Day 3: Washington DC

Day 2 of my tour began with a two hour bus ride to Philadephia. Just a brief stop at the Independence Hall to see the Liberty Bell.

Its interesting that a bell with a huge crack is of such huge significance in the history of the US. The bell was ordered in 1751 for use in the Pennsylvania State Housenow known as Indedepence Hall in Philadelphia. The bell cracked during testing. There is a long story to why the bell eventually is honored so I shant elaborate here. Hehe

The Independence Hall is right beside where the Liberty Bell is housed now. It is where the Declaration of Independence was signed.

Next was another 2 hours bus ride before we reached Washington DC. Our first stop was the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. This museum was also featured in Night at the Museum 2 together with Lincoln Memorial which I also visited during this trip.

The Space sector with all the space rockets and space vehicles.

The lunar landing vehicle.

The rover used to land on Mars. Again, the stay was too short. I especially liked the space section of the museum where you get to see lots of space vehicles and also learned about the apollo missions.

Less than 5 min walk from the museum is the Capitol Building.

Unfortunately, we can only view this beautiful piece of architecture from afar.

Same thing for the white house. We had to view the White House from far as the road was closed to public. I managed to get this photo thanks to my camera 10x zoom.

Washington DC is a place with lots of memorials. This is the Jefferson Memorial dedicated to Thomas Jefferson, the third president of US.

Washington Monument on the left and Jefferson Memorial on the right. The Washington Monument was built to commemorate the first president - George Washington. The obselisk structure was referenced in Dan Brown' s Lost Symbol. I was quite excited to see it right before my eyes. It is the tallest structure in Washington DC.

Another memorial. This time is the Korean War Memorial.

The ghostly carving on the wall represents the people who perished during the war.

Scupltures of soldiers who fought during the war.

The Lincoln Memorial.

This scene was featured in so many movies and here I was looking at it from the same point of view. Its amazing and surreal.

The day ended with a leisurely boat ride touring the city.

View of the Washington Monument from the river.