The Smithsonians

Tuesday 19th May 2009

National Air and Space Museum was our first stop. It was rather educational with science-y exhibits about developments in aviation, exploration of space, astronomy and describing principles of flight.

Our tour guide was very experienced and gave us interesting insights into the milestone gallery. I particularly liked the one about Spirit of St Louis. Charles Lindbergh in 1927 made the first nonstop solo transatlantic flight. Look at the airplane. To make the aircraft as light as possible, the fuselage was placed in front and blocked frontal vision. Hence, windows are only at the sides. Imagine how he had to fly sideways and zig zag all the way from NY to Paris. 33 hrs of flying and he became the hero of the world. Also part of the milestone gallery were true prototypes of the Appolo 11, Gemini, Mercury Friendship 7. The tour guide generous in sharing his insight.

The Wright Brothers The invention of the Aerial Age Exhibit. The centrepiece is the 1903 Flyer. You can see how the personnel lies flat on his stomache during flight. He controls the flyer using hands as well as hips. This feat is even more amazing because the Wright Brothers were not trained in Engineering but were more acquainted with bicycle mechanics. Go build your own airplane/flyer today!

In 1914 Elmer Sperry built this airborne gyroscope to keep airplanes in flight steady. Above is the prototype for autopilots and located at the Beyond Limits exhibit.

After many hours, I went to National Museum of Natural history. I wanted to see the bones of all the animals and dinos but decided to walk through real quick. Their exhibit on stones, diamonds and other precious gems was very pretty. No matter how much I tried, I couldn't decide which was my favourite- either the emerald or the cat's eye. I had the chance to enjoy close viewing of the colourful butterflies and a some other creepy crawlies. The elephant is from Africa.

National Museum of American History had exhibits on wars over the years and President's Inauguration. I also browsed things related to culture such a Kermit the frog puppet. Above is the score written by Duke Ellington. And I discovered that 'Take the A Train' is composed by Duke Ellington's friend, Billy Strayhorn.

National World War II Memorial and Lincoln Memorial over the Reflecting Pool.

The superstar Lincoln. There were so many people that evening who went to visit and take pictures with him. By this time it was dark and we visited the Vietnam War Memorial before taking the metro from George Washington University station.

And there's so many things left to be discovered at the Smithsonian Museums at National Mall. Even those 3 Museums that I went to had many exhibits which I just skipped because of time constraint. There is truly a extensive collection of exhibits here and explains the buses loaded with schoolchildren that come.