A glimpse of Washington

We travelled from New York to Washington by rail - comfortable,you don't have to sit for hours - well - three, and best of all, we arrive at Washington's beautiful Union Station!

When it opened in 1907, it was the largest Railway station in the world. And so beautifully constructed that it looks like an upmarket Shopping Centre.

Washington, the city area around the White House, is spacious - wide streets and footpaths. All the commercial buildings are around the same height, and mostly plain and square, with a few exceptions - mainly some older buidings. Monuments are everywhere - statues, buildings, plaques but the streets are not named after people - they are numbered!! And Washingtonian designers seemed to like pillars, - many of the government buildings feature these. More about these when I get my pics up.

Our most favoured place we visited during our brief visit was the Smithsonian Museum of Air and Space - everything you could imagine about those topics were featured - including moonstone which you could touch, rockets, and some stunning art by Alan Bean - one of the first Astronauts on the moon.

We then visited the Museum of Natural History. You may recall the "Night at the Museum" movies - you can actually spend evenings there but I do not know if the animals come alive. I kept looking over my shoulder waiting for Robin Williams to appear on his horse...

One of the most recent museums to open in Washington was the National Museum of the American Indian. Housed in a beautiful purpose built building the museum tells of the struggles and survival of the Indian peoples - very touching, forthright and forgiving. The whole place is a work of art.

Like many cities, Washington pulled down many old buildings until their history and heritage was realized. The Old Post Office, thanks to a very outspoken Lady called Nancy Hanks rallied around and saved it. Today it is a well maintained and dramatic multipurpose building, and visitors may ascend to the clock tower and have a view of the city - which is not a view to die for - but the building is worth the visit!!

So after the necessary tours around the Capitol, Lincoln and Korean Monuments the Reflecting Pool and the War Memorials it was time to travel back by rail to NewYork