Stepping out of the airport in Washigton DC was like being hit by a wall of heat – America’s capital in July is hot and very humid. Washington feels very planned as a city, because it was. It fits in a perfect 10×10 grid, emanating from the centre of the Capitol building, representing the power of the people at the heart of the USA. Great for finding your way around, but almost too perfect. I was staying only a few blocks from the White House, but yet I could walk down one of the wide avenues in the middle of the day and be the only person in sight – very strange for a capital city. He moment you step onto the national mall or into one of the 20 Smithsonian museums you are met by 1000s of tourists, all making the most of the huge number of attractions (and the air conditioning).
The museums in Washington are amazing – nearly all free, you could spend weeks in just one of them. I visited the National Archives to see the original Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights. There is something amazing about seeing the real documents – only a few pieces of paper that created the USA and changed the world. It shows you what a group of people with an idea can do.
My favourite two museums were the American Art Gallery and National Portrait Gallery, both houses in the same building with a beautiful covered courtyard at its heart. In the American Art half there were beautiful pieces from a sculpture of Harlem dancers to paintings of sweeping American landscapes. On the portrait side you could discover the presidents, including, of course Frank Underwood, alongside pictures of some truly inspirational people. My favourite was the portrait of Eunece Kennedy Shriver who created and organises the Special Olympics – an organisation that runs training and competitions for adults and children with intellectual disabilities. In the picture she is surrounded by current and past participants in the organisation.
On one day I braved the Air and Space museum and the Natural History museum – two of the most popular Smithsonians and full of tourists and summer camp kids. The Air and Space museum is amazing – it takes you through the whole history of flight from the first airplanes to the space shuttles and the international space station. You can learn everything from how flight is possible to how astronauts go to the loo in space and lots more. The natural history museum is also great – from the huge elephant that greets you as you walk in, through the evolution of humans and to the huge Hope diamond.
The other major attraction in Washington is the National Mall – stretching from Capital Hill at one end to the Lincoln Memorial. On Capital Hill I visited the Capital Building (currently undergoing major renovation) and the absolutely beautiful, and enormous, Library of Congress. I sat on the steps of the Supreme Court which is not currently in session. I visited the mall itself twice – once during the day and once at night with all the memorials lit up. If you ever get the chance definitely visit after dark – the memorials are even more beautiful against the night sky. From memorials celebrating presidents and campaigners – Washington, Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr, Jefferson and Franklin Delano Roosevelt – to the very moving war memorials – WWII, Vietnam and Korea – there is a lot to see on the National Mall. The most moving memorial for me was the Vietnam War memorial – designed to evoke the image of an open wound, it is simple black stone slabs with lists of names which get bigger towards the centre. Even more moving are the homeless veterans sitting on the benches next to the memorial, just trying to make it to tomorrow.
As a politics geek, I have loved my time in Washington – just walking around you are surrounded by political history, from the Ford theatre where Lincoln was assassinated to the Watergate buildings that ended the Nixon presidency. The are places to escape the politics though – everyday the Kennedy Centre puts on a free performance at 6pm. It can be anything, but on the night I went it was a concert by an orchestra made up of some incredibly talented young musicians who he all spent 4 weeks in Washington on an intensive music programme. All the performances are available online, if you get the chance go have a look – it was the first time I had heard a Tuba concerto and it was amazing.
You could never be without something to do in Washington, there is always something going on. The mood is building as the presidential campaigns get underway for real and the fight for the White House gets ever more intense. I was suprised one morning to learn a presidential candidate was staying at the hostel – Wiley Drake, a southern baptist preacher gave the whole hostel his presidential pitch over breakfast. I don’t think the major candidates need to worry. Only in Washington.
a wandering almond 