Cherry blossoms instead of sakura

We have both been to Japan during sakura season but separately. This time, we walked together along cherry blossom trees in DC :)

miso: Um, what's the difference? Sakura and cherry blossoms?
mf: Language :p


Psst: To be very honest, we had no idea what tree that was! It was the only flowering tree near our hotel!

Friday, 8 Apr 2011

Random shot taken just before we boarded the plane - let's stow Sito away! :p


First impression: DCA felt cosier than O'Hare.

Second impression: Their metro isn't too different from the MRT. It has train seats instead of benches, but for single trips, it uses paper cards like our old plastic transitlink card. Our cards showed two pandas, apparently a favourite at the DC zoo, on loan from PRC.


This is the best part, hoho!


Third impression: This was an observation made by Sito actually. The hotel receptionist was an immigrant. The server at our dinner table was an immigrant. Really, it isn't too different from Sg!

Saturday, 9 Apr 2011

We started out at 9 am, an hour later than planned... After a quick breakfast at the Union Station foodcourt, we were off to the Capitol where we managed to get tour passes*. Happy :)


* Tip: If you can't get the tour passes online, don't give up! Head for the Capitol anyway and queue for the passes - we queued for about 15 min around 11 am.

Then we went to the Library of Congress via a tunnel. The ground floor had the 12 signs of the horoscope so...

Sito is a scorpio..


.. and mf is a capricorn!


We couldn't get into the reading rooms but here's a shot of the main reading room - we weren't supposed to take photos but so many did, and I didn't use flash so I didn't disturb people down there :p


By then, it was past 1 pm so we went in search of lunch, which turned out to be..


:p

Had some fun in the National Air and Space Museum..

Man going to the moon!


And somehow I had a park ranger badge...


.. while Sito started the questionnaire from the top and was an astronaut!


Also roamed the air section.. Flight stewardess, anyone? :)


And before there were laptops, business travellers worked on a TYPEWRITER on a flight!


Spent some time in the National Archives learning about American history before we went for natural history - Sito took a picture with the dino featured in the movie Night at the Museum :)


We continued along the mall and took pictures - it was so overcast! :(


There was this cute sign as we approached the Tidal Basin:


But it didn't say we couldn't SHAKE THE TREES! Sito shook the branch gently but no flying cherry blossoms...


And I posed and looked pretty :)


Went to the Lincoln Memorial next. By then, our legs were barely supporting us.. The reflecting pool had been dug up so the reflection was pretty sad...


By the time we turned to the White House*, it was getting dark so our pictures were pretty sad too. And the saddest thing was, our point-and-shoot did a worse job than Sito's phone camera! *.*

* Tip: You'll need to contact your embassy in the US to tour the White House! And contact them in advance but not too much in advance - the MFA Washington website (under consular services) says "a minimum of 10 business days and no more than one month in advance of requested tour date". Worth it? No idea!

By then, we had walked for almost 12 hours! Tired and hungry, we sat down on a bench to have our souvenir from the Air and Space Museum - space ice cream!


Um, more like cookie *.*

Dinner was at Lalibela, an Ethiopian restaurant with Sangeetha and her friends - we haven't seen each other for eight long years! Seems that between the two of us, some eight of our classmates are still traceable. Not bad considering we were a class of 30!


Sunday, 10 Apr 2011

We could hardly wake up. Legs wanted to go on strike.. But we eventually ended up at the Old Town with our little trolley bag. Had Popeyes (yes!) for lunch on the way to the waterfront:


Guy who helped take this picture obviously didn't like the flag much..

Took a trolley back to the metro station where we caught a train to the airport - time to return to Evanston!


It's already Tuesday and I can still feel my calf muscles from the long walk!