Hi all!
I had such a good sleep last night. Probably the best I've had whilst here!
This morning I got up at 8, got ready and set off. My first stop was to go and see the White House. I had my fingers crossed because I wasn't sure if it would be barricaded off in preparation for next week's inauguration, but luckily I was only half right. The north side was blocked off due to seating and barricades, but I was able to go and see through the fence at the south end. I stood for a while and took it in and it was lovely as today was fairly sunny so I got to enjoy the sunshine too. I'm still not entirely sure if tourists can go inside the White House, but you certainly can't at the moment.
I then went to the White House Visitor Centre. This, like many other attractions in DC, was free. It's fantastic here as you can learn and see so much without paying a cent. Like everywhere else here it required a security scan too.
I spent about 45 minutes here and the highlights for me were the beautiful building itself and a video about what life inside the house was like, hosted by Barak and Michelle Obama. I'm not ashamed to admit I teared up a tiny bit while watching. Both of them are so amazing and inspirational, and truth be told I'm a bit scared for what is to come as of next week.
The construction of the White House began in the late 1700s. George Washington never lived in it, the first president to reside in the White House was John Adams who moved in on the 1st of November, 1800. However the interior was unfinished. During the war of 1812, the British burned quite a lot of the White House down, and apparently in parts of the building today you can still see the burn marks. The whole complex including President's Park is 64 acres in size.
I'm here at an interesting time because in just nine days time, President Obama will be moving out and the then President Elect Trump will be inaugurated and move in. There was a part of the exhibition about this process and it was pretty special reading that knowing that it will all be happening next week. Apparently at 9.30am on Inauguration Day the outgoing family pack up and leave, and at 5pm that same day the new president and First Lady return there from the parade. I saw photos of George W Bush's inauguration parade and Obama's first day in the house.
On his second night in the house, John Adams wrote "may none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof". He's probably turning in his grave as a result of the behaviour of a few past presidents, and let's be honest, the past and upcoming behaviour of the new one....!
Inside the White House there is a pool, movie theatre, bowling alley and tennis court. In 1902 the west wing was built and was allocated for staff and the Oval Office of the president. This meant that the family living there now had the whole second floor as a living space. Before that they had to share it with staff. It must be really strange living in the same building in which you work!
"We Didn't Start the Fire" by Billy Joel began on loop in my head when I started reading about President Eisenhower sending troops to Little Rock in Arkansas to desegregate schools. I swear knowing all the lyrics is a curse sometimes!!
Reading about life inside the house was really interesting. It sounds like those who have lived there felt really privileged to, and Michelle Obama talked in the video about how she constantly thinks of all the decisions and events that have happened in the house. It must be really strange and emotional after eight years to just pack up and leave.
I then walked in more sunshine (no coat required today - it was 11 degrees Celsius!) and arrived at the National Archives Building. I recognised it immediately from the movie 'National Treasure'. It was opened in the 1930s and has been home to the Declaration of Independence since 1952.
I got goosebumps walking in because I was so excited to see the Declaration, and as a result I headed straight upstairs to the rotunda it's located in. No photos in the whole building, but I actually liked it as I really got to enjoy the moment. On my way into the rotunda I saw the queueing system set up for a busier time, with waiting time indications along the way. I bypassed them all and enjoyed the whole room with just five other people.
Three important documents are housed in the rotunda - the Declaration of Independence, the American constitution and the Bill of Rights. I was in awe staring at them. You could read the Bill of Rights and the constitution, but the Declaration is unfortunately quite faded. I could read parts of it and clearly identify John Hancock's gigantic signature! But 'National Treasure' definitely lied when they showed Nicholas Cage able to read it and crack the code. It was amazing to stand there and think that this same piece of paper was the original from over 240 years ago!!
It's no wonder the Declaration is faded. Though it was adopted on the 4th of July 1776, it wasn't signed until August the 2nd. After that time it was taken around a fair bit to different colonies. In 1812 it was hidden during the war, and then again after the attack on Pearl Harbour. I was excited to see a depiction of a copy of it being read from the balcony of the Boston State House in 1776. Been there!!!
The Constitution was a framework for the new form of government (congress etc). Since 1789, 5000 bills about amendments to it have been submitted and only 27 of them ratified.
The Bill of Rights stated the ten rights of Americans. The exhibition I visited at the end downstairs was all about rights and the struggles that African Americans, women and immigrants went through to get theirs. It wasn't until 1865 that slavery was abolished in DC. Interesting that the USA broke away from Britain due to being taxed without representation and a lack of freedom, yet so many still lacked both of these for a very long time afterward. One of the four copies of the Magna Carta was also in this room!
I went to the public vaults inside the archives and read about all different documentation and investigations that have taken place, such as the assassinations of JFK and Abraham Lincoln, UFO sightings, telegrams sent etc.
Next I caught the metro to Arlington Cemetery and paid it a quick visit. Unfortunately I had limited time, but I was taken aback but the huge size of the place and how many graves there were. I saw JFK and Jacqui's graves.
My final stop of the day was the Pentagon. While researching this trip in August/September, I discovered that if you booked at least a couple of months in advance you could actually tour the Pentagon. I applied to visit and never heard back so thought I hadn't been approved, however yesterday I got an email confirming my visit today at 3pm, so off I went!
I had a look at the September 11 memorial beforehand. 184 people died here on September 11 when an American Airlines plane was flown into the edge of the building. 125 people in the Pentagon and 59 on board the flight. The memorial was arranged in chronological order of the years in which the victims were born. I was shocked to see my year of birth, 1992, on the memorial. I was just 8 years old when the attacks occurred.
Then it was time for my tour. The officer checking my passport for my entry stamp into the USA had a great old laugh at me taking literally five minutes to find it amongst the dozens of stamps in my passport. "You're well travelled!" he laughed. I explained that most of them were from my gap year and then he took great interest in reading where all of them were for with me.
After a security screening I was sent to sit in a room where I waited for the tour to start. Now obviously no photos were allowed, and we also had to turn off all electronic devices. Our guide told us if they caught us using one we would never see it again. Fair enough too!
26,000 people work in the Pentagon, 14,000 of them are officers. It was built in the 1940s in just 16 months when it was realised it was inevitable that the US would become involved in WWII. Prior to this, the army, navy etc were located in 17 disjointed buildings scattered around DC, making communications really tricky.
The building wasn't renovated after its completion until 1995, and renovations weren't complete until 2011. It was interesting walking between different rings and parts of the building. Apparently you could lie the Empire State Building flat on the ground from one end to the other, and the Pentagon is so massive that it wouldn't reach to the other side!
We went to a 9/11 memorial inside the Pentagon, and I found out here that the 8 year old that passed away was a girl called Zoe Falkenberger who was travelling with her parents and 3 year old sister on their way to Australia.
Our guide told us that the plane that hit the Pentagon hit a side of the building that fortunately had been renovated already and had much stronger structures, meaning the plane only penetrated three rings of the building. It was said if it had hit another side it may have wiped out many more. The section it hit was just five days away from properly reopening after renovations. So just five days later, 6000 people would have been working in this section, compared to the 800-1000 working there on September 11. Still terribly sad obviously, but I guess at least 5000 other people weren't in that section just yet.
The tour finished and I caught the metro back to Maria and Eric's. I crossed back over from Virginia to DC over a bridge and a plane flew so close to us. Reagan Airport is really close to the city here!!
Now I'm chilling at Maria's and we will go out for dinner later on.
Love to all
Claire
Xoxox
No comments:
Post a Comment