The Star-Spangled Sojourn (Part 5): Hello Washington D.C.!! Georgetown, White House, Ford's Theater, and the Smitsonian Museum of Natural History

- October 18-19, 2015, Sunday (afternoon) to Monday.

- Directly after Part 4 (click here), I had a last taste of New York after arriving in New York Penn Station from Poughkeepsie. New York Penn Station today seems like a modern busy train station, but the original Penn Station was opened in 1910, and had to be demolished by 1963 due to difficulties in maintaining the old structure. The new and current one was built and opened in 1968, and is completely an underground train station. It actually lies beneath the Madison Square Garden arena.

Post office.

Hello and goodbye Manhattan!! (Madison Square/Penn Station + Empire State from afar.)

While taking this photo a couple just had a dramatic break up. I pretended to not notice them.

Last photo of/in Manhattan.

- After lunch I had to catch my Amtrak train at 12 noon. The Amtrak trains, as mentioned in the last post, is a good option for going long distances, particularly interstate travel. I traveled three hours, passing by Pennsylvania, and Maryland, before reaching Washington D.C.'s Union Station. (Washington D.C., again, is located at the far eastern coast, and the capital of the United States of America; it is different from Washington State, which located at the far western coast, where Seattle is.)

- Washington D.C.'s Union Station is another historical train station; it was opened in 1907. It has a lot of Greek motifs inside, complete with statues of chosen Greek gods and scholars/thinkers like Apollo, Prometheus, and Archimedes, all of which are related (directly or indirectly) to railroads.

See the Greek statues??

- It did not take long before my good friend Dorenett got to the station to fetch me. Dorenett is a friend from way way way back, who got married a day after I arrived from my Mongolia trip (click here, here, and here to read about my Mongolia trip) in May. Not long after she migrated to the US with her husband John. Little did we know that we'd have the chance to meet each other, in the US, a few months later. Also, Dorenett and her husband were kind enough to adopt and accommodate me throughout my stay in D.C..

Hi Dor!!

Look at the wavy American flags.

Outside Union Station.

Bell.

Memorial.

- I settled and rested a bit in Dorenett's place, which is located in an awesome spot near all the main tourist spots in D.C.. It was so near that throughout my stay in D.C., not once did I/we use the subway to go from place to place. We mostly walked.

- That late afternoon we went to Georgetown, which does not have its own subway station, but it is accessible through "The Circulator." "The Circulator" is a bus system that conveniently takes people to Georgetown and some specific stops in downtown Washington D.C. around the "National Mall" (which is not a shopping place despite the name, but rather, the central area of Washington D.C. south of the White House, where the bulk of tourist areas stand right beside each other. Convenient, no?)

- Georgetown appeals to different kinds of people. First, it appeals to people who like to shop, because Georgetown is home to many stores and boutiques selling branded products. Second, it appeals to foodies, because it has a lot of interesting and cultural restaurants located right beside each other within the small town (particularly the Georgetown Waterfront Park.) Third, it appeals to culture-and-history enthusiasts like me, because Georgetown is a historical town which plenty of old houses and buildings that are still being used.

Welcome to Georgetown!! (The one with the dome is PNC Bank.)

Old houses.

It would make you feel like you're back in time, but the cars and the traffic ruin the ambiance. Haha.

PNC Bank at the far right.

Factories and other establishments.

- I wanted to spend more time looking around in Georgetown, without much interest in shopping unless there's a big big sale, but Dorenett and I had to meet John in a Vietnamese restaurant. John, coincidentally, also had some guests from Philadelphia, so we had dinner together.

Kennedy Center.

With boats.

Yay for friendship!!

Saw this by the Georgetown Waterfront Park.

American flags by sunset.

- After dinner we went back to Dorenett and John's place, and rested for the night. The next day, a bright sunny Monday, my sightseeing of D,C.'s tourist sites commenced. While walking on the streets, I noticed that D.C. is a lot cleaner than Manhattan (NYC,) and a lot cooler, since the part of D.C. where I was had lower buildings compared to the "concrete jungle" that is New York City.

- The first agenda of the morning was to visit one of Dorenett's "neighbors" - Barrack Obama and Michelle Obama. The White House was just a walking distance from Dorenett's place. Sadly, we could not go in and say hello to President Obama and his family. Speaking visits, tours to the White House by foreigners are not anymore allowed (for security reasons,) and for American citizens, intent of tours must be coursed through the local Congress member in advance. Too bad for me (and many other tourists,) we could only take photos of the White House from beyond the gates. The White House became the president's residence since 1800, during the time of John Adams. The north side, which looks a bit Greek, can be seen more up close, as compared to the south side, which can be seen from far away as the fence covering the south side is located farther from the White House.

Hello Mr. President.

Dorenett, you have really classy "neighbors."

Mandatory tourist photo.

Please don't shoot me.

- Fortunately, there is a way for people to enjoy and learn more about the White House. A few steps away is the White House Visitor Center. It is a small museum with plenty of things from inside the White House, and small replicas of the White House. Entrance to the visitor center is free; come to think of it, most museums and tourist attractions in Washington D.C. are FREE. This cut my spending a whole lot.

Another PNC Bank on th way to Ford's Theater.

Suntrust Bank.

Inside the Visitor Center; stuff they used in the kitchen.

Table centerpiece!!

Favorite dishes by former presidents.

Golden Eagle.

Chair used by different special visitors of the president.

- There are quite a few souvenir shops within the vicinity of the White House visitor center, all of which have prices that are more or less similar. The gift shop that I visited after having lunch at the Reagan Center was close to Ford's Theater, where Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in 1865. Today, the theater is still operational, and many shows can be watched in the theater.

- Right across Ford's Theater is the Peterson House, or a German tailor's house where Lincoln was brought to be healed after the assassination in Ford's Theater, and where he eventually died hours after. Tours to both Ford Theater and the Petersen House require tickets, and are best bought online in advance. Buying them impromptu, as always, are on a first-come-first-served basis, though most of the time, tickets are sold out for last-minute customers, as big groups of tourists visit the theater and the house everyday. The ticket to the Ford's Theater tour is the same ticket used to enter the Petersen House. In my case, I did not purchase the ticket, so Dorenett and I weren't able to go inside; tickets were also sold-out that day, so we didn't have a choice too. However, I was pretty much happy with seeing the theater and the house from the outside; the theater and the house were just sudden side-trips too, since they weren't part of my original itinerary.

'Nuff said.

A pretty house with a dark past.

Mandatory tourist photo again.

- The last agenda for the afternoon was a visit to the most popular among the Smithsonian museums - the National Museum of Natural History (Night at the Museum 2, anyone??) The NMNH was founded in 1846, and used to be located inside the Smithsonian Castle (Smithsonian Institution Building, also the Smithsonian Visitor Center.) In the early 1900s, the NMNH transferred to its current location, which is right across the Smithsonian Castle in the National Mall (which again, is not a "mall" as how we define it today.) This is different from the AMERICAN Museum of Natural History, which is located in Manhattan, near Central Park (click here to read about it.) What I noticed about the museum, and all Smithsonian Museums in the National Mall (at least,) was that they were all small museums, and not as "overwhelming" as compared to museums in Manhattan. However, this means that the number of exhibited pieces are also far less. For Washington D.C.'s NMNH, it was half the size of Manhattan's AMNH. At least, it was more manageable, and easier to finish in one afternoon - especially for the types of museum goers that really take their time to read all the descriptions. In my case, I only read about the things that I may not know about, and quickly pass through things that I'm 100% I know about. I do this to save time.

Washington Memorial on the way to the National Museum of Natural History.

I'm here!!

Easter Island statue at the lower-level lobby.

A large totem pole.

- The NMNH looks a bit like the Manhattan counterpart, complete with skeletons of animals/dinosaurs at the lobby. It was easier to navigate in the NMNH, not only because it was smaller, but probably also because I was not in a hurry, like the "Amazing Race" I did in the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan. Inside the NMNH, I was like a little child again, very fascinated with animals - both alive and extinct, apart from going crazy about the cultural stuff which is highly expected of me.

T-Rex!!

Elephant at the main lobby.

Egyptian sarcophagus.

Taxidermied buffalo head from Egypt.

Egyptian stuff.

Tricerotops!!

The T-Rex is always the king of any dinosaur exhibit.

Fossil lab!!!! COOL!! 

Extinct birds: dodo and moa.

Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium.

Dorenett and a swordfish.

A gray whale.

Of all the countries I don't know why only Korea has its own special gallery.

Ah yes, Joseon fashion.

Dorenett and her favorite piece: the "Hope Diamond."

Dorenett's idea.

Still Dorenett's idea.

And Dorenett's idea.

Fanboying over this giant squid; its tentacles were so long they wouldn't fit in my camera.

Dunkleosteus skullll!!!! One of the most bad-ass fishes of the past.

Tunisian wedding dress.

African crown.

Squid-hat souvenirs in the museum shop.

Outside the museum.

The Smithsonian Castle right across the current location of the NMNH.

Too bad the plaza in the middle is being renovated.

- Just before closing time, Dorenett and I went back to her place to rest a bit, before having dinner at Dupont Circle (no photos.) While eating dinner, and while on the way back to her house, again, I couldn't believe that my first full day in Washington D.C. was about to end. Dorenett comforted me, and told me that if I enjoyed my first full day in D.C., I can be sure to expect more days of fun in D.C. - after all, everything is conveniently placed right beside each other. I couldn't wait to explore more of Washington D.C.. (Please do not forget to read parts 1 here, 2 here, 3  here, 4 here, 6 here, 7 here.)     

Saw this on the way to Dupont Circle.