Around the States in Ninety Days: Day 72

Washington, I want to keep you in my pocket!

This is such a cute clean tidy little town I could eat it up. Granted, it has some rather Soviet looking bits and some of the unfriendliest people I've come across yet but we'll gloss over that.

I had a great day wandering around the National Mall though the day did not go to plan at any stage (yes, I make plans sometimes!) I had intended to breeze through the Air and Space Smithsonian, then see some sculptures and gardens, a couple of dinosaurs, say hi to Lincoln and the Vietnam Vets and maybe check out MLK's controversial memorial.

Can you see the stands ready for the inauguration?

Instead, I walked into the Air and Space Smithsonian Museum just in time to join what should have been a 90 minute tour around some of the highlights. What started out as a group of about 40 people eventually dwindled down to a solid five plus the occasional temporary hanger-on by the time we'd hit the 2h mark. It was such a great tour though! I learned about the Wright brothers, about Lindbergh, Sputnik and, most importantly, I finally had a decent explanation for the lunar landing operation! I had never understood which bits drive the astronauts, how they get back to Earth, why it all looks so different by the time it does get back and whether any of it is left behind. Now I know. In fact, I might go so far as say that I'd confidently be able to explain it to another human being (though probably not without some visual aids)

A Wright brother taking off for first time (the other one watching from the beach)

On this plane

Neil Armstrong took a piece of the Wright brothers' plane to the moon

This guy flew across the States in 49 days sponsored by Vin Fiz , a new grape juice

This is why they sponsored him - as he flew over towns reading signs to check he was going the right way they were getting great advertising!

Spirit of St Louis, first plane to cross the Atlantic

Can you see the little bits that the souvenir collectors cut out of the back of the plane to sell?

Amelia Earhart's plane had my initials!

A Top Gun pilot who was signing books

Sputnik

One of the capsules astronauts returned to Earth in

The bottom that's been all burnt against the atmosphere

Inside a very cramped capsule

To scale model of rocket going to moon - only tiny top bit has people in it

American (failed) attempt at Sputnik

Lunar landing kit!

This yellow handle is what Neil Armstrong pulled to deploy the camera to film him taking the first steps

Astronaut food! Top middle - brownie!

Space sodas (apparently too foamy to be nice, see below)

Seatbelt, leg restraints, tube for liquids, gloves

My house as seen from space!

I saw this little girl dragginga long a teddy cat on a ribbon around its neck

By the time I'd spent three hours in the first museum I had to prioritise the rest and decided to head straight for the Martin Luther King memorial. I was especially keen to see a controversial inscription I have been hearing about on the radio. In a speech in Atlanta MLK said

"If you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter." However, to keep it punchy on the memorial they've only inscribed

"I was a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness." What I heard on the radio was that his family has taken offence at the abridged inscription (one of many quotes on the site) because worded thus it makes him seem arrogant. They went on to explain that the family have insisted that this be changed or removed, which is going to cost nearly a million dollars. I went along with the outrage that the reporter expressed, agreeing that MLK himself would be embarrassed to see money wasted on such a thing.

HOWEVER - now that I have actually been there I have completely changed my opinion. I went thinking I would struggle to find this quote, that it would be buried among the hundreds of other great things he said. It's not. It's right there, prominently carved in huge letters in his side.

I completely agree with the family that this need to be changed, it does seem arrogant and was a stupid editing decision (though goodness knows how it got that far!)

On my way to see Lincoln I walked through the Korean War Memorial and I found it really moving. It's a war I know nothing about and I orginally had no interest in its memorial but there was something about those really scared looking soldiers that really got to me. When I post photos this may become clearer but in case you are not familiar with this memorial it features lifesize metal reproductions of soldiers in rain wearing ponchos and looking rather miserable.

Lincoln was suitably impressive, so was the Washington Monument (which, incidentally, is closed to visitors following a big earthquake in 2011 - I never heard of this!)

The Vietnam Memorial is terribly sad just because of the sheer volume of names inscribed, nearly 60,000 I was told.

I met a Park Ranger (all these memorials are run by the National Park Service) and I asked him if he knew anyone whose name was on the wall.

He told me that his three uncles who fought in Vietnam all returned safely but that he was sure they would recognise many of the names. When I asked him what he remembered of the war he told me that his uncle Mike used to send him and his brother chewing gum in the mail. He hadn't given it much thought in over 40 years but we basically worked out that someone (the government/military?) was sending chewing gum out to the soldiers from the US to Vietnam (either in their ration packs or to be bought at the post exchange) and that his uncle Mike had been so excited by this that he had decided to share it with his nephews (then aged around 6) by sending it back to the US. He had been a thrifty guy so, rather than send them a stick each, he would rip one stick in half and post it to his sister with instructions to give one piece to each boy. They were of course delighted to receive the gum, even if it was only good for a couple of chews.

After all the memorials I got caught in a huge downpour (through which I admired the National Christmas Tree) so I headed back to my hostel - all on foot! A walkable town, what a joy.

I've decided I've had it with cities - just the thought of parking in Philadelphia is filling me with dread so I have decided to head inland and do some more outdoorsy stuff (maybe a spot of hiking!)

Other things I saw today