Washington,  D.C.

8/11 -- 8/14, 2012

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Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia, is the capital of the United States.  Named in honor of George Washington, the City of Washington was founded in 1791 to serve as the new national capital.  The centers of all three branches of the federal government of the United States are in the District, including the Congress, President, and Supreme Court. Washington is home to many national monuments and museums, which are primarily situated on or around the National Mall, a large, open park in downtown Washington between the Lincoln Memorial and the United States Capitol.

Getting there ...

The main reason for this trip was because Iris was going to represent the Silicon Valley Chinese School to participate the Northern American Chinese Culture Competition in Washington DC .  Iris and Woanyu has flown with her teammates to DC on Thursday (8/9) since the competition was on Saturday (8/11).  Linus and I took a red-eye flight on Friday night (11PM on 8/10) and arrived in Baltimore on  Saturday early morning.  Although we got an upgrade to the 1st class, I did not sleep too well on the airplane.  Linus was still very sleepy when we got our rental car and fell asleep many times while I was asking for driving directions, so we made a few wrong turns on the way.

 

 

 

The First Day ...

 

       

 

 

 

 

 

The Second Day ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Third Day ...

 

 

 

 

After the tour at Capitol, we went through the tunnel to the Library of Congress (featured in "National Treasure 2").  Its interior design was based on the Paris Opera House and was constructed of marble, granite, iron, and bronze. It has many classical characteristics, such as Ionic columns and relief sculptures, and features a large number of statues.  The Library of Congress houses 90 million items on 540 miles (869 km) of shelves,  and is one of the largest and best-equipped libraries in the world,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Last Day ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Going Home ...

We decided to leave the Museum of Natural History early because Iris did not feel well.  Iris threw up on the way walking back to the hotel (but she felt much better afterwards).
We started to head toward Baltimore Airport (BWI) at 5PM.  Even there was some traffic on the highway, we got to the airport with plenty of time to have a dinner and  relax (plus our flight was delayed for almost an hour).   We finally got home after midnight to conclude our series of East Coast city tours (Toronto, New York, and Washington DC) for this summer.

 


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