So Angela was gone most of the time during the day so I was left on my own to find things to do. I felt like Curious George during one of his adventures exploring the city. So here is Jenner's visit to the big city.
Angela and I hit some of the main memorials on our outing together but there was a few we didn't get to see together so I went to visit them myself. I have previously been to D.C. but it has been many years since that trip. Since then the new Martin Luther King Jr. memorial had been built. The memorial was very neat and portrayed his contribution to stand out from the crowd just as he did during the civil rights movement.
I decided to take the trip to Arlington National Cemetery because I was unable to do so the last time I visited D.C. It was solemn ground to walk through. While stopping by the sites of some of the presidents and the tomb of the unknown solider I heard not once but three times the 21 gun salute in the distance as they laid to rest someone who served our country. It was humbling to see the rows of graves and it put into perspective the lives that were lost fighting to keep our country free and the price that was paid to keep it free. I gained a new appreciation for our servicemen.
I had the chance to visit many museums. I went to the Shakespeare Folger library which was very interesting to learn how Shakespeare came to the public through the Folger Family who collected Shakespeare books. For instance, the Folgers would go to estates across the world who were struggling and selling off items to keep their estate buying up all their old copies of Shakespeare. Think Downton Abbey. They came across in there buying sprees a number of "new" Shakespeare plays contained in these books that were previously unknown like Hamlet. Very fun to learn about. I also was able to tour the stage for their Shakespeare plays that they put on.
I also went to the Holocaust Memorial Museum. It really just gets to you about the horrors those people faced and to the extent. One exhibit that really hit me was a collection of shoes. It was shoes that were collected from one of the camps. The vast pile spoke volumes making one think that all those shoes once belonged to a pair of feet that never saw those shoes again.
It was the perfect time to go because few people were visiting D.C. so, I often found myself exploring the museums with little interruption from anybody. It was rather fun being able to play around with exhibits with nobody else around or pick any seat in the viewing area.
My favorite museum that I went to was the Newseum. It was so cool! It had one of the largest pieces of the Berlin wall, a fun exhibit on the mob, Newspapers from every year from the last century and an exhibit on Anchorman. "What is news? Love, peace, hate,life,freedom, and justice. Journalism is the first rough draft of history."
The museum had some powerful exhibits about 9/11. They had the twisted spire from the tower but what really hit me was some phones that they had. The phones came from the wreckage and the exhibit explained the heartache as they sifted through the rubble that phones around the area rang for weeks as loved ones tried to reach someone who was not going to answer.
Since again I was one of the few people that were there that day I also got a few special perks. One of workers should me a behind the scenes look of a news studio that was there where they often shoot various shows including meet the press, and the daily show on occasion. I was also able to play around with the new media center. It was thought provoking to think about how new media such as Facebook,twitter,etc has shaped and changed the news. "Information is liberty."
The National Zoo was just up the street from our hotel so one day I decided to mosey my way over there because I LOVE the zoo. In fact I go to the Zoo for my birthday every year. So I was excited! There was only one problem....I couldn't find the animals! I walked around for 20 minutes not seeing one animal but rather seeing the depressing sign that the animals were not there due to the cold weather. After my 20 minutes walk of sadness I found the elephants! Yay! Animals! After my discovery of the elephants I also found the panda exhibit. The pandas were quite fun and frankly looked quite cuddly. Its not wonder that everybody loves pandas! However, after my visit with the pandas I left the zoo because I couldn't take any more rejection signs that the animals were not there and I wanted to leave the zoo on a high note.
Overall Jenner's adventure to the big city was quite a success.
