This is my second trip to Washington and I tried to do lots of new stuff. My first trip today was to the Holocaust Museum. I saw surprisingly few actual artifacts at this museum. What they do have are a few powerful displays. They have one portion of the musuem that requires you to get tickets and come back at an appointed time. I didn't take the time to visit that portion of the museum. The major items of significance to me was Daniel's Story. This exhibit recreates the house a small child lived in in Germany and then has displays showing the changes that took place until you eventually get to the concentration camp room. Most of these rooms have very little in the way of reproduction; they instead rely on paintings to represent most of the details. Along the way you see "excerpts" from Daniel's diary. (The actual diary was eventually destroyed by the Nazi's. Daniel's mother and sister were both murdered by the Nazis.
The other powerful item was just two rooms that displayed video testimony from Holocaust survivors and the troops that rescued them. This is very powerful indeed.
While there I felt a great sense of shame. My shame is not about the Holocaust. Instead I'm ashamed that we're not doing anything to stop the Holocaust under way in Sudan. What are we waiting for? I wish I knew.
After leaving there I walked down to the World War II Memorial. The last time I was here the Memorial was still in the early phases of construction so I really didn't know what to expect. I didn't realize why they had the Reflecting Pool closed before, but I do now. The WWII Memorial actually backs right up to the Reflecting Pool and the Pool flows into the fountains in the WWII Memorial. It's quite impressive.
I took my camera with me on this trip and I took several pictures. However I haven't used this camera in a long time. When it was time to change film I couldn't remember how to load it. I finally got it in but the camera immediately wound about half way through the roll. I have no idea if I'll have anything worth anything by the time it's all said and done. (My goodness. I need a digital camera.) If I do have anything I'll try to post them here.
Anyway, when I was done there I decided to walk down to the Air and Space Museum. This means walking all the way around the Washington Monument again. (They've erected a wall around the Monument to control traffic. Then they constructed a fence several hundred feet away from the wall which they say is to allow the turf to grow back. All I know is that this greatly increases walking time.
When I got to the Air and Space Museum the line was incredibly long. I looked at the line for a while and decided I just wasn't up to waiting that long. My feet were getting pretty sore so I walked down to the Capitol Building instead. (All this meant walking by some festival the Smithsonian's got going. They call it the "Folklife Festival." I still don't know what this is supposed to be. Oh well.
I got down to the Capitol Building and just set there stairing at it for a while. It really is an amazing place. The next time I'm here I hope to get a tour. This time however I headed back to the hotel. I walked north to Pennsylvania and started west back to my hotel. My hotel is on 14th and I was at 6th. (If you don't recall the White House is at 1600, although Pennsylvania jumps over a block right there for some reason.) This gave me a chance to see the National Archives, the FBI and Justice Buildings and a few others I don't recall.
The most impressive of the buildings I saw on this little jaunt was probably the Canadian Embassy. It's quite beautiful. Also, on the side of the building they have a huge banner that shows a picture of Reagan from behind with the words "Au Revoir". I've been awfully critical of and upset with the Canadian goverment of late, but things like this remind me that our countries have a long history of friendship.
I got back to the hotel and took a long bath. Anyway, that's my day. Like I said, if the pictures turn out, I'll post them. If not, oh well. Tomorrow I have to do actualy work. That's the price you pay for these trips so I won't complain. Besides, I usually enjoy these meetings.
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