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.
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