Day 4

Day 4

 

The day started early for some, much later for others. We met at 7:30 down in the hotel’s restaurant, where the food was exquisite, and the choice was endless. We picked out what we wanted, and steered clear of what didn’t fancy us, and sat down to eat our meal. The service was outstanding, the waiters and waitresses filled our cups regularly, and cooked up eggs just for one student.

We met in the hotel’s meeting room, where we finally met up with the two latecomers. Mr Roberts talked about the day to come, before he started a rant about showing up on time. We headed back to our rooms, to prepare for the day ahead. Meeting back at the hotel lobby at 8:50, we headed down to Ballston-MU station, part of the Orange Line of the Washington D.C. Metro. We were so surprised by the station, it was built more like a bunker than a railway station. Waiting on the platform, we all stared in amazement at the architecture, the large rectangular concrete components where weirdly interesting.

They roared into the station, much faster than we were all used to, we felt as if we were being sucked into the train as it slowly came to a halt. We boarded the train, it was much cleaner than the ones in New York. The train pulled out the station just as fast as it pulled in, people without good footing would have been lucky to stay upright.

When we arrived at the Smithsonian station, we hopped off and headed back up to ground level. We were amazed by buildings, we felt like we had been transported back in time. The buildings were all made of stone, not piece of modern architecture in sight. We walked out to The Mall, and made our way to the Air and Space museum, and where surprised by how cold it was. The sun was shining bright, yet we needed our beanies on. From a picture, it would look like a typical Perth summer’s day, but from a thermometer’s reading, it would look like a really cold winter’s midnight. It was so weird to see the sun in one corner, and to see ice on the path in another. It was like the sun was broken.

 

Coming into the Smithsonian, we were excited for yet another security check. This time we were lucky, our jumpers and beanies didn’t need to come off. The security staff where much more efficient than the ones at Ground 0 and the Statue of Liberty in New York. We were gobsmacked from the first minute, the sheer number of planes and spacecraft on display from the roof was more than any of us expected. After a quick meeting, we split into small groups and worked our own way through the museum.

There were many exhibits throughout the museum, scattered over both floors. They ranged from light-hearted displays, to some pretty in-depth explanation to complex problems, and solutions. There was a whole area dedicated to the Wright brothers, and their contributions to modern flight. Inside was the actual full sized glider they built, that became the first manmade object to overcome gravity with a human on board.

There was also a section based on aircraft carriers, and their evolution from ships with a platform bolted on top, to purpose built, nuclear powered super ships, capable of carrying hundreds of aircraft. It also followed the evolution of planes, to adapt to the ships as they became ever more complex. The whole exhibit was styled like an aircraft carrier, with the main deck containing samples of planes through the decades, to the control tower with information about how the planes navigate, and land on a moving platform.

As well as having exhibition rooms, there were also large atriums, with planes, aircraft, spacecraft and satellites hanging from the ceiling. It was interesting looking at these, to see items that have been to space, and to look at aircraft from a new angle. Being able to compare aircraft and spacecraft from 50 years ago to aircraft and spacecraft of today showed us how far aviation and space travel have come in such a short period of time.

At 1:00, we met back up in the middle of the museum, and headed back out. We walked west along The Mall, ice still covering some puddles of water. Arriving at the Washington Monument, we looked up at the long spire. It was covered half way with scaffolding(repairing earthquake damage), however it still didn’t detract from its beauty.

We next walked north to the White House. It looked much smaller than typically depicted, however much more detailed. We took a good laugh some of the protests outside, one of them wanting the US government to bomb Israel, and claim it as US territory.

After, we took a short walk to the Spy Museum, which was a disappointment, more than $20 per person for entry, way too much for us. Instead, we headed across to the Smithsonian Art and Portrait gallery, conveniently located just across the road. There, for once, we didn’t have to get scanned upon entry. We where all told to put our bags on frontwards, we assumed this was because they didn’t want us banging it into the ‘priceless’ artwork. We did as we were told, laughing at others while we were being laughed at.

The museum was large, with over 1000 pieces of work, from paintings to photographs, to sculptures. Amazingly, it only took 40 minutes to see it all. Most people found it a little boring, filling in time making up jokes about the symbolism of each picture. Some were quite funny, while some were prey damn strange. After a lot of walking, we realised there was a courtyard in the middle. It was a truly beautiful place, one fantastic building, with a large glass dome covering it. There was a large marble bench/seat, about 4m x 8m. As soon as we realised how slippery it was, some of us started spinning around on one knee. It must have loomed weird to people passing by, but it was an interesting way to pass the time.

We left at about 3:00, and started heading for the Metro Centre station, just a few blocks away. We headed down the escalators, into a similar station to the Ballston one we started at in the morning. Some people lost their tickets through the course of the day, meaning they had to repurchase their ticket. This small delay meant we missed one of the trains, meaning we had to wait another 5 or so minutes for another train, not too much of a problem.

We hopped on, and headed back for Ballston. Upon arrival, we headed off to ground level, for a team meeting. We got about 1 ½ hours free time. We all spent it in different ways, some slept, some talked, and some wrote blogs (what fun). We met back down at the hotel lobby at around 6, and headed off to the Ballston Community Shopping Mall. Most people bought a McDonalds meal, while some others opted for a different meal, avoiding the queue.

We all sat down in the same general area, here we were lucky, lots of tables for only a few people. As soon as we had finished, we headed off in our own direction. Some people chose to stay, and do a little shopping, while others headed back off to the hotel, a short walk away over a few overpasses. Some of the people who went shopping really overspent, buying a lot of items, while others where really quite conservative with their money. The people who headed back to the hotel either went off to sleep, or stayed up watching American TV, quite different to TV back in Australia. All students had to be signed-off at 9.00pm

All in all, the day turned out quite well. We all had fun along the way, and we did at least one thing that interested each person. We all came home tired, eagerly awaiting the next day.

By Lloyd and Aaron.