Second attempt

Sep
1
Submitted by XL-Network on Thu, 2011-09-01 22:48

After we took a picture of the wrong 'White House' we visited Washington yesterday for the second and last time to go a second attempt. The 'viewing speed' of things in a Museum differs between Harry and myself, so we decided to each go our own way and meet back in at the White House around 5 PM.

First I went to the Departement of Treasury: Bureau of Engraving and Printing to see how they make paper money. Since you can't take pictures of the process you will have to settle with a picture of a one million dollar stack. The lady who gave the tour was very enthusiastic about telling us how everything works (not). I keep noticing that the enthusiasm with which announcements are made are very poor. 9 out of 10 times you cannot make out what the driver of the metro is saying.

Washington - one milion dollars

After visiting the money factory I wanted to go to the National Aquarium. But where as all the other museums had no entry fee, here you had to pay almost 10 dollars to get in. And, according to the map, it looked like you could view everything within half a hour. I wasn't going to spend my money on that so I went to the White House Visiting Center and then to the south side of the White House itself to take a picture. There were a lot of gates between me and the White House, but the photo turned out great.

Washington - Ellie at The White House (the right one)

After eating a hotdog and a cola at one of the food carts I went to the National Museum of American History. They were just starting a one hour highlighted tour. The somewhat older black lady who gave the tour was very enthusiastic and showed us several things, like the uniform and the hat of George Washington, a tree that has been cut down by the rain bullets from the (I believe) Cival War, the Greenboro lunch counter sit-in and many more. At the sit-in there were four black students who sat down at the bar and waited until they got served. This all happened in 1960, during the apartheid, and they were refused. After a while they would be relieved by other students and this whole thing went on for around six months. That's when blacks were being served at the lunch counters. After the highlights I looked around for myself and when I was sitting in the cafe to eat something I got a text message from Harry that he would go to the White House.

Washington - Greensboro lunch counter student sit-in

After taking some pictures of the White House Harry and myself went to Chinatown and had diner in a small place where we had stir fried spare ribs. It might look a bit funny, but it tasted good. They didn't ask what we wanted to drink, instead we got served hot tea and cold water. We finished with a cold ice cream from the place next to it.

Washington - stir fried spare ribs

When we got back at the campground I noticed that the power had been restored. Since the hurricane Irene, a couple of days ago, there were around 200.000 homes without power. Fortunately our campground had partial power so we could charge our phones and laptops. The reservation for the train to New York City and a hostel have been made. Tomorrow at 6 AM my alarm clock will sound and then the next part of my journey begins. I could only book the (cheap) hostel for four nights, so for the other six nights I have to see what I will do. Maybe I'll go outside the city and find a nice campground and do some hiking or cycling.