Stand up for something, or you will fall for everything.
One of the first few things that we saw in DC was the White House. While it is alot smaller in real life than in movies, or in the news, there is a big crowd gathering outside and this is normal. People protests for many reasons and the one day we were there it was about the strike that Trump decided upon Syria.
We took photos and indulge in the moment when I can not helped but to be drawn to this one guy who were standing alone holding a sign. The sign says:
' I am a pro-gun, supporter of NRA. Wanna talk?'
Well to me this is exactly like what I saw on TV and I thought, let's start a conversation with this guy and see how he really is.
I was not disappointed though, everything that he said is the same like what I saw on the Daily Show with Trevor Noah. He kept repeating 3 common things: (1) The second amendment - the rights to bear arms, (2) guns are not evil, malicious people are, and (3) I need guns to protect me and my family.
As we talked, I did not realised that we gathered an audience of people joining in the conversation. One of the lady even challenged him by asking where is his gun now?
Well the point of this interaction is really not to debate him (everyone in the crowd is against him by the way), but I admire how in America, people practices their first amendment - freedom of speech - so freely. I truly admire the fact that he is there, on his own, supporting a cause that he believes in. As a matter of fact, I noticed this pretty much everywhere in DC.
There are people wearing t-shirts and badges supporting black lives matter, women's rights, march of science, LGBTQ etc almost about everything. Perhaps DC is THE place to make a statement. This is the capital of the United States, so this is the place to get your voices heard.
DC is a great place to get around. Public transportation is cheap, reliable, clean and safe. It would have been impossible to visit 9 museums without the USD1 circulator bus, I'm telling you!
I am a big fan when it comes to visiting museums to different countries that I have been to. I highly believe that museums is one of the best places to go if you want to learn about the history and culture of the place, see the rare exhibits and will take home some worth it souvenirs.
The museums in DC are so awesome and interactive. There are performances, local entrepreneurs, book signing, freebies, photo-op and I got goosebumps most of the times seeing and reading about the exhibits. The Smithsonian affiliate museums are free for entry (YAAAS!) while other museums like the Spy Museum, Newseum etc is about USD25 for adult ticket, each.
The following is a short review of the museums that I went.
You can skip this boring part if you'd like and just scroll through the photos.
1. Natural History Museum
This is the first museum we went to, the reason being because of the Night at the Museum movie! We clearly did not do our research because only some scenes are shot here while majority of the movie is shot at the museum in New York. It was a big museum, packed with people and to be honest we really went through the floor quiet fast. We did not have much time on the day but this museum has a couple of memorable things that we saw.
There was a section about Ocean and at the end of the exhibit is the section on the plastic ocean and one thing I love is this plastic sculpture:
Then we sneaked in the early humans, saw the wax figure head of our ancestors and the Neanderthal looked so real and so close to the modern human now.. I was reading about it that they existed in the Northern Europe for some time to be parallel with modern humans from Africa.
They mated with modern humans and become modern Europeans now - or any humans resembling neanderthals have big, strong nose (to warm up the cold air) and big eyebrow bone (to protect the eyes from strong wind). While we asians are the modern humans with tiny nose and almost flat eyebrow bones.
In the mummy exhibit I saw my first bull mummy. This animal is to be the vessel for the kings in the afterlife.
2. American Indian Museum
Then MJ was the one who suggested this native american museum next. It was a big building (let's face it, all the museums in DC is BIG) and at the centre of the building is a free space/stage for the performances of the natives and games and the selling of local products.
It was a Cherokee festival. I have to say I have a very little knowledge about native americans,
except for Pocahontas.
This museum is great at educating the public about the stories, and struggles of the natives when the white settlers and colonists came to America. It was very static and involves A LOT of reading but the visuals on display are aesthetically pleasing.
The natives came through the Inca road, from the south america and I noticed the fish hook on display is very similar to the 'Makau' fish hook in Hawai'i. This is the hook that the demi-god Maui used in Moana, if you get what I mean. Hawai'i is not that far to south america. They must have voyaged there too and brought this technology with them.
3. National Gallery of Art
There are two buildings, the West and East and they are connected by an underground tunnel too if you wish to stay indoor. They have an extensive collection of masterpieces, sculptures and my favourite part is the beautiful indoor garden at the rotunda. All the indoor cafes are designed to feel like you are in a garden so the smell of (real) flower teased your senses and the array of colours is like a dessert to your eye.
I love this place so much but it was so big that I did not have the time to see it all.
One thing that to me is controversial is the work of this photographer, Sally Mann. She created her photographs using the antique cameras from the early 1900s, the kind where you duck under a cloth to take the picture.
https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-sally-mann-s-photographs-children-viewers-uncomfortable
“These are not my children; they are figures on a silvery paper slivered out of time,”
So basically she is known for her work with her nude children. She directed her kids to be nude in front of the camera for her, sometimes for 7-8 times to get the perfect shot (imagine the use of a vintage camera like that requires the subject to stay still for.. a long time).
She showed the world that nudity is comfortable in her family. But I am confused why would a mother makes money and sells nude photos of her children?
3. Holocaust Memorial Museum
Well in this museum, they have one of the best exhibit I have ever seen. There was a boy, named Daniel and he wrote a diary about the changes he experienced during the Holocaust time. The exhibit took us through a journey in his fancy house, his family, to a place where they got relocated and eventually into the concentration camp.
It was so creative that his small pieces of 'Dear Diary' notes can be found in every room and small instructions like look under the bed for the makeshift toys that we made with what we had in the relocation house.
There was a big theatre showing documentaries of Holocaust, and I cried during the first 1 minute of the film of course.
There was a section dedicated for the crimes against humanity during the violent regime of President Bashar Assad in Syria. Thousands of Syrians were murdered and 'disappeared' who were against him and the exhibit showed a story of one of the hostage who actually came to this museum himself with evidences, with the intention of letting the public know what has happened.
He carried with him pieces of clothes from a shirt which has names of the people being hostage. The names were written using blood and dust. It was disturbing but the world has to know, and that not all of the victimes managed to come out alive at that time.
4. National Air and Space Museum
I could spend all day in this museum, there is so much to see! It was about aviation and space exploration, space race.
No words can explain how incredible this place is, so you have to check this out if you are in DC.
Massive planes, satellites, rockets and the astronaut's cockpit are all hanging in the museum. There are cinema, 3D experience, all sorts of things goin on at the museum. Easily this is the best museum in DC!
5. American History Museum
We underestimated this museum at first, because we thought 'meh.. we've seen so much on TV already'. But we were damn wrong! When we got in, we were just drawn to everything - all the galleries showed the mini corners of the the American history, culture and lifestyle. I went here twice actually.
The first time it was already late but me and Nesha bought the 3D movie called the National Park Adventure (USD9) where it took us on a journey on the three big parks in the US: Yellowstone, Yosemite and Grand Canyon. It was a story of a family of thrill-seekers, rock climbers that took a road trip to these national parks.
The second time I went I got to see more of the galleries (still, the museum was so big I did not finish all of it) such as the motor industry, money, war, etc. One thing that stays with me is the story of the Japanese-American in America during World War 2.
I never knew that they are being relocated into a desert area due to the paranoid for spies by the Japanese army. Some even describe this to be similar to the concentration camp..
6. National Archives
They are very strict in here, no photo taking is allowed. I got to see the original Bill of Rights, The Amendments etc and they are being placed in a 24K gold frame with titanium plate to prevent from damaging the papers. Flash light from camera/phone can deteriorate the papers too hence the main rotunda (where they display the original documents from the founding fathers are dimly lit).
7. US Congress
We came here as a group and unfortunately we only have 1-2 hour to spend here as we had a full schedule ahead. Me, Fatin and Don thought that it is worth it to quickly head to the Library of Congress through the underground tunnel.
8. Library of Congress
This must be the prettiest place, the inside is all marble I believe and the library houses books for the use of the congress.
Now this is a long piece of blog, and again, I enjoyed DC very much because of the accessibility, the free museums!, safety, the people, the significance of it being the capital of the United States and where a whole lot of movies are filmed at.
Next is I will try to upload more photos from the museums into the Gallery section soon. Stay tuned!
