Mr Smith and his Daughter Go to Washington

[IMAGE: The Washington Monument]

I am an English person who has lived in this country for over 15 years. Last week I took my (totally American) daughter (13) to Washington D.C. By day, with a healthy glow of tourisma, we saw the sights. By night we went to the movies or watched Beavis & Butthead.

D.C. impressed us greatly - grand, austere, elegant, similar to European cities and yet so modern.

One might expect to be impressed by the grandeur of the monuments and the celebrated Metro system but it was unexpected to find the people so friendly. For me, the biggest surprise was to discover the depth and accessibility of culture and history that many Americans have told me that they have so little of compared to what I (a European) have.

I chatted to numerous train drivers who were delighted to expound on their Metro System, of which they were obviously, and justifiably, proud. I have been on Metros all over the world (BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit), the Metros in Milan Italy and Paris France, the Tube (London Underground), The El (Elevated train) in Chicago) and this is easily the best, albeit the most modern (no more than two decades).

Trains are timely, though they don't run after midnight until 6 a.m. The fare and ticket system is most noteworthy. Most places were $1 to get to and I never paid more than $2.

You buy a ticket from a bank of machines at any station you happen to enter. The machines take bills of $1, $5, $10, $20 and change, and rarely can't read a bill. The ticket (farecard) has a magnetic strip and is printed with the amount of money you put on (say $5). You enter the station through a block of turnstyles, sliding your ticket into a machine which records the station you are in, and then you take your ticket and go onto the platform. At your destination you exit through a similar block of turnstyles (actually identical - they are reversible), which again reads your ticket. It debits the necessary fare (say $1.50) and prints on your ticket the value remaining ($3.50). With use, decreasing values are printed below the previous, on down the card.

If your ticket is insufficient you go to the addfare machine, inside the station, put in your ticket and some money and it increases your ticket by that amount.

You can't enter unless the value of your farecard is at least $1. If it is less you go to the bank of ticket machines (where you buy tickets) and add value. It eats your old card & returns a new one with the total value printed on it. If you have a card with a large value on and the printed out decreasing values reach the bottom, the entry gate will prompt you to go back to the ticket machines for a new ticket: Stop! Trade in used fare card . If your card is exactly the fare required the exit gate simply eats your card and tells you exact fare, farecard not returned . One machine told me exact fare, fare card captured .

Cool.

If you have two farecards there's no way to combine them. You have to use each separately until they run out.

I did try to use one ticket to get us both in, but it `knows' that its sole owner is `in' or `out' of the station; presumably you can't enter or exit more than once.

I didn't try cheating, such as jumping the barrier and then trying to exit with a ticket, or the reverse, or entering and immediately exiting to see if it would charge a `platform fee'.

The trains and stations are amazingly clean and tidy, prim and proper. There are signs here and there showing eight rules (slashed circles over, say, a burning cigarette) with obvious ones such as no sauntering about near the 750 volt live third rail but also no eating and drinking, or spitting! It obviously works; one fellow told me how he was once eating some food and fellow passengers pointed out to him that it was not permitted. We ate our sandwiches before we were aware of the eating rule and no one even looked at us funny. We spat on the live rail but it wasn't very exciting.

The people are so friendly. We struck up a conversation with a native in Grand (very) Union Station. She said that apart from a six year stint in New York and much travelling she had spent her whole life Washington and loved it and the people. She pointed out that the city is a cultural oasis in a beautiful rural setting. She said the media blows out of proportion the problem corner - the south-east. In reality the problems are self contained; drug dealers only shoot each other and don't bother strangers that happen to wander through the area.

D.C. is a powerful reminder of American History. At Arlington National Cemetery is a display case showing all the American wars and associated memorabilia such as commemorative stamps. In the Pentagon is an alcove with the names of all the recipients of the medal of honor in each of the American conflicts. And particular conflicts are commemorated in art galleries, the Mint (Bureau of Engraving and Printing), the Capitol Building, and the National Monuments.

American Revolution 1775-1783
The War with England 1812-1815
The Mexican War 1846-1848
The Civil War 1861-1865
Indian Campaigns 1861-1898
Korean Campaign 1871
The Spanish American War 1898
World War I 1917-1918
World War II 1941-1945
The Korean War 1950-1953
The War with Vietnam 1958-1975
The Gulf War 1992

America has been in a state of war about one in every five years of its existence. I'm sure this is about average.

The Holocaust Memorial, a large modern building full of various exhibits, is an excellent and chilling reminder of humanity at its worst.

The Vietnam Memorial is two long thin triangles joined at their bases, with 68,000 names inscribes on the reflecting black marble surface. The names proceed in chronological order from 1959 to 1975, starting at the top of the right base and wrapping around to finish at the bottom of the left base. A volunteer will do a rubbing for you of any name you request; a nearby booth is set up with a database to help you locate any particular persons name. Each name is followed by a diamond, or a plus sign for those missing in action. Should any MIA turn up a circle would be drawn around the plus, though the volunteer said this has never happened.

The Washington Monument is a 555 feet obelisk that was closed for elevator repairs the day we went. The stairs up the inside (897 steps) have been closed since 1969 due to vandalism; there are marble plaques dating back hundreds of years mounted on the inside wall, donated by various states and institutions, the latest being the State of Alaska. The next evening we went up the elevator, and the list attendant broke the news to us that former president Nixon had just died. The little windows on the top allowed us a panoramic view of the city at night; you can see the eternal flame.

The Lincoln Memorial is on the back of the $5 bill. The names of 26 states inscribed on the roof of the memorial can be seen on the $5 with a magnifying glass. The 19 foot high statue of Lincoln (visible on the cent and the $5) begs you to sit in his lap, for photographs.

The BEP (Bureau of Engraving and Printing) cranks out dough. We bought a sheet of 8 x 4 $1 bills for $39.50, and a John Wayne medallion. Amongst other such tourist wares was the palpable absence of an Elvis medallion. I would have bought one for all my friends.

Dollar bills are 75% linen and 25% cotton. These can withstand over 4000 folds as opposed to less than a 100 folds for regular paper.

There is no Science Museum! It's embedded in the American History Museum. The Smithsonian comprises many museums including the American History Museum, the Air & Space Museum, the National Gallery of Art (west (old building) & east (new building)) and the Natural History Museum.

We went to see Ginerve de Benci, the only Leonardo de Vinci in the U.S. My daughter, upon seeing it, gaped in raw astonishment saying That's hecka good!

The Archives (building) has only the main rotunda open, where you can see the Declaration of Independence, The Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Magna Carta! one of a dozen originals recently discovered in an English mansion and purchased for $1 million by Ross Perot and on permanent loan. They are stored in sealed display caskets that contain rarefied helium so that the documents deteriorate thousands of times slower.

My personal philosophy continues to grow, often seemingly at odds with my friends and acquaintances. However, all over the capital are sayings (usually of early U.S. statesmen) engraved in stone that embodying concepts that I am slowly waking up to. It is astounding that they had time to dwell on the history of previous great empires in the midst of bitter struggles of a new country and its conflicts, and for their words of wisdom to be carried through to today.

As an example: Engraved in stone under a statue at the foot of steps to one of the buildings on the Mall was Eternal Vigilance . This embodies a concept I began to understand from examples such as from Richard St.Barbe Baker (Man of the Trees):

His goal was to preserve an area of 12,000 acres, which he saw essential to protect the delicate and complex life of the redwood forest. When a state park was established for all time in 1939, he felt he had accomplished his purpose. Only later, when he returned to Northern California in 1963, did he realize that there was no such thing as preserving for all time. Each generation must fight its own fight.

The saying is an ancient wisdom. However, how we comprehend it and make it conscious is a whole nother story.

The Library of Congress is three buildings, the main one closed for renovations. It is unlike a public library, just much, much larger. We didn't ever get to figure it out.

We waited for two hours to get (free) tickets to get into the Whitehouse, but they ran out just before our turn. You write to your congressperson in advance to get them. We didn't wait for four hours for the FBI building tour. Ford's Theatre was closed - they were doing a production. The house across the street where Lincoln died was open, however.

The Capitol Building is massive. Apart from famous paintings (such as appear on the $2 bill) there is much renascence style artwork decorating ceilings and corridors produced by the Italian Constatino Brumidi in the 19th century. He painted historic scenes in specially placed ovals and deliberately left some blank for future historic events. In a delightful display of anachronism, two of these ovals have been filled in with the moonwalk, and a portrait of the Challenger astronauts.

We toured the peanut gallery above the senate floor. My daughter pointed out the garishly loud pink dress suit of one of the tourists below; it was Princess Fergie!

[IMAGE: a bum] [IMAGE: another bum] [IMAGE: another bum] [IMAGE: another bum] By all accounts, we expected to be accosted by bums at every turn, but I was prepared. Every bum that scrounged change I gave him some and took his picture. I have seven pictures of bums (I missed two). They were all black, and they were all reluctant and bemused that I should take their picture. In the pictures they mostly look happy and healthy (it was a warm and sunny week).

[IMAGE: another bum] [IMAGE: Paul (a bum)] [IMAGE: a bum playing drums] One guy played some mean drums on plastic paint buckets, dayglo orange construction cones and a shopping cart, right across the street from the line outside the Hard Rock Cafe.

I have vowed to extend any trip a day in order to spend it catching up in D.C.

Mr.  Smith
April 1994