ON TO THE NEWSEUM

The Navy Memorial was at street level where we exited the Metro and two blocks west of the Newseum. We took about 30 min. to study the freezes which commemorate a number of events in the Navy's history. I only photographed this one.

It celebrates Commodore Perry's opening Japan to commerce in 1852. The freezes were done by a variety of sculptors and are really outstanding. But . . . moving on down the street. . . .

The Newseum is billed as the most interactive museum in Washington, and it is one that is not free. I purchased our tickets on-line back in Oct., I think, and that is a modest saving, but the really good thing is that the tickets are good for admittance on two successive days. Nor are they dated. I'll tell you right up front: we didn't nearly see it all.

We followed the staff's advice and took the big glass elevator (holds about 35 people) to the 6th floor, and I took this shot of the capitol from the terrace.

We didn't stay out there long as it was still very breezy and cold, and our coats had been checked. We returned downstairs and viewed the Berlin Wall exhibit. This is an actual segment of the wall, and first you'll see the Western side followed by the Eastern side.

I'm not always appreciative of graffiti, but the Eastern side is so bleak. One of the watch towers used by the Russians to keep people from crossing into the Western sector is in the display also. It is three stories tall, and the guards shot those trying to escape. It has a huge impact.

Other exhibits elaborated on the news media's influence and service in bringing big time crooks to justice. I won't go through all of that, but the Unabomber's cabin was on display also, and the only thing it had going for it was its ample storage. (If you saw it you'd get the joke.) I was ready for a sit-down, so Goo and I went to the snack bar where we each got a drink, and we split a gigantic muffin which had cranberries in it. Guess who oversees the menu selection there? Wolfgang Puck! That muffin was mighty good, Wolfie.

We continued through some other exhibits and eventually wound up here.

(Sorry, folks, but I had to do quite a bit of finagling to get that picture, and I can't enlarge the print there.)

Upon our return we each chose about four exhibits we wanted to be sure to see. Actually, I only wanted to see a portion of the 9/11 exhibit. Perhaps you feel as I do that so much of that day and the days that followed are so ingrained that I can't go there again. One part I chose to visit was this:

This photo shows where the following piece was before everything went you know where.

Just looking at this scrambled metal is chilling.

We visited the other exhibits we had selected and ended with this one. After looking through this one we watched the 4-D movie about Nelly Blye and went home. It was a very good day.