DAY 4
Wednesday 24th November
Today began with a lazy start and a very nice thanksgiving buffet breakfast at our hotels restaurant. We then planned the day ahead and made our way to the Smithsonian Institute of Space and Aeronautics. We took the Underground Rail (called the Metro).
Many photos were taken here and much time was spent in the numerous museum shops. The highlights at the museum varied depending on who you spoke to- for Alex(the original Star Treck Enterprise), for Jess(the Astronomy display), James( XU1), Mr Roberts(Sputnick),Freeze Dried Icecream, and so on. Lunch (for those who wanted it) was the McDonalds (a name we’ve heard before), which was at one end. After waiting many hours (well, maybe not quite but close enough) for the people ordering to be served in the tremendous queues, we made our way to the Washington Monument, the tallest building in DC (District of Columbia) and once, for a short period of time, the tallest building in the world.
The views from the top were pretty amazing, (apart from the fact that it was still a bit misty up there) but you could see the entire area of Washington, and some of Virginia and Maryland. We also managed to fit in some funny moments, like Elysia looking for a Maryland sign (like the Hollywood one) but not being able to find one.
Next, we walked around the White House (at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave)- it was great to see such an iconic building but the crowds of tourists and the occasional protestor made it even more memorable. Our favourite was the leprechaun promoting the legalisation of Hemp.
After wandering through the Smithsonian Art Gallery, which surprised us all with its amazing exhibits, we went down to the World War II Memorial site, complete with fountains and a wall of over 4000 stars, remembering those who lost their lives in that war (1 star for every 100 lives lost). As we walked down to the Lincoln memorial, James lost his footing (and dignity) and went sliding down the empty Reflecting Pool, gathering mud, slime and momentum on his way down. This was quite a comical sight for all us there.
Another tourist didn’t fare so well-cracking his head on the way down -but Cuan came to his rescue, dialling 911 which was followed by an impressive response time from the ambulance.
At the Lincoln memorial, some of us where waiting for Lincoln to stand up (like in Night At The Museum 2), but this never happened and we were quite disappointed (we figured we might have been a bit too early). We finished our touring with a visit to the Vietnam War Memorial. After walking a few more blocks, we took the subway back to the Hilton where we had a rush to get down to dinner (because being Thanksgiving nothing is open, and Mr Roberts found that the only food place was shutting in ten minutes from when he found out). At our team meeting we had a discussion about the shopping plans for tomorrow (because there are 50% off sales everywhere) and then prepared ourselves for a lazy night (Callum still recovering from his meet with a pillar on our way back). Another exhausting but amazing day!
Tomorrow we plan to go to the Smithsonian Natural History museum (and hopefully get to see a few more scenes from Night At The Museum, and meet some of the characters), and spend some time (and money) at the major shopping sales. By Matt and Callum.
