26 March 2012

A trip to 'DC

I made a little trip to Washington DC with Arjun yesterday. Had a great time sightseeing even though rain (a soft spray, more or less) played spoilsport and didn't let up even for five minutes.
We made it by around 12 noon from Philly and were greeted by the wet weather. Finding our way around took a little while, but we managed okay thanks to Google Maps. God bless technology; what would we do without it!

We had booked a open-top bus tour that let us hop on and off as we liked, so things were easier once we found the bus itself. We visited the Madame Tussaud's wax museum, which was awesome, the 'Great' Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, the cherry blossoms at tidal lake, and a spot or two more. This may not sound like much, but we hardly had the time for more. We finished dinner just in time for our bus back at 8 P.M.
Washington DC is a city full of history. Its everywhere. Literally! There is so much to see and appreciate that you must spend atleast full two days to do it any reasonable justice.
Visiting the Air and Space was a dream come true. Once inside, I and Arjun went about exploring the place each on our own. I walked around camera in hand and my mouth practically hanging open half the time! I just couldn't take it all in all at once. My knees wanted to give away when I stood staring at the Hubble. I gasped when I sighted the F104 Starfighter, the Apollo LEM, an A4 Skyhawk complete with an arresting hook, machine gun, and a load of bombs. MQ9 Reaper took my breath away, and so did several of the prop-driven aircraft. I got goosebumps for real. I could spend days exploring the whole of it, but we had to leave since we had just one day for everything.
Next were the cherry blossoms. They weren't at their best in the wet weather but were still quite charming. Its the 100th anniversary of cherry blossoms, we were told. Wind blew away showers of while n pink and white petals. It was sublime. I managed a few shots in the drizzle while wiping off my lens often. I'd have preferred a less than wet evening with warm light from the setting sun and clear blue skies to photograph the flower trees and the tall Washington monument which was close-by.
I also missed the National Mall (maybe I didn't get the name right here but I'm too lazy to look it up); it would've been glorious to shoot its stone columns and fountains.
Here are some shots from the trip. To see all the pictures, please visit my Picasa gallery here.

Thanks for reading,
Aashish.

Tour Bus
Arjun shaking hands with... a former president.

Madonna
Yeah, I know! :-D ;-)
Cap'n J Sparrow
Yours Truly, with the Cap'n.
Rocketdyne
A4 Skyhawk
X15 (or X11, I'm not sure which) rocket plane.
Washington Monument as seen from cherry blossoms
Cherry Blossoms. 





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