The Titan who bore the punishment of lifting the heavens.
I read this fantastic novel this summer called “Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand. Which is why I particularly like this 7 ton sculpture located at the Rockefeller Center.
Atlas
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GYLC
Museum of Natural History
Always impressive to visit, I liked it better the second time around.
National Archives Entrance
We came, we saw and the giant door was locked.
We later realized this was the “special” entrance.
The actual entrance was to the side and we had a 40 minute waiting period to see the Constitution and Declaration of Independence.
Unfortunately, we just didn’t have enough time to hang out.
Washington Monument
Tallest structure in Washington.
Glowstick
I was on the 16th floor of the hotel when the thunder clouds rolled in.
We were going through a UN simulation on Peace and Security.
A person came upstairs and warned us to stay away from the windows because the wind outside was rolling at 60ish km/hr.
This was shortly before the blackout.
Thankfully we had candles and glowsticks at hand.
Yellow Taxi
Yellow cabs are a rarity these days.
Here at home, we play a game when we hit the road.
Every yellow vehicle (besides yellow school bus) warrant a loud “block” from the person who sees it first. This person gets to punch everyone around them.
We generally try to avoid punching the driver, for obvious reasons.
World War II Memorial
Quite fantastically presented. Washington gets very hot in the summer, and seeing a lot of people just hanging out with their feet dangling in the fountain served as a reminder as to what all the men died for.
Intensive Reading
Intensive reading over the past few weeks on Photography tips has got me thinking that framing a picture within a picture is a neat trick. I like how this one worked out.
Union Station
Thank you, wide angle lens !
Photos from the Bus
Jefferson Memorial
Gtown
Crossroads at Gtown
Nice cloud cover.
Starbucks
America has a LOT of Starbucks, the first one I went to (I’ve been to a few in Canada though I prefer Tim Hortons) had a very nice and cosy fireplace. Must be a popular place in the winter.
Bank at Gtown
It’s a bank alright, but catering to very special people as closer observation shows.
Dulles Airport II
Shiny place, the airports can be.
Terminal to Terminal
We waited at the wrong terminal for a few extra minutes.
Thankfully we caught a shuttle in time and caught the bus to the Conference.
Dulles Airport
The flight to Washington was rather uneventful.
It was at 8 in the morning, which wasn’t too bad because I’d been getting up at 6 am anyhow for my biking routines.
Air Canada was pretty decent.
They had touch screens for each passenger. (Way cool!)
But you had to pay for the blankets even.
The economic downturn, I suppose.
Single Formation
Fantastic discipline, if more students today had this sort of thing then . . .
Blackout in Washington
It all started out with preparation about India’s stance about the issue in Cyprus. I was assigned on the 16th floor ballroom.
It gave me a liveview to the storm that followed during our simulation.
The subsequent blackout led to the cancellation of the GYLC Olympics and also meant that I had to take the stairs down from the 16th floor.
(Quite the workout since I haven’t been exercising at all this month)
Tomorrow is a free day, the only full casual day on record and we’re going to visit the Smithsonian Museums. Should be fantastic.
Peace & Security
We’ve got a simulation to run today and I should be researching about it.
I’m a representative from India and the issue is which stance should we take on the Security Council over the Greece vs Turkey issue in Cyprus.
In the one previous simulation we had, contrary to real life, Airbus won (overwhelmingly I might add) against Boeing, in the matter of granting illegal subsidies.
Should be interesting.
Day 4.
We went to the State Department, I wasn’t allowed to take my camera inside. Tragedy because there really were some great shots that I could’ve made. I was in the same building as Clinton but she didn’t drop by to surprise the 324 students in the auditorium. I sat in the seat generally reserved for REUTERS.
After this we went to Du Pont Circle, named after an Admiral in the US Civil War. It was this blend of buildings both new and old. I quite liked it.
Almost as great as Georgetown which had a giant APPLE store.
The Talent Show at night was pretty decent I suppose. One of the group leaders taught us about geography, another scholar taught about beatboxing but the funniest of them all was about a scholar who performed stand up comedy about having your parents as friends on facebook. Hilarious.
It was however a disgusting day to be out, it felt like a giant hairdryer was in my face the whole time. One would think living in Saudi Arabia would be helpful to a larger extent. We stayed outside for quite some time when we walked around, visited the Ireland Embassy and also the Lincoln Memorial.
Pearson to Dulles
The trip from Pearson to Washington was rather uneventful. The flight was early in the morning, and I left home without having breakfast.
The smarties that followed did little to fill my stomach.
Being in Washington the past 4.5 days has been wonderful.
The opportunities for a budding young enthusiast photographer like myself are terrific. Its just been super busy.
World Bank, Jefferson Memorian, FDR Memorial, Georgetown, Lincoln Memorial, WWII Memorial.
Breakfast is at 7 am on most days, and its lights out by 11:30 pm.
And even if I sleep at 10:30 pm right after the security check I am just too tired.
Photo Trip.
I’m taking my first trip by myself tomorrow.
(well not really by myself, I have a twin!)
But its the first one in which I will be trigger happy with my camera.
4.5 GB of Memory Space for 12 days, and rechargeable batteries.
Its going to be amazing, I better get to sleep right now if I am to catch my early morning flight tomorrow!
