Washington Visit

Photo links to my DC Visits are here:

Snow dust, Tidal Basin, Smithsonian Here
DC Neighbourhood, Lake, Mall, sabita's house
Potomac river rapids
Luray Caverns, Shenandoah woods, Skyline Drive







Thursday Apr12 2007
Washgington DC Visit:

Sunday 1st Apr I am dropped at Chicago OHare Int. airport to board at gate C15 to DC in
United Airlines. I am all excited travelling on my own, meeting my friend sabitha after 20
years. I feel stressed finding my way out to gate C15 so many pathways and so many escalators up and down which I am afraid to ride, my throat parched dry and tense and stressed in finding my way to the right craft. "Is this the flight to Dulles DC ?? " I confirm. The attendant says "Yes My Love" .

Travel to DC
The flight duration was 1 hour 15 min. I enjoy a stunning view from my window facing wing
seat which I always love. The craft seems Floating amongst white cottony clouds.

I also see the turbulence happening when ever the craft is engulfed in a cloud which was quite often. I was afraid "Can the pilot see his way?? " My first view of DC from the craft as we were landing was cars cars and more cars Surprisingly washington time is 1 hour ahead of champaign so i had to advance my watch by one hour. So I landed at 6:30 washington time at Dulles airport. But man, it was not easy locating exit from the airport. Not having a cell phone was my undoing ( right thro' this trip) . The airports are huge huge huge. So many exits, so many gates. My fear of escalators added to my woe. First of all I sat in a bus that took me from the aircraft exit to some other point. There I tried to locate an exit for about an hour. How do I go out?? "EXIT" was written everywhere. The airport staff are very polite , helpful and friendly lot ( always any airport in USA I had this pleasant experience) Anyway at last I was lucky to get out and spot my dear friend sabita with her son vivek and husband.

Soon we were driving down washington DC to their place in a suberb in a swanky brand new ACURA SUV. i was fascinated by the speeding large luxury (by my Indian std.) cars.

Sabita's house:
This was the first time I was experiencing a proper American (Indian) home. Sabita's house is huge by my Indian std. a 3 floor X 1000 Sq. ft structure a basement area, a living area and the bedrooms upstairs. They have a open space infront and behind ( backyard). The basement has a large living room with a large TV, some exercising equipments, a Office room for her husband Raman. She said the Office room was a gift to raman on his 50th birthday from the three of them ( she, her son and her daughter). They had painted it themselves!!

The family's living area consists of one drawing room for visitors, a living room facing a kitchen, a dining room , a gods room, a wash area. The flooring is elegant polished wood (strips). The living cum kitchen opens to the backyard open space into a wooden deck. The deck had a closed sitting area like a room, covered by glass on all sides, and a open railing all around. looked to be a very cosy area to be inside in summer. The top floor had 4 bed rooms a large master bedroom and three others.


The entire house is very tastefully and comfortably furnished. There were so many large closets built into the walls for storage including in the bathrooms. I really admire this feature in all American homes - the Storage space in the walls concept. Sabita is very artistically gifted and her house has all sorts of artefacts from India and some from Africa very beautifully arranged all over the house. She is also fond of gardening and plants and had a lot of plants cleverly displayed all over the house - even the bathrooms had them. I was proud of my friend's excellent taste in all things small and big.

I went all over the house admiring every corner. It is in my nature to appreciate beauty in all things living and non living. I clicked lot of photos in and around the house. The best view of her pictureque backyard is from the bathroom and I did click from here too. sabitha said " you are obsessed with your camera' . Rightly said my friend !!

A Maryland Residential suburb
The locality where the Ramans live has lush greenery, clean roads, large neat patches of green grass ( what we would be calling as lawn) lining the roads, lines and lines of trees. The Pear shaped trees were in full bloom covered with white flowers. In the evening hours of sunset the branches opened up in the evening breeze, the tree looked larger and more beautiful. The cherry blossom trees were covered with white or pink flowers and looked absolutely magnificent. Washington is famous for its Cherry Blossom festival from Apr. 1 to 7th and I was indeed lucky to witness this floral gift of nature all over the place. The place was full of natural beauty and I simply loved that feel. This is true of every place we visited in USA so far- abundant natural beauty preserved as well as created.

Pear Trees in Full Bloom

Raman had come to USA as a doctorate student and since then settled here for the last 26 years. They have a pretty 18 year old daughter Swati who is studying medicine to become a doctor and is an accomplished musician too. and a smart 12 year old son vivek studing in 7th grade and is an excellent singer as well. Raman is a satellite specialist and works for IntelSat. Sabita has specialized in Special Education and works in a big school in the neighbourhood. She is herself a talented singer and an accomplished person. At Maryland they have a group of Indian families as close friends and neighbours and lead a very interesting life socially ( I think).

Sabita gave me her daughter Swati's room to sleep. The next 6 days this room was my haven.
The windows everywhere in the house open to scenic beauty. The bathroom has the best view .
Every morning when i woke up I saw such a lovely landscape in front of me the sun rising
lining the landscape to a red hue, the neat looking houses, the green grass, the Pear tree
in full bloom.
Another thing that struck me was the house was provided with good ventilation something I missed in the few apartments I had seen in USA. There was so much to talk catching up on the twenty years of time and the past before that.

Sabita was our neighbour when we had just got married and moved to Uttam Society in Chembur and her father was a dear friend of both my husband and myself. They were a very warm and loving family and always laughing and joking. Vivek was a baby and darling of all. She was in her teens and twenties and a very attractive beauty in Uttam in the eighties. Uttam
Society in those days had so many activities and very warm interactions between its inhabitants. I believe this comediarie no longer exists.

Well Monday and Tue. we drove to many interesting Malls the kMart, some garden malls to buy
some flowering plants. USA can never tire you out with its husge Malls. There are always bargains to be had and window shopping can be endless fun at least for me. I keep wondering at the logistics of it all how they are able to stock and invest so much, what kind of returns would they be realising etc.. Many shops shut down too due to loss.

The drives in this part of DC were also always lovely. The manicured landscape, the spring
blooms, the super super cars wizzing by everytime , the 12 lane heavy traffic at times in some places, criss cross roads and flyovers like a maze of a game . I must be one of those rare cases enjoying heavy traffic!!

Beautiful Walks
I wanted to go for walks in this beautiful neighbourhood. I got a direction advice from sabita and Vivek. This residential locality was not like Champaign at all. There were no public transaport, no hotels, not many people on the road. Only whirring cars or empty roads. Since the weather was good some kids and family were outside their homes.

I love walking on unexplored roads especially when they are as scenic as these. The normal
roads in USA are very very broad (like our highways back home) . I chanced to come upon a
big lake with some huge geese floating and the swaying weeping willow trees and pink and white cherry blossom trees.
In some walks I chanced upon roads lined with pear trees in full bloom, and small trees / shrubs covered with yellow flowers. The spring in USA is the best time to be out in the streets.




Potomac river Rapids
We went to Potamac rapid a breathtaking view of the force of the water, Unfortunately the jungle around this area had trees which were barren without any greenery so it was very hot.. I believe the trees turn green in summer months ( may june onwards) and then this scene would be most enchanting.







Metro Travel
We travelled by metro to Smithsonian The MALL in DC. This was my first experience of travelling in a Metro and I just loved every minute of it. My fear of escalators was cured here as in some places there simply was no other way but escalator. The metro is an example of organized quick comfortable cheap public transport. There was no way one could travel ticketless , I just loved that. We Indians defintely deserved all this in our country to make our day to day life more enriching.

THE NATIONAL MALL
The MALL at Smithsonian is the most interesting place in DC housing all the historical museums ( I am told there are 19 of them and entrance is free to all ) , the White house, The Congress building, the Jefferson Memorial, a number of govt. offices. So much to see and so little time!! We went to Air and Space museum as Vivek wanted to experience Space Travel Simulation. I just looked around and clicked some photos. When we came out sabita was tired and told me to go and check out the Tidal bassin. I tried to walk but after a sincere attempt gave up as the place was quite far and i was tired. So we headed back home by metro.

Shiva Vishnu Temple Maryland
Thursday sabita drove me to see her daughter Swati in her dormitory in University of Maryland at College Park Campus. Was I not lucky? to see a college dorm? Sabita told me this univ. was one of the best schools in USA.

Then we drove to the Shiva vishnu Temple in Maryland a very beautiful and peaceful place. The temple is huge, very beautiful inside and outside and has many gods and godesses very tasteful. Any temple visit always leaves me peaceful within especially here there was no one except us three . It was like a private temple visit. Ihis visit and time i would always cherish.





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From net: Tourism Washington is home to numerous national landmarks and is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the United States. The National Mall is a large, open area in the center of the city featuring many monuments to American leaders; it also serves to connect the White House and the United States Capitol buildings. Located prominently in the center of the Mall is the Washington Monument. Other notable points of interest near the Mall include the Jefferson Memorial (see right), Lincoln Memorial, Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, National World War II Memorial, Korean War Veterans Memorial, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the District of Columbia War Memorial and the Albert Einstein Memorial. The world famous Smithsonian Institution is located in the District. The Smithsonian today is a collection of museums that includes the Anacostia Museum, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Hirshhorn Museum, National Air and Space Museum, National Museum of American History, National Museum of the American Indian, National Museum of Natural History, National Portrait Gallery, National Postal Museum, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Renwick Gallery, and the National Zoo. There are many art museums in D.C., in addition to those that are part of the Smithsonian, including the National Gallery of Art, National Museum of Women in the Arts, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, and the Phillips Collection. The Library of Congress and the National Archives house thousands of documents covering every period in American history. Some of the more notable documents in the National Archives include the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights. The District of Columbia operates its own public library system with 27 branches throughout the city. The main branch — which occupies a multi-story glass and steel-framed building at the intersection of 9th and G Streets, N.W., designed by modernist architect Ludwig Mies vander Rohe — is known as the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library.[9] It has a large mural in its main hall depicting the civil rights leader. Other points of interest in the District include Arena Stage, Chinatown, Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Blair House, Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle, Folger Shakespeare Library, Ford's Theatre, Frederick Douglass National Historic Site, International Spy Museum, National Building Museum, National Geographic Society, the Awakening at Hains Point, Old Post Office Building, Theodore Roosevelt Island, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and the Washington National Cathedral.

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Luray Caverns Virginia

Friday I was excited. Raman was going to take me to a place normaly visitors to DC may not
get a chance to see. yes we went to the Luray Caverns in Virginia.The weather had become quite chilly since thursday it was cold, snow flurries in the air, and a overcast sky. Temperature was definitely dropping. This was a solid drive of about 2 hours. It is a scenic route from potomac to Luray with Appalachians mountain ranges and lot of greenery. Luray was located in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. After a pleasant drive and fortifying ourselves with some hot food ( Raman said we would need that to energise us ) we went to see the caverns. the entrance ticket was stiff ( appr. 20$ per adult ) . Raman would not hear me when I wanted to pay. " Nothing doing " he said.

The walk thro' the cavern is 1.25 miles long and it is an experience of a lifetime. Unimaginable if you have not been into it. The magnificent huge giant sized rocks jetting out in such rich hues of colour golden, red rust brown, reddish white, grey ... Oh it is another world. How much nature has gifted to mankind to enjoy!! and the cave is lit so strategically. U never see the lights in your face only the glow on the rocks. The entire cave was wet and water was dripping in some places. Some rocks were rounded like pebbles or marble so smooth and shiny grey like threaded pearls. Some rockes were such thin sheets like wafers or our southindian towels we use the pink checked variety ( called thundu in tamil) What i admired about so many Americans is they bring chilren and even babies in prams into these places. We had a very nice guide who was full of humour. Some places had water accumulated on the floor which made a perfect reflection of the rocks above giving a virtual depth to the water where none existed. It was like a still picture as the water is so still it is like a mirror. We walked slowly and carefully along and it reminded me of some Hindi movie. The water dripping from the top mountains had formed these various rock types shapes and colours over millions of years . Today we admire these but after millions
of years the people then will see something different. The process of evolution will go on.There is a Wish well where we thro' coins so our wishes may come true. How charming!!

We spent 2 hours in the caverns. When we came out my heart was full and i was contended. I
had seen enough of USA. We drove thro' the 105 Miles Skyline Drive thro' Shenandoah National
Park ( toll 15$) . This drive reminded me of Kandala Ghats in these days when express highway was not yet built between Mumbai and Pune. The only difference was there was no traffic jam, no potholes ( for which the roads back home are so famous for) and ofcourse no water falls either. The winding road runs thro the skyline and is fascinating. The sky is USA always fascinates me wnereever we go as it is so close by as if we are enclosed by the sky all around us.


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From the net:
http://www.luraycaverns.com/index.htm
Discovery of Luray Caverns:
Luray, VA - Cold air rushing out of a limestone sinkhole atop a big hill west of Luray, Virginia, blew out a candle held by Andrew Campbell, the town tinsmith. It was on the morning of August 13, 1878, when Campbell, three other men, and his 13-year old nephew Quint, were exploring for a cave. With the help of his photographer companion, Benton Stebbins, they for four hours dug away loose rock, and candle in hand, Campbell followed by Quint slid down the rope. Man and boy could scarcely believe what they saw around them, for they found themselves in the largest caverns in the East, an eerie world of stalactites and stalagmites sparkling in the light of the candle.

Alexander J. Brand, Jr., a correspondent for the New York Times, was the first travel writer to visit Luray Caverns. "It's a magnificent cave, " he told townspeople. "The most beautiful I've ever seen. Trying to compare your cave to others would be like comparing New York City to the Town of Luray. " Professor Jerome J. Collins, the explorer, postponed his departure on a North Pole expedition to visit the caverns. The Smithsonian Institution sent a delegation of nine scientists to examine the caverns and praised them for their stalactite and stalagmite ornamentation. The Encyclopedia Britannica devoted an unprecedented page and a half to the cave's wonders. Others considered it to be the find of the century.

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Back home tired and happy. Sabita says "lets go out to dinner" wonderful Indian food at an Indian restruant in Maryland. I feel a little guilty for not offering to pay . I always hesitate to pay when a gentleman is around for fear of offending that person. An old fashioned Indian thinking ???

Smithsonian, Tidal Park and IMAX
Next day the last day of my stay at DC Vivek, raman and myself are off to DC to visit the Tidal Basin and Smithsonian. The weather is not at all good . There was a dust of snow in the morning ( ofcourse I was thrilled to see the pure white snow cover everything around and had clicked madly) and snow flurries flying around ( i was happy ) but the cold was biting - not very comfortable at all . 45 Min. of driving and we (Vivek and self) were dropped at Tiday Basin. This is where the lovely lovely Potomac river flows thro DC . The river was full almost touching the road level. The Japanese had planted more than 1000 cherry blossom trees along the tidal basin as a mark of extending a hand of friendship and the trees are in full bloom the first week of
April every year. Travellers from all over USA and the world come to see this beautiful sight.
The place had all sorts of people young, old, toddlers, indians, japanese, chinese, all types. Police were controlling the traffic. Unfortunately we were not able to enjoy this as we both were freezing. My winter clothes betrayed me and I felt like I was in need of more warm clothes. This is the typical chill of USA in winter. U should have proper winter wear to enjoy outdoor. Otherwise it is pure misery. All we did was try to get back into the car. If i was clothed proprly or the day sunny I would not have ever felt like leaving this awesome natural scenery. I promised to myself to come back again to DC in better weather and with more time to spare too.

But one sight I saw shook me up - Some guy lying on the road curled up in a corner - dead? .
Raman said they were the "homeless" . What pardon me " Homeless in such a rich country like
USA? " That made me think. What kind of human beings are we that we have some of our own
kind sufferring a cold like that in the open? For a fleeting moment my mind thought of Mother Theresa.

Well off to Smithsonian we went. Raman was very keen I see an IMAX movie. Smithsonian museum is a gift of a britisher Smithsonian to The USA and it is so huge that Sabita said it requires 8 days to see everything there. I was happy to see whatever we could and not having that dying desire to see everything. So we saw natural history museum. we saw some skeletons od Dynousars ( MY God so so huge?? ) some fantastic fossils . The collection of gems and rocks was simply mindblowing and I would like to spend at least a day in there . We saw the Hope Diamond 127 carats ( I/everyone hope to get it someday ) . The collection of crystals so beautifully displayed reminded me of vaithu and Ganga - They would have loved that.

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From the net: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smithsonian_Institution The Smithsonian Institution was founded for the "increase and diffusion" of knowledge by a bequest to the United States by the British scientist James Smithson (1765–1829), who had never visited the United States himself. In Smithson's will, he stated that should his nephew, Henry James Hungerford, die without heirs, the Smithson estate would go to the United States of America for creating an "Establishment for the increase & diffusion of Knowledge among men". After the nephew died without heirs in 1835, President Andrew Jackson informed Congress of the bequest, which amounted to 104,960 gold sovereigns, or $500,000 U.S. dollars ($9,235,277 in 2005 U.S. dollars after inflation). Act of Congress: Eight years later, Congress passed an act establishing the Smithsonian Institution, a hybrid public/private partnership, and the act was signed into law on August 10, 1846 by James Polk. (See 20 U.S.C. § 41 (Ch. 178, Sec. 1, 9 Stat. 102).) The bill was drafted by Indiana Democratic Congressman Robert Dale Owen, a Socialist and son of Robert Owen, the father of the cooperative movement. Ladies Playing Double-Sixes, original by Zhou Fang (c. 730 - 800 AD), 10th century - 11th century remake of the Chinese Song Dynasty, housed in the Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian, Washington, D.C. The crenellated architecture of the Smithsonian Institution Building on the National Mall has made it known informally as "The Castle". It was built by architect James Renwick, Jr. and completed in 1855. Many of the other buildings are historical and architectural landmarks. Detroit philanthropist Charles Lang Freer's donation of his private collection for Freer Gallery, and funds to build the museum, was among the Smithsonian's first major donations from a private individual. Though the Smithsonian's first secretary, Joseph Henry, wanted the Institution to be a center for scientific research, before long it became the depository for various Washington and U.S. government collections.
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Out of Smithsonian and off to Air and Space Museum. Raman seemed very much at home here as this was a subject close to his heart. He explained many thigs to us ( like US and Russian spacecrafts had joined mid space) and we took a walk in a space ship. We ate at Mcdonalds
and were soon seated at IMAX theatre. We were going to watch a half hour movie on Combat
training for fighter pilots in US airforce on real live conditions. Oh My God I was soon zipping off to the left, right, taking off landing a flighter plane dropping bombs jumping off parachutes ducking enemy planes looking down at drop dead valleys taxing on at great speeds - all this without moving an inch . My head was spinning left right and centre . An IMAX experience is a must a heart stopper before you die. I often checked with the chairs ahead of me "was I really sitting". IT is such an optical illusion. I simply loved it. Raman was so right when he said "if u have not experienced it u have seen nothing " .

ON the way back home Raman stopped briefly for me to go and see the White house. "Hello President Bush here I come"


So bye bye Washington Here I go Sunday back to Chicago. The Dulles airport experience this time was not bad at all infact quite manageable unlike the time I had landed a week back. I had gotten a bit wiser to the giant sized USA airports with hundreds of gates and escalators and levels and learnt how to find my way out and in. With a promise to myself to come back to Washington to see the great capital city in more detail, i was back home in Champaign.

My Photo links:

Snow dust, Tidal Basin, Smithsonian Here
DC Neighbourhood, Lake, Mall, sabita's house
Potomac river rapids
Luray Caverns, Shenandoah woods, Skyline Drive