USA: the party goes on

Here I am, once again, and I'm taking a flying start.
Let's start the tour with the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.

Hello 'Discovery'.
The thing is truly huge, much larger then it seems on this photograph.
Do you guys see all the different little panels? Apparently every single one of them has a unique form. Not two of them are the same.

 I say "Jump!" You say "How high?"
Felix Baumgartner did 128,100 feet, about 39 kilometers, and he did it in this little thing.

After culture comes sports.
I joined the active side of life and went kayaking on the lake besides the house. (Yes, that's actually me. Thanks for the picture, mom.)

When it rains it pours.
And in Great Falls it does pour.
They're not the Niagara Falls, but these falls are amazing nonetheless. And this little - cough, cough - man on the right made sure the territory was safe from up high.



Just around the corner on the way to a little piece of heaven (also know as the Botanical Gardens) you have - not no the White House - the Capitol. You could say it's a kind of city hall... and it really makes someone feel small... The little white dot on the steps below, that's supposed to be me (picture on the right).

Now that little piece of heaven I was talking about: the Botanical Gardens. Truly amazing. Tropical plants, medical plants, jungle plants, herbs, ... The one on the right is one of my personal favourites: the red hibiscus.

 


 Of course, when you're in Washington, you have to pay at least a little respect to the big man himself. Mount Vernon is the perfect place to do that (a.k.a. the home of mister George Washington.)







And with that I'm wrapping up for today.
See you around!

Party in the USA

Good evening ladies and gentlemen....

I've left Belgium about a week ago, 3.30 p.m. on July 20th.
about 24 hours later me and my family were settled in Virginia, just outside Washington D.C., which means District of Columbia (not 'da capo').
Don't get this wrong: you have the District of Columbia (the state), which consists of Washington, the capital city, and then you have Washington (another state). Washington D.C. is NOT a part of the state Washington.
The first one is to be found on the east coast, the latter on the west coast.

Quite handy to know when you download the maps onto your gps.
We didn't at first and our gps went nuts.
But we got there.

Day 1 - Washington D.C.: the roadtrip.
Between 4 and 7.30 p.m. you can't park in most of the streets in Washington.

This is because the parking lane is then used as a regular driving lane. So we didn't, we drove around instead.




First cultural stop: the National Archives. Too bad for us, we arrived at closing time. Just to give you an idea on how big thing here usually are: the main door of the archives.
Pretty big, me thinks...

First actual stop: Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. (Quite a mouthful, don't you think?)
Also know as the museum from the 'night at the museum'-movies. Featuring in front of the elephant in the center of the museum is my 'little sister.





Extremely impressive: Arlington Cemetery. This includes not only miles and miles of military graves, but also the house of the stepson of the one and only chief himself: Washington.
One of the graves is the grave for the unknown soldiers. This on is guarded 24/7, every single day of the year, by the 3rd U.S. Infantry regiment. The changing of the guard happens every hour, every half hour during summer. The ritual that is use for the changing is an event on it's own. If you're ever there, be sure to watch it.
Also: this is where all the Kennedy's are burried.

We also went to visit the Museum for Indian-American History.  The top floor was quite interesting, the rest of them not so much. If you know that there are for floors... I guess you could say I wouldn't actually recommend it, but if it's in your field of interests go ahead.

Funny facts:
- everywhere you go you see chipmunks, squirrels and hundreds of little brown birds.
- Americans don't know 'small'. Building with 20 to 30 floors aren't unusual. Note: skyscrapers aren't allowed. Yeah, I guess when you compare with let's say New York, then Washington has no skyscrapers. At least not in the American sense of the word.
- Everywhere you look are threes and grass. Despite the huge building, there's way more nature in the city then there is to be found in Belgium.

That's it for today.
I'll keep you posted!

Love you guys!!!