30/11/2019 to 01/12/2019 - Washington DC / USA

Washington DC is the capital and with the 3 branches of government: Capitol, White House, and Supreme Court, it is the center of power in the United States of America. The District of Columbia, as the city is actually called, is a federal district, but not a state and does not belong to any. Rather, the area is directly subordinate to the United States Congress. We took 2 full days to explore Washington because the city has a lot to offer. The White House was naturally at the top of our list of priorities. Unfortunately, we couldn't see much of the President's residence and office. The fence is being renovated, the area was cordoned off, and heavily guarded by armed security personnel. Our walk then took us to various memorials and monuments. The first stop was the World War II Memorial. The project for this memorial started in the 1980s, but the monument was not inaugurated until 2004, honoring the fallen US soldiers in World War II. Not far away is the Washington Monument, a white marble obelisk erected in honor of the first President of the USA, George Washington. We walked past the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and headed straight to the Lincoln Memorial. It is a monument in the Greek style with 36 Doric columns, symbolizing the 36 states that formed the United States during Lincoln's presidency. Inside is a 5.80 meter high white marble statue of Abraham Lincoln. We then went to the Korean War Veterans Memorial, which depicts 19 oversized stainless steel statues of a group of US forces on patrol. Situated idyllically on the banks of the Tidal Basin is the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial, which commemorates the murdered Baptist pastor, civil rights activist, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and the history of the civil rights movement of African Americans. After long walks and many impressions, we had enough for the day. Unfortunately, the weather worsened the next day. We took shelter under the umbrella and visited two museums. The houses belonging to the Smithsonian Institution, a research institution and the largest museum complex in the world, can even be visited free of charge. The first stop of the day was the National Air and Space Museum. We visited exhibitions on time and navigation, the universe, humans in space, discovered how the Wright brothers learned to fly, and even touched a piece of the moon. It was quite exciting, but the second stop of the day, the National Museum of Natural History, was much more interesting for us. It is a museum of natural history and was opened in 1910. The collections are accordingly huge, with around 500 million specimens of plants, animals, fossils, minerals, stones, and meteorites on display. We spent a lot of time at the museum, but I'm sure we didn't see everything. On the way to the parking lot, we passed a small Christmas market. It really couldn't be compared to a "real" Christmas market, as it completely lacked mulled wine and the many delicious treats. On our next visit to the most important city in the USA, we will continue our exploration tour, hopefully with better weather.