Washington DC (Jul 2010)

Last part of my visit was sightseeing in the capital city of Washington DC (D.C.=> District of Columbia). It is interesting to know that Washington was the first planned American city built & named after the first American president George Washington. It was merged with a bit of surrounding land and formed as US capital in 1791 by the same president. It’s official title is “District of Columbia”, named after Christopher Columbus. It has the highest percentage of black community compared to rest of the country. Tourism and government jobs are the main source of income here. There is a separate state also known as Washington but is miles away from it.

It was very hot the day I visited DC. I took the open deck bus tour and sat on the top floor of the double-decker ignoring the air conditioned lower deck. The plastic seat was burning like a frying pan but I refused to give up, one gets the best view from top. DC is a historical city full of buildings and monuments from America’s short history of only 300 hundred years or so. I started my visit from the Union Station. It is a beautiful building completed in 1908. When built it was the biggest train station in the world covering 200 acres of land and 75 miles of train tracks within it.

My next stop was the majestic U. S. Capitol Building. Because of the increased security, it is open to the public for guided tours only & free tickets are obtainable through a Senator, Representative or online. I couldn’t be bothered to ask for one. Looking from outside was OK. The capitol Hill building houses Supreme Court, congress offices and Library of Congress (the largest library in the world in terms of books & book shelves). It is open to public but only legislators, Supreme Court justices and other high-ranking government officials may loan the books (I take it as a deliberate attempt to keep citizen illiterate).

There was a colourful traditional Caporales dance ceremony outside the Capitol Hill by the people of a Bolivia. There were around 100 young people dancing wrapped in traditional dress despite the scorching heat. I tried to figure out but most people could speak Spanish only so all I understood was that Bolivia, caporales, happening in many countries of the world at the same time (12 mid day).

White House is the home and office of the President of US. It was less crowded than Capitol Hill building. We were only allowed to watch Whitehouse from far. I couldn’t see President Obama, he must have seen me though! Because I could see an armed guard at the roof staring at me.

There are numerous historical buildings which include FBI office, treasury, Spy museum, NASA museum (I loved every bit of it), Lincoln memorial,  Watergate scandal building (only one US president resigned ever, & it was due to this), and Mayfair hotel (where many presidents, and officials have unofficial or semi-official meetings, Monica Lewinsky was also interviewed here after the incident).

On the way back, I flew through JFK New York airport. Thanks God, everything went smoothly.

Read my previous 3 blogs on USA visit Here: https://kashif-ali.com/2010/07/