Washington DC
Originally I intended to go down alone (hmm visiting museums and taking photos does not really need anyone to go with me right) but the night before managed to get Lynn to go with me, so hmm don't have to go alone anymore...
We set off 830 in the morning to get the 9am MARC train. One reason why I decided to go on Monday is because the trains during the weekdays are much more frequent and much cheaper... If I were to take Amtrak it can easily cost 2-3x more. And it is not anyway faster.
We arrived at Union station about an hour later, and started our photo-taking walking tour! We started from Union station, headed towards the Capitol, down the National Mall towards the Holocaust Memorial Museum: that would be our first stop. It was not as near as it seemed on the map, but it wasn't insanely far, so we arrived in around an hour. So here are some photos:
Union Station
The Capitol
Washington Monument and its reflection
We spent quite a lot of time in the museum itself: the brochure says that the average time a tourist spends inside is 2-3 hours, and they are really not exaggerating. The exhibits were very comprehensive and extensive, and it was just huge. We skipped quite a bit and managed to emerge in less than 3 hours. Basically the museum condensed everything regarding the Holocaust in Europe into 3 floors, accompanied by real artifacts and replicas. If you are interested in WW2 history, go there and find out things that you might not have known.
Holocaust Memorial Museum So after that we walked to the White House, only to find that the front was cordoned off for some reason (apparently, after I came back and read the news, LKY was in DC while I was there). So we walked to the back, took photos from the back (and met a Singaporean tourist with her teenage daughter, no idea why the girl could be on holiday in mid-October), and then took a Metro ride to the Air and Space Museum.
The White House
Inside a Metro Station...
The Washington Metro was alright, but rather scary: the station was really really dark and cavernous, comparable to those natural ones I went into near Ipoh. And the passengers do not look exactly very friendly. Though I count on the fact that no one would dare to rob me and Lynn is a SAF officer so she should be able to defend herself :P
The Air and Space Museum is another huge one: we were there from 3:30 to 5:30 and couldn't even cover half of it. There were some really cool stuff in it (though the exhibits are indeed a bit old), such as tonnes of airplane models, simulations, and even moon rocks but there just simply isn't enough time to see everything in detail. Got to revisit some day.
The Air and Space Museum So after that we met Lynn's friend Daniel. He's Lynn's primary school friend who went to the US when he was Sec. 2, currently studying in George Washington. Basically they rediscovered each other on FACEBOOK (it is, indeed, powerful). So we took a ride from him (thanks to Facebook) to find this Malaysian Kopitiam (:D) which, well, sells Malaysian/Singapore food. We found it indeed, and ate Nasi Lemak, though it costs $8.95 each (I can get 10 from Changi Village for that price) with non-crispy ikan bilis and insufficient chilli. But then, better than nothing la...
Penang :)
On our way back to the train station we discovered Penang (apparently lots of places have it too) and yet another similar restaurant, all around the same area. So there is one more reason to lure people from JHU down to DC now :)
