacular city 4 times. Blessed because Martin and Lynn were able to lift us in on two occasions and lucky because the other 2 we could utilize other forms of transportation to marvel over the city. I am not quite sure what I was expecting upon arrival at union station for our first visit but the sight set before us was spectacular and not exactly what I had pictured. For architectural buffs unlike me, I think the cities design is a mix of ancient Greco-Roman style with columns and arches molded in a type of marble looking material, interiors filled with sculptures and mezzanines, sky lights and stained glass windows, pillars reaching to the heavens and creatures overlooking the whole buildings. I hope that paints a fair enough picture for you as it is very difficult to describe in-depth how beautiful this city truly is.
Our first visit was an attempt for us to see what the city has to offer and explore as much as we could before being picked up at around 9pm. So in our usual fashion, Ang and I quickly began cruising through the city taking in as much of the architectural beauty as is possible for people to do in one day. Union station is breath-taking with high arch-ways and huge ceilings holding decadent murals and unforgettable meaning. From the interior to the exterior the beauty just leaves a person speechless as we began our descent into the heart of this magical city known as the National Mall. When people mention the Mall in DC they are not talking about the shopping centre but rather the area which is covered by all the museums, the capital buildings and the memorial structures. So we started walking towards the Capital building – one of the oldest and most known structures in DC apart from the White house. Very impressive with a huge dome climbing to the skies and possibly the best view of the mall from the interior (which of course we could not enter). Some other impressive structures, more so for their interior contents, were the Supreme Court building and the Library of Congress directly in front of the capital. Inside the Supreme Court we were able to view past judges and interesting legal facts but more importantly the official Supreme Court room where big trials and oath reading ceremonies occur for new Supreme Court justices and other hierarchical figures. The Library of congress was just as magnificent with another Domed head this one holding a more spectacular interior verse exterior. Inside we could explore the great hall which held two old bibles, marble floors and statues with great significance to America’s historical past. We also managed a peek at the Thomas Jefferson Library – big dome – which is your typical book storage facility only this one had huge pillars and statues wherever you looked standing surrounding the circular floor from their balcony view watching all the goings on inside. What was super cool about the statues was that they were of great philosophers of all time like Plato and Aristotle and others. One of the other super sights in this massive library was the Inca, Mayan and Aztec art/archeological findings which we could look at and awe over.
So much already and around every bend and in every corner we could find a statue or memorial of some great hero from the past. The Mall is a daunting walk with mammoth sized structures containing history, art and artifacts which are all free donated by Mr. Smith which explains why they are known as the Smithsonian’s. Unfortunately we were not going to have any time to explore these great halls today but knew we were coming back soon so we could continue our leisurely stroll on the grassy Knowles of the Mall heading towards the next monstrous structure known from its peak as the Washington Monument. We attempted to hug this structure but I think even with 400 Ross and Angie’s we still wouldn’t have surrounded this intense monument. Beautiful!! From here we casually strolled along the waterside of the Reflecting Pool which the Washington Monument and Lincoln’s memorial both overlook. If you remember the scene from Forest Gump where she runs through the reflecting pool, well we couldn’t and probably wouldn’t have but the awesome structure of Lincoln overlooking his Capital city was impressive. Big highlight for me so far!! Surrounding this prestigious area were 3 other awesome memorials from the epic World War 2 to the Korean and lastly the Vietnamese war. Breath-taking and somber! Continuing our walk we began to cruise around the Tidal Basin just off the Potomac River where two more amazing structures lay in wait. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a great president and therefore he was given an incredible memorial built over 4 stages with different sections to represent each of his 4 terms in office. Spectacular and we still had one more memorial where Thomas Jefferson is housed holding a bronzed statue of the great man and some words of wisdom he left behind as in many of the other great memorials.
Our last stop for this day was to be the greatest and most memorable for us – The White House. We had been told some tales about the White house Christmas tree which stands proudly just outside the old mansion and on the outer ring of the garden known as the Eclipse. Since it wasn’t Christmas we didn’t see the brilliant display of lights and action but it was still a great visit before we moved around to the front of the White house to view the garden and fountain display with the Obama’s waving to us – NOT!! Seeing the front of the white house was different and I kept saying to Ang that I didn’t recognize it from news and TV which we learnt was because they normally show the back of the white house on TV. We had to go visit the back and so our next journey into DC began with us viewing the rear of this great building.
Leaving this beautiful mansion we walked down and around the two infamous theatres in DC, one where Lincoln was shot called Ford’s theatre and the other called Warner theatre. I also persuaded Ang to walk around the FBI building as we passed through the Federal Triangle and saw some huge buildings downtown. This was also to be the day we would begin our intrepid route through many of the free Smithsonian museums starting at the museum of American History. I guess it would be difficult for me to explain piece by piece each artifact and interesting discovery and equally it would be pointless for you to read up on everything as I would probably waste a good 5hours of your life. Although I suppose I could enjoy that! Inside the American History museum we discovered numerous pieces of ancient history from Asia, Africa and the America’s. Thoroughly enjoying ourselves we moved onto our next exhibit in the Museum of Natural History where we found our good friend the T-rex from Night at the museum. After exploring the different spheres of this museum and seeing their special displays of wildlife from various regions of the world, we moved on to our first art museum of the day – gallery of portrait and art photography. Ang being the artist took the lead guiding us through a maze of art and design mostly contemporary art until we reached the portrait designs of yester year which I must admit I raced through being unimpressed and rather bored. This changed quickly when we emerged from our first and traveled into our second art museum called the National art gallery. I would have to say that this was a far more impressive art museum with many more famous artists’ paintings and sculptures like Van Gogh, Picasso, Rembrandt, Monet, Leonardo and Raphael. I think of all the art museums we have entered so far on our trip this had to be the greatest gallery we had seen with the most diverse art and artists we could only dream of. It even included a more modern and contemporary art section in the east wing with some Pollock and . Unbelievable!
We could only complete the museum rush on our following trip as there are way to many and they are so big and interesting we really wanted to take our time and explore as much as we could. We arrived to begin our next adventure exploring the alternate side of the museums starting at the Air and Space museum. A very impressive museum respecting and praising the advancement and ingenuity with air and space travel exulting the great vessels many of us have seen fly overhead and possibly wished to even travel in. they had a great exhibit/s which showed the progression from initial flight – the Wright Brothers – all the way to technology controlling the cock pit and more. Fascinating! Yet the space exhibits were not as impressive as NASA unfortunately. Onwards to our next museum called the Hirshorn art gallery where we could learn and observe a broad selection of contemporary art from paintings, to sculptures, to displays and more. We then confronted the monster of a building called the Smithsonian castle, a beautifully designed building in red brick; this castle is the epiphany of the Mall and the Smithsonian institutions. Inside is just as impressive with a new display from the brand new movie – Night at the museum, Smithsonian strikes back.
Attached to the rear of the castle were three separate yet joined galleries – the African art museum, the Arthur M. Sackler art gallery and the Frick gallery. All completely different with art pieces from multiple regions of the globe (yet none from SA), but none as impressive as what we had seen already on our adventures. The last museum we had on our plate for the day was to explore the Holocaust museum, an American tribute in memory to the lives lost during World War 2. A cleverly designed interior demonstrating the ruins of Germany as well as the contrast between concentration camps and housing and the progression many areas experienced during the war. A captivating yet solemn building of remembrance! Our last great monument for the day was the National Archives which holds either an original or copied version of the declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, America’s constitution and numerous other national treasures one would’ve seen in the movie National Treasure. I guess I could keep on going on about these amazing buildings but eventually you will get bored and so our time here in DC was coming to an end.
We did manage to utilize Lyn and Martin’s offer to drive their one car around when they left for a wedding in New Jersey. We gladly hopped in and drove off heading further east crossing the great Bay Bridge and going closer towards the ocean as we ventured towards St. Michaels, a small town right on the opposite side of the Chesapeake Bay. With one driving adventure successful, we were volunteered to try and make a DC trip which would be our last. Feeling confident – maybe a little too much – we drove back into DC aiming for a few treasured sites further away from the Capital. We managed to find and explore the National cathedral, an unmistakable building with sky reaching towers and a real roman gothic style. Simply marvelous church with an interior almost as magnificent as its exterior. From there we successfully drove down through George town and across the Potomac river too Arlington Cemetery, the national cemetery. Here lay the late great president JFK and his family, the tomb of the unknown, two memorials to the flights of September 11 (Pan Am and Pentagon), numerous burial sites of past hero’s, the sensational Columbian where 3 funerals were happening for soldiers at war and great views of the Potomac, the Mall and best of all the Pentagon. With that we were driving and unfortunately our directions couldn’t keep us from getting lost where we eventually crept back towards the Capital to escape this great city and travel back with some amazing memories.
Friday, May 29, 2009
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