Thanksgiving in the USA (4)
Today (Monday), Mike and Laura had things to do, so I headed off to downtown Washington DC on my own to visit a couple of favourite museums. Laura drove me the 20 minute ride to Glenmont metro station, which is at the end of the red line, and an hour later I was at my first destination: the National Air & Space Museum. This is my favourite museum in all the world because of my strong interest in aviation and the magnificent collection of famous aircraft. I must have been there around a dozen times but never tire of revisiting it.
Once again, I marvelled at the historic aircraft hanging from the ceiling in the entrance hall, my favourites being the Ryan monoplane the “Spirit of St Louis” in which Charles Lindbergh made the record-breaking solo flight across the Atlantic in 1927 and the Bell X-1A “Glamorous Glennis” in which Chuck Yeager became the first person to break the sound barrier in 1947. In a section of its own is the Wright brothers’ “Flyer” in which the first ever heavier than air flight was made in 1903. As always, I checked out the sections on the First World War and the Second World War and touched the piece of moon rock from the Apollo 17 mission. For the first time, since I am interested in civilian as well as. military aviation, I studied a presentation on the Next Generation Transportation System involving radically different aircraft, airports and navigation.
On my first visit to the museum in 1980, I saw my first IMAX film and was blown away. So, on each visit, I like to see an IMAX production and this time I caught a 3D movie called “A Beautiful Planet” with stunning film from the International Space Station.
In the afternoon, I went to the National Museum of American History. Here I revisited two favourite sections: one political and one military. “The American Presidency” looks at every aspect of the role of the various occupants of the White House. GIven the very recent election of the outsider Donald Trump, I found this quote from Lyndon Johnson particularly apposite: “The presidency has made every man who occupied it, no matter how small, bigger than he was; and no matter how big, not bigger enough for its demands”. The section entitled “Price Of Freedom: America At War” is a reminder that the United States was born in conflict (the War of Independence) and, one way and another, has almost always been a war somewhere in the globe.
When planning this trip to the USA, I had hoped to visit the newly-opened National Museum of African-American History and Culture but essentially all the visitor slots are pre-allocated for months. However, I was able to see an introductory section to the new museum in the American History Museum and to see the distinctive design of the new museum next door to the American History Museum.
When I returned to Brinklow, I had been out – in chilly but bright weather – almost nine hours and had a wonderful time.