Washington DC trip

walking toward the capitol

at the capitol

sitting on the wall in front of the capitol

view from the other side of the wall, lawn in front of the capitol

hallway ceiling in capitol; hallways were very ornate

the old house of representatives; statues of people who made their mark in american history now stand around the room while tourists pass through and tour guides try to entertain tourists by telling them that john adams could hear private conversations across the room if he put his head on his desk b/c of the unique acoustics.

ceiling of that room

this room had paintings of the first congressmen in action, a scene from the revolutionary war, etc. italian men (of course) were hired to paint detail around the walls and ceiling.

ceiling of the same art gallery:
a family of italian brothers (i believe it was six italian brothers) were hired to carve big abe. it's unbelievable that the lincoln monument is merely a HUGE statue of lincoln in a HUGE building.

the washington monument (it's rather ugly up close) and the reflecting pool, seen from the top of the steps of the lincoln monument--this is big abe's view:

it is what it says

each column represents a U.S. state to honor the soldiers who came from those states; the circle is cut in half--one half honors those who fought in the pacific and one half honors those who fought in the atlantic. the open four-post building honors the atlantic theater; the places of battles are carved nearby

these stars honor heroes

vietnam veterans memorial statue

the smithsonian institute's castle, where the first keepers of the smithsonian museum lived; the flower gardens were gorgeous
three paintings from one of the art museums; all paintings are from the late 1500s or early 1600s and are flemish or dutch

i find pictures of domestic life from the 1600s and before fascinating

daniel and the lions

the air and space museum was mostly a playland for men and boys. of course bob took this picture. the first plane to go the speed of sound:

this teeny tiny contraption is a space capsule used for either the first manned space trip or the first trip to the moon. the man couldn't stand up; there was only enough room to sit in one position and it didn't even look big enough for that inside. you would never get me in there, even on earth. how do you say claustrophobic?

this contraption, that looks like some kid's science project, transported men from the space capsule to the moon.

these sticks and pieces of canvas make up the first wright brothers plane. i didn't see it in person. i got bored with the planes and ended up wandering through an outerspace exibit that explained outerspace and the science behind discovering it.

we also went to the native american museum, but i didn't take any pics there. it was an amazing place that told the history of many tribes. there were many videos playing first-hand accounts from indians telling about their culture. the amount of info. was overwhelming and my feet were hurting bad at that point so i walked through everything quickly, admiring colorful native artifacts. it was the only DC museum we visited with good cafeteria food--they were actually serving native foods, like indian tacos, spicy chicken soup (southwest), fry bread, squash, avocado shakes, etc.