Back home

We got to the airport in plenty of time, (despite the shuttle bus driver getting lost!), 3 and half hours before the flight, and still nearly missed it, due to the horrendous queues in Washington's Dullas airport. We queued for 90 mins to check in, then an hour to get through security. We even had to take our shoes off!! Flight was quick at only 6 hours, we then waited over an hour for our suitcases... which never arrived. This happened to us last time we travelled back from Washington!! The electronic tagging system informed us that they had not even made it onto the plane, they were going to put them on a later flight and courier them down to us. Luckily, they did arrive later that evening.

We've had a hectic, but thouroughly enjoyable 10 days, despite the terrible weather. We've seen some fantastic things. The highlights were Niagara and the War memorials of Washington DC.
Britain has experienced a heatwave whilst we've been away. Everything in the garden has flourished and the pond looks great!! Its good to be back home.

Natural History Museum

For a complete change of scene, we hiked off to the Natural History museum. This museum holds more than 126 million specimens. They have an enormous stuffed African elephant in the entrance and many original dinosaur bones. Often in museums, they only have bone fragments, not complete skeletons and moulded plastic skeletons. Most of these were real bones, with an Allosaurus with a fractured clavicle and scapula!!
We also enjoyed the insect exhibit, seeing tarantulas, black widow spiders and scorpions. We have always noted how well laid out American museums are, and these 2 were no exception. After 4 hours we were quite museumed out, but I would like to return and do these again.

Lunar module

"Spirit of Texas"-1st helicopter to fly round the world, the trip took 29 days
Original Lunar module that never got to land on the moon.

Air and Space Museum

Black and white V2 rocket on left-Green and yellow V1 bomber suspended from ceiling on right
Amy Earhart's plane used to set record of 1st solo flight across Atlantic by a woman
Dave and DC3

Dave has often spoken about how good the Air and Space museum is so this was obviously our first choice. It is laid out in a similar way to the Imperial War museum in London (apart from the obligatory airport security which is everywhere in the States now). Immediately in front of you are 2 Apollo mission re-entry pods, much smaller than you imagine for 3 astronauts. There is a V1 and V2 rocket, and numerous aircraft, including a DC3 suspended from the ceiling.
The V1 was introduced into combat in June 1944 and was the World’s first functioning Cruise missile. It was 27ft long, weighed 4900 lb and had a range of 150-200 miles. They were also known as ‘buzz bombs’. Fortunately they were relatively slow so could be intercepted and shot down.
Unlike the V2, which was supersonic. This rocket was 46ft high, weighed 28000 lb and had a similar range of 150-190 miles. The black and white markings made the missile easily visible for accurate assessment of its flight performance ie.if it was turning on launch.
I particularly enjoyed seeing Amy Earhart’s Lockhead Vega that she used to fly solo across the Atlantic in 1932, the first time this had been achieved by a woman. With a top speed of 135mph this flight took her15 hours and 18 minutes.
The WW11 section was also good with a Spitfire, P51 Mustang, Messerschmitt and Japanese Zero (the fighter planes used in Kamikaze attacks).
The Space exhibits were extensive with an original lunar landing model (which looked like it was made out of tin foil), but I prefer the planes.

Capitol Building and Statue of Freedom
Whitehouse

As Washington DC was a constructed city it was laid out on specific lines. The major monuments and buildings take the form of a cross, with the Capitol Building at the head, the Washington Monument (which I keep referring to incorrectly, as the needle!) at the centre, the Lincoln Memorial at the foot, the White House on the left, and finally the Jefferson Memorial on the right. They are so perfectly in line that when you stand at the Washington Memorial you can see all the other 4.

The White House is a neo-classical mansion that has been the home and office of the US President for over 200 years. Only the South Façade and a little of the Oval office can be seen from the roadside. It was smaller than I expected, unlike the Capitol Building which was huge and imposing. On top of the dome is the Statue of Freedom which is 19.5 ft high and weighs15000 lbs. It is the tallest building in Washington and by law no building is allowed to be taller, which is why there are no skyscrapers in DC, and no statue can be bigger. Both Lincoln’s statue and Jefferson’s are 6 inches smaller.

Lincoln Memorial

Next we turned to politics and started with the Lincoln Memorial. This monument was built in 1922 in the form of a Greek temple and houses a giant statue of Abraham Lincoln, America’s 16th President. He was famous for preserving the Union, leading his country through Civil War and ending slavery. He was assassinated on April 14th 1865 whilst at the theatre by John Wilkes Booth. (We saw this theatre later in the day).

Korean and Vietnam Memorials

We continued with the memorial theme and moved on to the Korean War Memorial. This one is new and shows 19 exhausted, infantry soldiers, trudging across wet land. They are 7ft steel statues. This was an emotive memorial and really gave a sense of war, especially as it was pouring with rain again. I liked this better than the Vietnam War memoria,l which we saw next. This surprised me, as I’ve wanted to see this one for so long and it was not what I expected at all, even though I’ve seen numerous photos. I think it was because it was so busy there, that you couldn’t really get an overall view. It is shaped in a ‘V’ with the 58000 soldier’s names who died between 1959-75 engraved onto shiny black granite. It caused great controversy when it was built in 1982 and was criticised for its minimalism, but today it remains one of the most visited memorials in the world.

Arlington Cemetery

JFK's grave with eternal flame
Monday 12th June
A fully packed day today. First off was a visit to Arlington National Cemetery where over 290000 servicemen and their family members are buried. The land originally belonged to Robert E. Lee (the Confederate General) and was confiscated when he chose to fight for the South during the American Civil War of 1861-5. The Union felt it would add salt to Lee’s wounds to turn his land into a graveyard for Union soldiers, and so the National Cemetery was born. By the end of the war 16000 soldiers were buried there. Also buried there is J.F. Kennedy who commanded patrol boats in the Pacific during WW11 and was highly decorated for saving his crew, his wife Jackie and his brother Bobby, who also served in the Navy. JFK’s grave is very simple, with an eternal flame. Even though this was so long ago (22nd Nov 1963), this senseless assassination still upsets me.

Jefferson and WW11 memorials

Fountains at centre of WW11 memorial and Washington memorial in background
Some of the pillars - each with different states

Jefferson Memorial

Memorials at Night

Sunday 11th June
Arrived in Washington DC and decided to go and looked at some of the monuments, first up was The Iwo Jima Memorial, which is the Marine Corps Memorial. Iwo Jima was a small Pacific island that saw fierce fighting during WW11 resulting in 7000 American deaths. This was a fantastically imposing statue. We managed to arrive just as the sun was setting, which added to the atmosphere.

Next up, was the Thomas Jefferson Memorial which was inspired by the Pantheon in Rome. It houses a 19ft bronze statue of the President. Jefferson was seen as one of the greatest influences of American history, he wrote the ‘Declaration of American Independence’, and was a strong believer in the rights of man, a government derived from the people, and religious freedom: ideas that were way ahead of his time! Interestingly, he died on July 4th 1826, the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

The last memorial we saw was the WW11 one, recently built and opened on Memorial Day, May 29th 2004. This was amazing. Each state was represented by a column which surrounded a fountain in the centre. On each column there was a wreath of oak and wheat, which symbolised the nation’s industrial and agricultural strength, both of which were essential to the success of the war. There was a wall of 4000 gold stars with each star representing 1000 American deaths, to total the 400000 lost in WW11. I loved this memorial, and after nearly 20 years of visiting war memorials this was one of my favourites!

Liberty Bell

Liberty Bell which weighs 2080 lbs
Independence Hall showing the bellfry that used to house the Liberty bell and where the Declaration of Independence was signed and Constitution written

Phillidelphia to Washington DC

Sunday 11th June
Went and looked at the Liberty Bell, massive security checks to get in museum, like going through an airport, all bags x-rayed and metal detection archways. It is sad that such measures are needed. They’ve all been put in place since 9/11.
The Liberty bell is an international sign of freedom. Around its rim is inscribed “Proclaim Liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof”. It used to hang in the state house to summon the Pennsylvanian assembly to debate, but it cracked sometime between 1817 and 1846 and rang no more.
Next visit was the Independence hall where the American Constitution was written in 1787. At this time Phlilidelphia was the nation’s capitol, it wasn’t until 1800 that government moved to Washington DC and the capitol changed.
By lunchtime we were back on the bus and on the road towards DC. We stopped off at Annapolis, a fishing town, most famous for the naval academy. To be admitted as an officer in the US Navy, it requires a presidential or senator nomination! (This is the same for Westpoint).

Arrived in Washington DC and decided to go and looked at some of the monuments, first up was The Iwo Jima Memorial which is the Marine Corps Memorial. Iwo Jima was a small Pacific island that saw fierce fighting during WW11 resulting in 7000 American deaths. This was a fantastically imposing statue. We managed to arrive just as the sun was setting, which added to the atmosphere.
Next up, was the Thomas Jefferson Memorial which was inspired by the Pantheon in Rome. It houses a 19ft bronze statue of the President. Jefferson was seen as one of the greatest influences of American history, he wrote the ‘Declaration of American Independence’, and was a strong believer in the rights of man, a government derived from the people, and religious freedom: ideas that were way ahead of his time! Interestingly, he died on July 4th 1826, the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
The last memorial we saw was the WW11 one, recently built and opened on Memorial Day, May 29th 2004. This was amazing. Each state was represented by a column which surrounded a fountain in the centre. On each column there was a wreath of oak and wheat, which symbolised the nation’s industrial and agricultural strength, both of which were essential to the success of the war. There was a wall of 4000 gold stars with each star representing 1000 American deaths, to total the 400000 lost in WW11. I loved this memorial and after nearly 20 years of visiting war memorials this will go into one of my favourites!

Niagara photos

Niagara

I can't believe I've finally got here, I seem to be ticking off so many places this year from my list.
Niagara is amazing, they are not the tallest falls at 175ft, but they are huge in circumference. You sense their power immediately. There are two falls, the American one which is smaller and the Canadian one which is the horseshoe, seen previously in pictures. Nothing can prepare you for their scale,
2832 metres/750000 gallons of water flow over the falls per second. It is quite mesmerising just watching them.
Niagara is a North Indian word meaning “thundering water”. We went on the boat which takes you right to their foot. (It started to rain as we boarded and stopped 10 minutes after we got off!!) Got very wet, but it was well worth it.
The town of Niagara is like Blackpool, only far more tacky. Hundreds of souvenir shops selling junk. It is quite surreal to have just seen one of the wonders of the world and then be transported to “tackville”.

A Wet Day on Deck

On the Bridge of USS Intrepid

USS Intrepid

Walked 3 miles to the mooring site of the USS Intrepid which they have turned into a museum since it was decommissioned in 1974. It saw service during WW2, Vietnam and finished its service picking up astronauts from the Space programme after touchdown. They also had USS Growler, a submarine you could look round (so this kept Dave happy) and a Concorde. Museum was quite quiet, which wasn’t surprising considering the weather, the deck was completely empty. They had about 15 aircraft up there including a blackbird. They showed some excellent films, focusing on the importance of not forgetting the war and people who gave their lives. The Americans are universally proud to be American and this comes across most strongly with their museums. We spent 4 hours on Intrepid and I’m sure we would have been there longer if weather wasn’t so poor.

Statue of Liberty
Ground Zero where building has recommenced

Dormitories for immigrants at Ellis Island

New York

Sunday 4th June 2006
Good journey to airport and flight, only delayed an hour taking off. United are a good airline, lovely food. Watched a Harrison Ford film called Firewall and another one called Annapolis, both very predictable but passed the time. Flight only 7 hours so seemed like nothing after Oz!!
Once in New York got met by representative and transferred to hotel. Car was quite small and there wasn’t enough room for suitcases in the boot so Dave and I ended up with a suitcase across our laps for the hour and half transfer and very dead legs by the time we got there. Hooked up with another couple called Graham and Lorraine who have retired early and been travelling the world for a year. They are on the same tour as us.
Hotel very basic, but central. Could only get hot water and no cold so had a scalding shower!! We are 29 floors up with views of Empire State building about 100 yards away. You can hear the traffic constantly. Took ages to fall asleep, still it will be better for getting into time zone.
Monday 5th
This morning Dave went and asked at reception how to connect to the internet and they told us we were on a non internet floor and offered to move our room to the 26th floor. We accepted and have ended up with a much better room, it is on the side so much quieter, the water isn’t boiling, the television works, and we’re piggybacking with wifi, so internet is free. We went up to Times Square first, didn’t think much of it, Piccadilly is better. We’ll try it at night though, before we pass final judgement. We went to try and get up Empire State building but queue was at least 90 minutes long so we decided to get on subway and go look at Statue of Liberty. Finding subway entrance was an adventure in itself let alone getting on right train, but we managed it. Had to queue for ¾ hour for ferry to island, I didn’t realise that the statue was on an island! It is very impressive, at over 305 feet tall. We carried on to Ellis Island on the ferry. This was the port for all immigrants coming to America from 1892 to 1954, over 12 million passed through here. They were often quarantined for many months and families split up, the dormitories were worse than anything I’ve seen before. There was an excellent audio tour as well. We enjoyed the museum and were there over 3 hours, so very tired once we had queued again for ages for ferry back to Manhattan. Despite enjoying today, so far, I don’t like New York as much as other US cities we’ve seen, it’s very dirty and busy. We are going to try and get up the State building early tomorrow morning.
Tuesday 6th
Awake at 5, unable to sleep anymore. Out and about on the streets by 7 and in a thankfully short queue for Empire State building by 8. Good views from there for miles. I enjoyed this more than Sydney tower, as it was outside rather than behind glass, so you could get good photos. After this got on subway to Central Park as I wanted to see where John Lennon got shot outside his Dakota apartment building and also the memorial in the park that Yoko Ono paid for. Back on Subway and back down to Lower Manhattan. Walked to Ground Zero where they have started rebuilding towers. It is incredible that there wasn’t more damaged when you see how tightly packed the buildings are. Had a brief look at Trinity Church and Wall St, not much to see, so returned to 42nd St. Looked at Chrysler building, very similar in structure to Empire State, and Public library before walking back to hotel via several computer shops on 5th Ave for Dave. By this time it was 3 o’clock and Dave had to recharge his batteries by having a nap!!