I love Washington DC X Hurricane Sandy

Washington DC: 7 SEP - 9 SEP 2013

Washington DC is currently my favourite city in the United States. Although it took us about 8 hours to get to DC, which does not include the awesome stayover at an apartment in New York, it was definitely worth the long ride!

Saturday

Washington DC Union Station



Library of Congress

 Our first stop of the trip was the Library of Congress. The Library of Congress was designed by Italian architects, which explains the gorgeous interior structure of this building. The three of us took the free Library tour and we got to learn a lot of the building's history, including the several fire incidents which destroyed thousands of artefacts it used to house. After the tour ended, we headed towards the Capitol building to snap some photos and the weather turned really bad.



The grim sky above the Capitol building

 This was exactly what they meant by the calm before a storm. A minute after snapping this photo, gale-force winds started coming at us and it started to pour heavily. I guess my brain sensed danger 'cos I started running for the stairs and screaming at my friends to run for shelter! The wind was insane, literally pushing my down the stairs. At that point in time, all I could feel was the adrenaline rush and the fright of falling off.

Sunday
 In order to make up for the amount of time lost from the horrible rain yesterday, we decided to start our day really early. It was definitely a mad rush, given the fact that we had so many amazing places to explore!

The White House
We were like any other tourists. "WHITE HOUSE!!" Although we stood behind the fence, the three of us were definitely satisfied with the view we had! We were a stone throw away from President Barack Obama! (:

The Washington Monument
You have not been to Washington DC if you did not visit the Washington Monument. This is indeed one of the iconic sites in the United States!

National World War II Memorial

Columns representing each state in the US

Abraham Lincoln Memorial

Smithsonian Castle

Smithsonian Air and Space Museum

If you are fan of Night at the Museum, you will immediately recognise that Washington DC was the filming location of the second sequel of the movie! Since I am a fan of the movie, I was super excited to visit the places shown on the screen!

The Capitol Building

This was taken the day after the storm, and the photo exudes a completely different feel compared to the one above! The sky was really lovely that morning! (:

All in all, this trip was by far one of the trips I enjoyed and loved the most. There were so many awesome museums and monuments to visit, which makes it a nice place for tourists to explore. Till date, I still cannot contain my excitement when I describe my travel experiences to Washington DC. The only regret in this trip was not being able to get a postcard from DC. *I have been collecting postcards everywhere I go now*

I LOVE WASHINGTON DC!

- - - -

 Yesterday marked the day whereby Hurricane Sandy hit Storrs. Although we were not as badly hit as those in New York, the wind was terrible here! The street lamps were swaying real hard to the extent that the power went off for some of them. The leaves were all spiralling up as though a mini tornado was churning, and a tree fell right outside my window. What an exciting day right? Being me, I had to video everything down for memory! Haha, my actions are understandable since Singapore will never get hit by a hurricane, and this will be one of my rare chances to actually experience such a natural catastrophe.

Having said that, being in this situation makes me feel that majority of the Singaporeans are too narrow-minded or apathetic about world issues. I used to be one of them, and I am guilty of it. After living in the United States for more than two months, I have learnt so much more than what I would have learnt in Singapore during this period of time. Maybe it is because Singapore is a very safe country, with no natural disasters (yet) except haze (if you count it as one), with minimal racism and relatively low crime rates. When I came to the US, all these issues are a total reverse from the situation in Singapore, and I came to realise and accept these differences. Singapore is definitely a dream, and not reality. Seeing and experiencing reality makes you wonder what you have been doing for the past 21 years.

When I return, I want to return as a different person.