First of all, I think it is a bad idea for me to return to Australia. I have been in a proper winter for long enough now that I considered today's temperature of 15.5 degrees C to be warm. Today, Captain Flash and I went down to the National Mall to visit various Smithsonian museums. We arrived shortly after opening time (which is an Annette-friendly 10am), and headed first to the American History Museum. We went there first mostly because Captain Flash isn't very good at reading maps and so we initially thought it was the Natural History museum.
The American History museum was ok. Interesting enough to wander about, but I wouldn't make it an absolute number one priority. The coolest bit there? Seeing the C3PO suit from Return of the Jedi. For Sex & the City fans, the laptop shown in the photo with Captain Flash and C3PO is the one Carrie used to write her columns on.
After the American History museum (complete with dodgy cafeteria lunch - I am really missing Aussie food now!), I went on to the Natural History museum. The Natural History museum was pretty cool. Plenty of your usual ocean/mammal/dino stuff, but my favourite major exhibit? The geological exhibit. Some of you may know of my fondness for the the glowing rocks exhibit in the Perth museum - they have glowing rocks at the Smithsonian too. Well, it turns out I like looking at rocks. There are so many pretty colours and patterns, even in the non-fluorescent or phosphorescent rocks. I spent quite a lot of time admiring the comprehensive geology display. It is probably worth mentioning that they also have the Hope Diamond on display there.
Now, the geological exhibit was cool - but the Smithsonian Natural History museum also has a section with live butterflies. It costs $6 to get in, but since the Smithsonian entry is free and this display is awesome it is well worth it. It was like the butterfly display they had at Perth Zoo for a while, but a bit smaller. I now have plenty of photos of butterflies up close, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time in there.
The last museum stop of the day was at the National Air and Space Museum. This was a museum I was really excited about seeing, and I am certainly glad I went. Although it can't contain truly giant rockets and so on because of size constraints (those are out in Virginia, I'm trying to figure out if I can get there), it still has some pretty cool stuff. Amongst the stuff I saw there:
- The original Wright flyer
- The spacesuit Buzz Aldrin wore to walk on the moon
- The command module from Apollo 11
Walking through the sculpture garden I discovered something FABULOUS: there is an open-air ice-skating rink in the middle! I promptly paid for a session, hired some skates and put my bags in a locker. During my session someone fell over and somehow managed to fall severely enough that an ambulance came to pick them up! I didn't see the fall, just the guy lying on the ice for quite some time. I did my best to ignore it, and skated for 1.5 of my allocated 2 hours, by which time my ankles and calves were paining me a lot. Although my ankles are still a little sore, I am thoroughly glad I had the opportunity to do the open-air skating - it is something I had in my head I would like to do while in the USA, but didn't think would be possible.
And finally, on a less fun note, the bushfires in Victoria are even making it into the news here. Even from this distance, I feel somehow affected by it, and things certainly seem pretty bad. I have been checking up on the ABC website for Aussie news the whole time I have been away, but for this ABC isn't necessary - it is the top item of CNN, BBC and even Al-Jazeera. I have been sending thoughts of sympathy and love from the other side of the world.
And now for bed. I have my tour of the Capitol tomorrow. w00t.
** is so jealous of you getting to go to the space museum ** that would have been my FIRST stop at the Smithsonian.
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