Hallowed Ground and Old Town

Arlington National Cemetery and with Washington Monument in the background

Yes, I took this postcard-esque photo!! :D

Reika and I spent this fine day visiting the Arlington Cemetery (easily accessed by Metro). The two major sites for us to visit were President John F. Kennedy's grave and the Tomb of the Unknowns. 

J. F. Kennedy

Tomb of the Unknowns with a guard on duty

A ceremony honoring the soldiers

Reika at the Memorial Amphitheater

The Memorial Amphitheater beside the Tomb of the Unknowns

On our way out

It was a nice walk and great weather!

My next stop was King Street in Alexandria, VA. that Tanya recommended me to go. A street, and heart of the historic Old Town Alexandria, we passed by everyday on the shuttle to site and seemed to have lots of little interesting stores. I picked up an iced latte and an eclair to go from a little cafe, mmm

From the King Street Metro stop, all the way to the waterfront on King Street (approx. 30 minutes walk) was full of gourmet café and bakeries (lots of cupcakes!), boutiques, antique shops, independent design stores, and restaurants. It's a very tourist-friendly area, with informative signs and directions at almost every intersection, including signs that tell you what shops were on the side streets.

Finally arrived to the waterfront!

To my surprise, there's Big Top!

You see?

Plaza by the water. See the little boy playing trumpet? He was REALLY good!

He was like a professional. Don't worry, he wasn't alone, someone like a father-figure was there. Apparently he got videos on Youtube too!

Free King St. Trolley service from Metro - Waterfront (plus in between stops)!

Air-conditioned too!

Pleasantly surprised to discover that the trolley can take me all the way back to the Metro station as I was done with walking! Runs from 11:30am-10pm everyday, every :10, :30, and :50 after every hour. The driver was really nice too, telling jokes the whole way.

It's been a good day! :)

Packing Up!!

Luggage day!! Counting down the days 'til we depart from DC! 

Been busy packing the past couple of days, but it only took us here and there 2-3 days. 

Okay let's do it. Where to start?

Gary's pretty much done. He's a pro by now!

Done!

All of Gaz' eletronics. Geek.

Who's bright idea is it to use the dolly to transport all the luggage?! MINE!

Okay here we go. We'll be doing this every 5-6 weeks next year.

Waiting for the bus to take all of this to site.

 And that's that, now waiting to go on holiday!! Whoooooooop~~

Holocaust Memorial Museum & Spy Museum

Holocaust Memorial Museum was probably the best museum and the most overwhelming out of all the ones we visited. There were vast amount of information, real video footage, graphic photographs and much more on this horrid historical event -- a genocide of approximately six million people.

At the entrance, we were to pick up an Identification Card, which told a short story of a real person who lived during the Holocaust.

After we picked up the map and the card, we were directed to take the elevator right up to the top floor (4th floor) where the exhibition started in chronological order towards the lower floors. It was as if, with the Identification Card in hand, we were witnesses reliving the horror.

Some people spent 4 hours at the museum, some 10 hours in 2 days, and we spent about 2.5 hours (as we skimmed some and towards the end we really needed some lunch). Definitely worth a visit.

I felt quite heavy when we were done.....distressed to know the cruelty mankind is capable of!! Unfortunately, genocides do still happen in the world today.

To lighten up the day, we went over to the Spy Museum. It was interesting. Not exactly like a traditional museum, but with a few interactive activities and we got to choose our own alias and pretend we have a mission to accomplish.

John (Gary) climbing through the air-duct tunnel like a spy

Here's Jane Meyer (Laura) and John (Michel)

And that was our last double dark in DC!!

National Geographic Museum..

 ....just stick to reading the magazine. 

 There were only a gift shop and 2 small exhibitions, of which, only 1 was free.

If you're interested in sounds then yayyy for you

At my best trying to be interested. Lasted 15 minutes.

History on Canvas

A short trip to the National Gallery of Art on Tuesday. 

Looking at all the paintings from different eras really brought back memories of my 1st and 2nd years in university....dimly lit lecture hall, slides-after-slides for 2 hours and an extra large cup of coffee in hand. Sometime my notes were barely legible like as they were written while half asleep... Let's just say art history wasn't my strongest. But it was much more enjoyable to look at the real paintings in person outside of classrooms!

Outside of the Museum was the Sculpture Garden, which displayed, at the moment, 17 pieces of modern and contemporary sculptures. Among them, there was Claes Oldenburg who is best known for his public art installations featuring giant, oversize everyday objects. Also, I am surprised to see one of Louise Bourgeois' spiders!

Claes Oldenburg, Typewriter Eraser Scale X at the Sculpture Garden

Another example of Oldenburg's work: Saw, Sawing, in 1996 Tokyo

Louise Bourgeois' Spider at the Sculpture Garden

Louise Bourgeois' best known spider Maman. Permanent display outside of Ottawa's National Gallery of Canada

My favourite paintings and artists were mostly from the Chester Dale Collection--From Impressionism to Modernism. 

Paul Cezanne, The House of Pere Lacroix

Claude Monet, Rouen Cathedral, West Facade

Claude Monet, The Houses of Parliament, Sunset

Paul Gauguin, Self Portrait

Jean Honore Fragonard, The Swing. And this very (huge)painting reminded me of the discussions of the Rococo period in class.

I really think I should get back there to look at the paintings more closely! 45 minutes wasn't enough.