Memorial Day Weekend in Washington, DC

May 26, 2008

So I ventured out of my hole in the ground to head into DC to check out what’s going on with the Memorial Day festivities yesterday. There’s a bunch of new things happening in the city, ranging from the opening of the National Crime & Punishment Museum, there was a block party for the Washington Mystics home opener, the grand opening of the much anticipated exhibit Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Kabul, and lastly perhaps one of the two biggest events of the day: Rolling Thunder.

I had never seen Rolling Thunder and so I thought I would check it out. It’s thousands of bikers who support the troops and who want the government to pressure other countries to return any POW/MIAs that may still be out there from the many wars that the US has fought. Let me tell you, aside from inhaling all that gas from all the motorcycles racing by down Constitution Avenue, it was a very moving sight. There weren’t that many people lined up along the street that I could see - not like a typical parade, but then again, I don’t consider this a parade…more like a caravan or rally. It’s not something you “celebrate” but brings awareness to.

Rolling Thunder lasts a few hours. After about 1-2 hours of watching these motorcycles go by (and I’m not even sure WHY I stayed that long - they all looked the same and there wasn’t anything really different about ‘em), I wandered over to the Sculpture Garden to see what was going on. They had converted the ice rink to a fountain and there were people just lying around, sunbathing, or just hanging out on the nice sunny day. It’s funny to see the ducks just wading around in the pool and you can see the kids sitting on the edge of the fountain and dipping their feet into the water or splashing it for no reason.

Next up was the Afghanistan exhibit at the National Gallery of Art (East Building). I wandered in around 1-2pm and there wasn’t really a line. There was a small line forming at the entrance of the exhibit on the second floor but that moved relatively quickly. The exhibit itself is small. You cannot take any pictures but it is marvelous inside. There are a lot of artifacts there that look to be in pristine shape, absent of being whole, but it was wonderful - and you didn’t have to pay to go see it! I’d recommend checking it out. I think they’re in town until September 2008.

Walked around a little bit more along the National Mall - I seem to do that a lot these days…ate lunch at the National Air & Space Museum before heading over to the National Museum of the American Indian. This is a pretty cool museum in terms of how they constructed it, but inside, I didn’t find it that interesting. It seems like the building itself is huge, but the exhibits are small. I probably would not go back to that one.

So after a short-lived visit to the Indian museum, I walked towards the capitol and stopped by the Smithsonian Botanical Garden. They’re having this whole fix about being green and how you can be more green. The garden is really nice and they have a greenhouse inside that you can check out the different plants. It’s small - probably nothing like the National Arboretum, but it’s a nice stroll on a sunny day.

Took a walk further east towards the capitol to see if I could check out the concert area for the night’s National Memorial Day Concert but of course they have it blocked off. I turned around and headed to the L’Enfant Plaza metro stop because it was getting late and I needed to get home. Besides, I was starting to get a wicked headache from all the sun (and later found out that I’m a little sunburnt!). I posted my pictures of Rolling Thunder online here. Check them out.

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Posted in Pictures, Sightseeing