Brandie and I at the Bell Tower of the National Cathedral
Sunday May 3, 2009 1:53 PM EDT
Well I've got a few days to catch up on now. I guess I'll start with the White House tour Friday morning. I got there with plenty of time to get in at my time of 7:30 AM but then found out there would be nowhere to check my camera while I'm in the tour. So I had to run back to Brandie's office and give it to her to hold. When I got back they let me right back in the line which was nice. The tour itself was actually a little disappointing, there was no guide to tell you about anything. All we did was walk through the ground floor on the East side and main floor. It kind of has a museum feel to it. The rooms on the main floor are all used for social events held at the White House. Apparently they have over 200 a year but otherwise they don't get used. I guess I expected more given how hard it is to get the tour and how strict they are about the security. Actually security in DC is not that bad. You have to walk through a metal detector about 5 times a day but usually you don't have to empty your pockets or take off shoes and belts like you do at the airport. After the White House I walked over to the National Aquarium. This was kind of nice because it was early enough that the big groups hadn't gotten there yet and you have to pay to get in so I don't think they get as many groups anyways. The aquarium itself is not that big but they did have a good representation of fish found near the Americas. There was a sea turtle in one of the tanks that was pretty cool I tried to get a picture of me and him but that didn't turn out to well.
After the aquarium I made my way to the subway and rode over to Arlington National Cemetery. I got the tour bus there that takes you to the graves of the Kennedy's and the Unknown soldier as well as General Lee's old house. At the tomb of the Unknown soldier I saw the changing of the guard and they were getting ready to put a new wreath up too. The amphitheater near there is kind of cool too. Next I left Arlington and rode the tour bus back into DC, got lunch at the Reagan building, and went to see the Air and Space Museum. I watched an imax film there called Cosmic Collisions. It was OK but probably not worth the $8.50. They had a really good Wright Brothers exhibit there that I liked. After the Air and Space museum I hopped back on the tour bus and rode to the FDR memorial and from there walked to the Lincoln Memorial. Both of those were really good and I'm glad I stopped to see them. It's really nice looking out from the Lincoln memorial to the Washington Memorial with the Capitol in the distance. To top of my Friday I caught the bus back to Brandie's house and we went together to the Washington DC Temple. I had a good session there and it was a nice way to end the day.
Well that wraps up my Friday.
Well I've got a few days to catch up on now. I guess I'll start with the White House tour Friday morning. I got there with plenty of time to get in at my time of 7:30 AM but then found out there would be nowhere to check my camera while I'm in the tour. So I had to run back to Brandie's office and give it to her to hold. When I got back they let me right back in the line which was nice. The tour itself was actually a little disappointing, there was no guide to tell you about anything. All we did was walk through the ground floor on the East side and main floor. It kind of has a museum feel to it. The rooms on the main floor are all used for social events held at the White House. Apparently they have over 200 a year but otherwise they don't get used. I guess I expected more given how hard it is to get the tour and how strict they are about the security. Actually security in DC is not that bad. You have to walk through a metal detector about 5 times a day but usually you don't have to empty your pockets or take off shoes and belts like you do at the airport. After the White House I walked over to the National Aquarium. This was kind of nice because it was early enough that the big groups hadn't gotten there yet and you have to pay to get in so I don't think they get as many groups anyways. The aquarium itself is not that big but they did have a good representation of fish found near the Americas. There was a sea turtle in one of the tanks that was pretty cool I tried to get a picture of me and him but that didn't turn out to well.
After the aquarium I made my way to the subway and rode over to Arlington National Cemetery. I got the tour bus there that takes you to the graves of the Kennedy's and the Unknown soldier as well as General Lee's old house. At the tomb of the Unknown soldier I saw the changing of the guard and they were getting ready to put a new wreath up too. The amphitheater near there is kind of cool too. Next I left Arlington and rode the tour bus back into DC, got lunch at the Reagan building, and went to see the Air and Space Museum. I watched an imax film there called Cosmic Collisions. It was OK but probably not worth the $8.50. They had a really good Wright Brothers exhibit there that I liked. After the Air and Space museum I hopped back on the tour bus and rode to the FDR memorial and from there walked to the Lincoln Memorial. Both of those were really good and I'm glad I stopped to see them. It's really nice looking out from the Lincoln memorial to the Washington Memorial with the Capitol in the distance. To top of my Friday I caught the bus back to Brandie's house and we went together to the Washington DC Temple. I had a good session there and it was a nice way to end the day.
Well that wraps up my Friday.
Me in front of DC Temple
I think I must have walked over 10 miles in the past few days. Saturday I got to do even more as Brandie and I headed out to the National Cathedral. It took a bus and two trains and then another mile and a half of walking to get there but after a while we made it. It really is quite a breathtaking building. It's bigger than the SLC Temple by far and built in the Gothic Cathedral style. They were having a Flower Mart there that day which is basically just an excuse to have a little festival as far as I can tell. Anyways we went on part of a tour of the inside. They have some interesting things in there like a stained glass window with a piece of moon rock in it. Another neat thing was a cross built from debris of the 9/11 Pentagon attack. Also in the front they had a frieze with Christ in the center and then 110 other figures representing all of the Christian Churches. I looked for some kind of Mormon figure but I didn't see any not to say that there isn't one though. We also rode an elevator to the 7th floor where you can get a pretty good view of the city (you can even just make out the Temple if you look in the right spot, it's just the spires peaking over the trees). We also did the Bell Tower climb. They claimed that this was over 333 steps but I only counted 300. The stairway up is a very narrow spiral staircase and then you cross over and go up a freestanding metal spiral staircase. When we reached the top they had the Washington ringing society up there and they gave us a little demonstration of playing the bells. I may post that later with some other pictures. On the way down we stopped at a couple different balconies where you could look out. The Cathedral has many unique kind of quirky things like a Darth Vader grotesque and somewhere a gargoyle holding an Oscar as well as a dentist removing a tooth from a walrus. I highly recommend visiting this if you make it out here. After the Cathedral we made our way back to the Mall area and walked into the American History Smithsonian for a few minutes before heading back.
Well congratulations if you've made it this far reading this post. I know that sometimes things like this run long and dry and I don't always finish reading them. I'll try to keep things interesting. Tomorrow morning I am heading out to New York on the bus. I'm not sure what I'll see there but Ground Zero and the Statue of Liberty are definitely on my list. I'll try to post some pictures later tonight too.
Well congratulations if you've made it this far reading this post. I know that sometimes things like this run long and dry and I don't always finish reading them. I'll try to keep things interesting. Tomorrow morning I am heading out to New York on the bus. I'm not sure what I'll see there but Ground Zero and the Statue of Liberty are definitely on my list. I'll try to post some pictures later tonight too.
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