It is the second sunny day in DC. The coach gradually slows down and finally pulls up by the road. Today is the day that we pay our visit at Capitol.
We slowly wonder up the trail to the building. By the trail chestnut trees and maple trees stand straightly, projecting the mottled shadow on the road. The breeze of June slightly blows and the leaves on the trees sway as the wind passes by.
I am very excited and nervous: This is my first time to visit such a crucial national institution from the inside view. We soon passed the security check and entered the building. There’s a large amount of people who will confuse the three words “Capitol”, “Capital” and “Congress”. The Capitol is the building that Congress work to vote and make decisions on the acts and agreements. The Capital is the city where the president and essential national institutions locate, as the capital of the USA is Washington D.C. The Congress is a group of people that will vote and express their opinion for the final decision of the nation.
Walk into the main hall of Capitol, all of us were stunned by the magnificent huge dome. There are hundreds of detailed anaglyphs and frescos on the dome. The sunlight falls naturally through the glasses and lightens the hall brightly. The sculptures placed around the hall were also grand. They were donated by states expressing their best wishes to the country.
Behind the Capitol it’s the Supreme Court. It not only handles the portals from the local state courts but also petitions from the Congress. There are 9 justices as the deciders working in the court. As you go in, you will be attracted by the impressive adornments on the roof and the walls. The frescos of flowers on the roof, drawings and murals are telling the myths and stories about liberty to every visitor.
Not too far away, in the downtown of D.C., there lies the White House. It is where the president of the USA lives and works. As you check the locations of the Capital, the Supreme Court and the White House, you may find that they are laid out in a triangle. Each of the building is located at one angle of the triangle. This is exactly like the politic structure of the USA: Legislative department, executive department and the president, three bodies support and restrict each other.
After visiting the grand construction of the Capitol, we soon continued our trip to a series of Smithsonian museums. James Smithson, an Englishman had never been to USA when he was alive. However, he donated hundreds of millions of dollars to the US government after he died. To commemorate him and his donation, Smithsonian Institution was established. Now there are in total 21 Smithsonian museums in the USA and 19 of them are in DC. They are all managed and maintained by the Smithsonian Institution. We have visited 4 of them: the Aerospace Museum, the Art Museum, the History Museum and the Natural History Museum.
As I am fanatical about planes. My favorite one is the Smithsonian Aerospace Museum. We have visited the new site of the museum in Virginia, since they need space to put the space shuttle ‘Discovery’. However, I wasn’t attracted by that. What really caught my eyes was the planes exhibition. There were aircrafts produced from the 10s of 20th century to now. Famous ones like the fastest plane in the world, the Lockheed Martin SR-71 ‘blackbird’, the only commercial plane that can fly faster than sound speed, the ‘Concorde’……Not known ones like the secret jet engine planes of Nazi, Ar234 and the broken body of Ho229.
The exhibitions of the other museums were also awesome, like the portraits of US presidents, the specimens of beautiful butterflies and other insects, the exhibition of the development history of US transportation and the history of US. Visiting these museums, what I saw are not only easy exhibitions and objects placing in glass shelter, but also the heart of Smithson and Smithsonian staffs’ determination to spread the knowledge to the public.
After that, as all of us thought that there wouldn’t be anything else interesting in the trip, Mr. Richard brought another surprise for us, a baseball match of Red Sox vs Blue Jays. It was held at Fenway Park, where the grand Red Sox trains and plays.
We found our seats in the huge auditorium with hordes of Red Sox fans. They talked, shouted, sang and waved their hands, built up an enthusiastic atmosphere in the arena. The fire of excitement deep inside my heart was rekindled.
I can’t help but sat up straight and put all the attention on the pitcher and the hitter. The Red Sox had a common start. Its opponent’s, Toronto Blue Jays, and its hitters all failed to hit most of the shots throwed by the pitcher. The situation continued until one of the players of Red Sox, Rafeal Devers, had an amazing homerun hit. The audiences stood up, shouting, with their hand highly raising up to the air. I was also very excited: It is surprising that I could have the chance to see homerun in the first baseball game I have seen in my life.
However, the high morale of Red Sox didn’t last long. The Blue Jays fought like a beast without restraint of chains. They almost dominated the game from the 3rd match. The Red Sox had a disadvantage of 4 points behind them. The audiences seemed to be worried too. I thought that this would’ve be the end of the whole game: The Red Sox would lose this one. But we still didn’t give up. We shouted: “Let’s go Red Sox, let’s go Red Sox” with our hands clapping, trying to encourage the players and help them find their confidence again.
Fortunately, the luck came to the Red Sox. When Tyler O’Neill gave a lightning hit of the ball and ran as fast as any humankind can to the first base, the Blue Jays player failed to catch the ball to knock O’Neill out of the round. The fans exploded with shouting and yelling. Then the balance of the match started to topple to the Red Sox’s side. The next hitter, David Hamilton, gave the second homerun of the Red Sox. The ball flew in an elegant trajectory. Like a comet, it glided smoothly through the cool air of Boston, under the bright light of the arena. All audiences’ eyes were staring at the ball. It flew over the arena and rush into the auditorium at the end of the field. The already-dead enthusiasm of the Red Sox fans was stimulated again. They waved, yelled, danced, expressing the happiness by any ways they can. I was in the celebrating group, although two hours ago I had no acknowledge about anything of baseball. This maybe the unique charm of sports: The amazing performance and ability will be celebrated by everyone in the court, and the happiness of success will be shared by everyone watching, no matter the audiences are sophisticated with the sport or not. This is very different to sport culture in China, where skilled players seem to have privilege over others.
Anyway, the trip to the USA was very unique. What we have learnt were not only those facts about places we visited, but also an experience of American culture and American’s spirit. They do have huge differences to culture and conventions in China. What we should do is to accept the benefits in both of them and develop our own characteristics through following learnings.
- Article / Jacky Li
