Days Four, Five, and Six: Lot of Stuff

Sorry for the lack of posting recently, there just hasn't been an opportunity to upload my photos or blog for a few days, too many late nights :). The past three days have been awesome though! On Friday I started off at the Museum of the American Indian, this time opting out of the rather pricy lunch menu. Then I met up with my cousin who gave me a very cool tour of the Capitol building. Probably the most impressive room was the rotunda, which is the great domed room at the center of the Capitol building. The rotunda is so large in fact, that the Statue of Liberty could sit comfortable inside it! We were planning on getting onto the House floor, but unfortuantely when we got there the room was being used temporarily and so we were not able to get in. But later on this trip I do plan on getting up into the gallery while the House is in session, so stay posted for that.

After the tour of the Capitol, I hit the botanic gardens, which were pretty cool, and then I went to the Smithsonian Museum of American History, where I saw the original Star Spangled Banner. It is a very, very large flag, and I'm just glad I wasn't the one who had to sew it.  Then I went to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, which had numerous displays of a gret variety of dead and old things. I personally liked the preserved giant squid floating in it's tank. I also saw the Hope Diamond. Then, after dark, I toured the National Mall. The monuments are almost more amazing illuminated against the night sky, very cool.

On Saturday, I took the Metro to Arlington Cemetery. I saw JFK's grave and the Eternal Flame, and also Ted Kennedy's grave. I found my way to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier just in time to witness the changing of the guard. Visiting Arlington Cemetery was a very sobering experience, and should be a reminder to all of us of the sacrifices we make in going to war.

Today, on Sunday, I got a chance to go to the zoo here in DC. The free admission rocked, but it still didn't beat Como Zoo back in Minnesota. Still had a great time though, and saw, among other things, a panda eating lunch and what seemed to be a slightly agitated Asian elephant also downing some greenery. Regretably, I walked into the ape house. For the sake of keeping this a mostly civilized blog, I won't go into much depth here except that I'm positive that gorilla knew full well the nature of his actions. You could see it in his face, the cheeky little monkey. In what might possibly be the worst segue of all time, I did have a delightfully tasty chocolate eclair in the Adam's Morgan district with my supper. I finished the day by finally getting all my laundry done, and getting my pictures from the last few days uploaded to the Flickr. So I urge you to head over there and check them out! Here's the address again:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/54040223@N08/

I hope you all are well! I've had a great time here in DC and I'm looking forward to NYC, which I'm heading up to this Tuesday on the Megabus. Goodnight!

Peace,
-Adam