Corner of Whatever

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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Pictures, Sightseeing Afghanistan exhibit, National Gallery of Art, Rolling Thunder, Smithsonian, Washington DC

So Washington, DC’s newest attraction opened up yesterday to the general public. The National Crime & Punishment Museum is located right in the heart of downtown near the Verizon Center and quite convenient to get to via the Metro system. It’s a good museum, but when I found out where it was, I would probably have passed right by it because not only are they doing construction near by, it really blends into the buildings and you might not notice it unless you see the big banner hanging down the side of the building. It’s right next to Rosa Mexicano and across the street from the Hotel Monaco and the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery.

So I walk into the Crime & Punishment Museum and the first thing you see is a car riddled with bullets in the lobby. I’m not sure whose car it is, but the license plate says “Dillinger”. The lobby is quite small so if there is a crowd, it’ll get quite uncomfortable after a while, even with ropes corralling you around the lobby in an organized fashion. Their gift shop, or “cop shop” is right next door and you can get all your law & order gear there. All the people that work there, save for the actual security folks, are dressed up in bright orange jumpsuits like they got out of Rikers or Levenworth and it’s their work-release program.

After getting your ticket, you go up the stairs and begin your tour. They have audio tours for you if you are interested, but I browsed through the museum at my own leisure without any devices. As soon as you get up the stairs, you’ll notice a bunch of TVs hanging from the ceiling like a chandelier which gives you an idea of what’s going on with the musuem. Then you’ll see exhibits of items used over the years and historical things that occurred in the law & order days. You can have your picture taken of you in the stockades or shoot some bottles at the OK Corral back in the old west. Some of the interactive features requires some payment, but they’re really cheap - the OK Corral cost $1 to play.

There’s even an arcade (although 2 real games) that you can play to get into the law enforcement experience. But for the adults, try out your luck on any of the dozens of kiosks throughout the museum to learn more facts. They even have a fingerprint scanner that you can print out your very own fingerprint ID that shows what crime you committed. It’s all fake info anyways, but it’s a fun little souvenir - and it’s free!

Near the end of the museum, there are two great things: a CSI lab that you can check out and even the brand new “America’s Most Wanted” studio where John Walsh broadcasts his show…in fact, John Walsh was there on opening day at the Crime & Punishment Museum! I saw him! He seemed skinnier in person than on TV, but he’s a cool guy. You can check out the studio, get yourself in a green room and what I really thought was really nice is that they have a place where you can have your kids get fingerprinted and have an ID in case they ever get lost. Way to protect the young!

Overall, for a price tag of $17.95 for adults, that’s a little high but probably worth it compared to paying $14 something for Madame Tussauds. I would say the experience is quite comparable to the Spy Museum and you should definitely check it out. For $14+ at Madame Tussauds, you’re not really getting that much of a experience and there aren’t that many wax figurines. But at the Spy Museum and Crime & Punishment museum, they can keep it fresh.

So go get your law & order fix today…

Popularity: 100% [?]

Daily Life, Sightseeing America's Most Wanted, John Walsh, National Crime and Punishment Museum, Washington DC

Today was the last day of the Cherry Blossom Festival in DC and they kicked off the closing weekend with the annual Japanese Sakura Matsuri festival in downtown DC. I decided to stop by and check it out. To my amazement, it’s basically like an anime or manga convention. There are a lot of folks who are addicted to anime. I was amazed…even folks were dressed up in costumes from their favorite Japanese movie/cartoon. They had food there, performances, the Cherry Blossom princess, and merchandise and paraphernalia that you could buy.

Around 2pm, I decided to head over to the Newseum. This new attraction opened up on Friday but I didn’t have a chance to get there because I had just gotten back from my trip. So I paid $20 for admission to see this museum featuring journalistic exhibitions. For the money that you pay, there is a lot to see so I would say that it’s worth seeing at least once. Be sure to bring your camera because there is a lot to take photos of.

I’m sure you might know about this, but as you can expect, there is an exhibit on the stories and photos written on September 11. It’s really quite powerful and definitely will sweep you away. They also have a really cool 4-D theatre exhibit on the history of journalism that is a must-see and free (hey, a plus, right?). If you’re bringing the kids, they can play reporter in one of the Newseum’s interactive features and test their skills at solving a case and reporting on the events. But if you want to look at some of the key stories over the past 100 years, you can check out the front pages of all the newspapers. There’s so much more to see so be sure to budget at least 3 hours in the Newseum or you’re going to miss something. And you probably don’t want to keep going back to seeing the rest because $20 each time can be expensive - but you could purchase membership with the venue that’ll give you free access for a year. Check it out if that’s your cup of tea.

Popularity: 37% [?]

Pictures, Sightseeing Cherry Blossom Festival, Newseum, Sakura Matsuri, Washington DC

While walking back from the Cherry Blossom festival in downtown DC, I was walking to the Smithsonian metro station across the Mall when this kid came up to me and said “Excuse me. Could you take my picture.” to which I replied…”Why?” and this poor kid replied back, “I don’t know.”

So basically you want me to take a picture of you with my camera for no apparent reason? Well I said no and politely continued walking to the metro station. And what do you know? This kid is following me! Yeah, so needless to say, I’m watching over my stuff at this point to avoid the fact that I could be jumped at any moment for my camera stuff. Luckily he left me and I kept on walking.

It was a really weird and awkward situation…

Popularity: 31% [?]

Sightseeing

So for the first time in perhaps a few weeks, I’ve managed to have some time to myself. But albeit not completely detached from the rest of the world - you see, I have a blackberry. Yeah, that’s right. The kind folks at work (hehe) gave me a blackberry to keep connected to everything (a little bit too late, but still quite useful) so now I’m able to post, read, and send emails out to all my favorite people. woohoo for me!

Anyways, so yesterday was the second week of the Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, DC and I managed to stumble by because the weather turned out to be really good for picture taking. As usual, the area around Tidal Basin was particularly crowded. I managed to snap about 600+ photos with my camera and they cam out pretty well. I did notice that people were pretty much neglecting a key part of watching the cherry blossoms…watching. There was a severe lack of Park Ranger presence around the area to help regulate the actions of a select few. These folks are grabbing the cherry blossoms, climbing the trees, and plucking ‘em from the branches…all of which are deadly for the trees and can ruin it for everyone. But did anyone care? No…of course not! Anything to get a good picture with your friends and family, right?

Walked around a little bit more before stopping by the Jefferson Memorial. The view was nice, but when trying to watch the performances on the stage it was quite irritating when people who walked by decided to stop right in front of everyone watching. There was this lady who got into words with one of the people standing in front. It was quite entertaining. But soon after I decided it was enough and walked back around the FDR memorial…one of the last memorials I hadn’t seen before. It was an interesting walk…plenty of cherry blossom trees and lots of people taking pictures and their sweet damn time walking through. Needless to say that I really don’t like crowds…hehe…

But that’s for another day…

Popularity: 38% [?]

Pictures, Sightseeing Cherry Blossoms, Photo Shoot, Photography, Washington DC