Washington, cont.

Trip Start Oct 03, 2008
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Trip End Oct 21, 2008


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Flag of United States  , District of Columbia,
Sunday, October 5, 2008

Capitol Hill is in a state of siege, or so it appears. The place is crawling with security. When you get out of the Metro at Capitol South and head up the hill to the Capitol in hope of getting to see it, you are confronted with uniformed guards everywhere. Then there are these barrages blocking the streets resembling something like a flap on a 747-solid steel making it impossible to pass. A dark government limousine comes down the street, the flaps lower and out it goes. In view of what has transpired on Capital Hill in the last few days, the question ought to be allowed, whether it weren't wiser to keep the people on Capitol Hill where they are than to keep the people on the outside away? This question and related issues would surface again, a few days later, when we tried once again to gain access to the Capitol. It being Sunday today, nothing was open, but we did find out that we needed a pass from our local Representative in order to visit the two houses. That can only be obtained by writing to the Congresswoman or Congressman. So that part of the political science lesson was out the window, or the letterbox, so to speak.

Down the Hill we go to visit the Air & Space Museum. I remember it as a grand place to show off the nation's accomplishments in things concerning flight. All those things are still there, but they have taken second place to the military, which seems to have taken charge. In a museum stuffed with missiles (BTW, not the most efficient way of flying, because with enough thrust even a barn will fly), bombers and stealth fighters, there is very little room for the wonder, science and vision of flight. Oh, it's still there, but you have to go and look for it. My idea of a museum dedicated to flight goes beyond a third-generation fighter pilot preparing for dogfights somewhere in the Nevada Desert (the main attraction at the IMAX). What I had thought was going to be one of the highlights of the trip turned out rather disappointing, indeed. The energy, the fascination, the sheer thrill and any future seem to have been removed. I am tempted to add a simile, but I'll refrain.
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