Washington DC
13 May 2018I’m at the airport about to head back to Cinci after a couple of days in the US capital.
It was a good trip, though I almost missed my flight thanks to leaving a bag at security and only realising when boarding had already started. The 1 km run to security and back while wearing boots and wondering if I was going to make it got my heart rate up!
The moment I left the airport in DC a motorcade stopped all the traffic which I guess is a fairly regular occurrence here.
On Friday night I walked about 8 km from my hotel past the Marine Corps memorial, around Arlington national cemetery (you’ve probably seen this in movies rows and rows of white tombstones), across into DC, to the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument, north to the White House, past the treasury and to a local pub for a nightcap. It’s crazy how close all these attractions are. While I was outside the White House a guy next to me said to his mate, not too quietly, “I think I see Donald standing at the window in his underwear, crying” at which point I burst out laughing.
The big green area between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington monument is called the National Mall extends even further east to the US capitol building. Its surrounded by museums, monuments, memorials and other federal buildings.
On Saturday I caught the Metro and started at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum which someone from work recommended, it was filled with really cool stuff. There was also a fighter jet simulator there which would roll upside down and everything, it was pretty great! It was a short run but I think I’d have made myself sick if it was too much longer.
The national art gallery was on the other side of national mall, so I went there next. There was lots of … art. I appreciated a few things but I can only handle so many portraits of stuffy old white dudes. The oldest painting I saw was from 1247, and there were loads of pretty old sculptures. There was a painting by da Vinci and more recent names I know like Andy Warhol.
From there it was a short walk to the United States Capitol, which is the most impressive building around. I was able to go inside the rotunda, but the full tours were all booked out.
The Library of Congress is reachable from the Capitol via a tunnel, so I went there next - another super impressive building. Jefferson was apparently a big reader and his collection of books was there, they weren’t all dated but some were super old.
Another Metro ride home and a run closed out Saturday. Managed 9km at just over 12 km/h (with a few stops for stretching and photos) despite the temperature sitting at around 30°C. Theodore Roosevelt Island was really nice.
