Washington Diaries – City of Beautiful Blossoms and Majestic Monuments (Day 1)

Day 1 – First page of Washington Diaries

There are some cities in the world which everyone wants to see at least once. No matter who you are and where you are from you will want to be there for a single time..at least as a transit place during your air travel. And for all of us, those cities will always change. I still remember the day when I got really sad as my parents declined me from going a school tour( we called it as excursion) and the destination of the tour was Zoo in Thiruvananthapuram. My dad( prefer to call as Achan itself) assured that he will take me over there another time but never happened :). But then the cities on the wish list changed from Thiruvananthapuram to Delhi… Ponmudi to Manali and then from Delhi to Paris …. Manali to Manhattan and so on … And there was one city which I have seen a numerous number of times in Hollywood movies, the most secured…the most protected city of the world…Washington. The first time I came to know about the city was during the world trade center attacks. From then in almost all of the Hollywood movies I watched, the city played a pivotal roles.

There is something called the Cherry Blossom festival which will happen once in every year in the heart of Washington city. Tourists from all over the world will pour into the city to have a view of the beautiful pink cherry blossoms. The peak of the blossom will be on the April month and mostly in the mid of the month. We too planned to have view of the wonderful city with the beautiful blossoms. And this was the first long trip for me and my dear after setting the foot on US: P … We were eight people. We rented a bulky Chevy Suburban for the trip…a pretty damn big vehicle with a v8 heart. Everything was planned. Hotels were reserved… Parking was booked.. Cameras were charged … Bags were packed… and the accelerator was pushed.. We had experienced drivers with us for this 150 mile trip 🙂 … And on a Saturday morning 8 am, the journey to the most secured city of the world.

The roads of America are really great. The speed of 80 -90 miles/hr was just normal. We leashed out the black Chevy monster’s potential in those roads and whoah!!! … that must have been bloody beautiful for the drivers. We reached the city outskirts by around 12 and the first sight which indicates that you are nearing the lap of the city is the giant Washington Monument which was built for honoring the president George Washington. As we neared the city, the traffic started showing its mighty. The city was way too crowded with the tourists who came over to see the beautiful cherry blossoms. Once we reached into the heart of the city, the next challenge was to find the parking spot which we have reserved. But with the help of all the modern apps and iPhone’s we were able to spot the place without much trouble. We parked our vehicle and then we started the walk … A long walk of 12kms for the day through the hearty of city and bustles of tourists..and know what..it was beautiful. Like a beautiful white lady with pink flowers on her curly hair….

On the Day 1, we planned to visit the Space museum, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Second World War memorial and Einstein Memorial. And frankly speaking that was a hell a lot of travel and walking. Fortunately the National space museum was just a couple of steps from our parking space. We walked towards the museum and before going there I read a lot about it and I was really looking forward to see the Saturn V, which carried mankind to Moon and a lot of other legendary milestones of human endeavors into space. And to say it was definitely a feast for any space lover. It might not be as big as Kennedy space museum in Florida but really a worth one. Saturn V is the real big attraction of this museum and the first flight from Wright Brothers is another major attraction. I also got a chance to view the rock we bought back from moon and also the soil samples. I would say this museum is a must visit for any science enthusiast or any kid who have an interest in Space science. Unfortunately due to our tight schedule, I was not able to visit the museum in full. But as always I believe in leaving something behind to come back. By noon we moved out of the museum and walked towards Washington monument.

The walk to Washington monument was really interesting. All roads were flooded with tourists and tourists means colors..I was enjoying the colorful Washington streets and the beautiful ladies too 🙂 …We passed Smithsonian museum and the monument appeared to be closer. And after a while of walking we reached the place where we can see the monument as a whole. The monument was constructed in memorial to George Washington during 1850’s. My wife has pointed out the chance of getting inside the monument and going into the top. Since our fellow companions doesn’t have much interest on that we left it . But I am damn sure that would be the first in my list for the next time. We passed monument and walked towards Second World War Memorial. The construction of memorial is really beautiful. I have put the pictures below. The name of each state in United States was etched on the stones and two big entrances were etched with Pacific and Atlantic on them pointing to the two oceans where the battle was fought on its at most verocioity. We spend some beautiful time over there. Watched some cool tourist people…Selfie stick guys…blondes..kids… We clicked some beautiful pics of us and walked towards Lincoln memorial.

Abraham Lincoln. The one and only unique president in American history. Lincoln memorial stands on the city on all its proud…right opposite to Washington monument…The Capitol Center…Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial all are on the same line. It reminded me of our beloved Delhi where the India Gate..Rashtrapathi Bhavan all stands on same line. Lincoln memorial was way too crowded. Went inside the memorial and saw the big statue of Lincoln on his chair. The greatness of the statue is awesome. You have to see to feel it. On the corner of memorial, the beautiful setting sun has created a photographer’s dream light. I clicked a couple of pics of cutie. From the memorial, the view of monument is awesome. I missed the pond in between which would have a real view of the monument reflecting on the water. The pond was dried for repairing purposes. After the memorial we walked back to our parking spot. All this time Naren was leading us through all the busy streets of Washington to our destinations. We walked ..walked and walked and when we reached our car…all of us were exhausted..exhausted to core..We walked nearly 15 miles for the day all over…but I would say it was beautiful. A great experience. We took our car and moved to hotel…Kudos to Rahul who was still driving after the exhausting day. …

That night stay was more than horrible. We made a mistake there. We have chosen a hotel outside the city limits. But the stay turned to be a nightmare. Anyway I don’t want to go into the details of this. Somehow the sleep came in and the day ended..