Visiting DC's landmarks...

... with approximately another million tourist who seemed to have the same idea. Lucky enough there are plenty of landmarks in DC so you don't run into too many of them at a time ;-) On the right you can see the other side of the White House which isn't that impressive at all. What you can't see are the protesters behind me who have build two permanent tents on the opposite of the White House protesting for an end of the Iraq war. Accompanied by several policemen who seemed to be permanently there too.

Even though I didn't make it into the White House, I got the chance to see the Capitol from the inside. Like every govermental building or museum security is very tight with metal detectors everywhere. You are even not allowed to take water with you in the building which is quite strange I think. What do they think I am doing with a water bottle in there? Dissolving the marble? Oh well... better being safe then sorry I guess ;-)

The only 'skyscraper' in Washington DC is the Washington Monument. 555 feet (170 meter) tall it offers a very nice view over the national mall. Unfortunately you have to be very very early there just to get any ticket. The ticket booth is opening at 8.30 in the morning but according to one of the rangers there you have to arrive before 7.30 to make sure you are getting any ticket. Well... that is obviously the downside when everything is for free I guess ;-)

Are you safe yet?

Very interesting about Washington DC is that even in Germany I have heard all these news about crime in this part of the country (it was for several years on top of the homicide statistics). Also my tourist guide is mentioning this problem. But surprising enough this might have been the safest city I was ever in so far. The amount of policemen, cars, bikes and all that is amazing. And what was even more surprising for me is that every agency seems to have their own police units.

So you'll end up seeing the capitol police units, the DC metro police units (which is the regular police I would guess), the White House police squat, the White House uniformed secret service unit, the FBI police, and so on.
When I arrived in Washington around 10 pm local time I just walked over to the White House to get a first glance (and a beer in a local bar, but that is another story) I was surprised to find the whole city deserted.

Especially the National Mall which is the main part of Washington with all the monuments, museums, governmental buildings and tourist attractions seemed more like a ghost town to me. Except the police officer standing across the White House like a marble stature, watching every step I took. Strange... but I felt safe I have to say ;-)
On the other hand I stayed just across the Watergate Hotel so I didn't really see other parts of the town at night... but staying on the tourists paths seemed to be the safest thing I did so far over here :-P

Touring Washington DC

Well the headline says it all... I was touring the nations capital for a longer 4-days-weekend and to cut a long story short, it wasn't enough, by far. There is so much to see you wouldn't believe it... so many memorials, government buildings and museums. And to top it of I even had an invitation to the White House! No joke! Getting one is a quite complicated process and you have to write your congressman and getting security checked just for getting set on a long waiting list.

And guess what! I got it... I was sooo happy for approximately five minutes till I read the time and date. Unfortunately his secretary messed the dates up and so I was booked for the wrong day. And because of security reasons they can tell you only a few days in advanced if you are going or not, far too late to rebook on another date and time. Oh well... really a pity but there was still so much more to see! Especially as I was calling over not for any weekend but the Memorial Day weekend so all war memorials were decorated (like the Korean War memorial on the right). And lots of people were in town.

So I had the chance to see a street parade, a biker parade the day before, ceremonial changing of guards at the national cemetery, a concert in the Capitol gardens and many other things. And the best of all... it all came for FREE! Here was some good value for my bucks, everything was already paid for with my tax dollars ;-) So in the next posts I will tell you more about how I was counting the different security agencies, tried to relive some key scenes of National Treasure, spend hours in museums and also how I met the president o the United States.

Pow-wow in Morrison

In several of my previous posts I was talking about the different festivals over here like the Paddy's day parade, Cinco de Mayo, Oktoberfest and Rodeos just to name a few. A very nice tradition I saw today in Morrison just a few miles out of Denver... an Indian pow-wow which is more less the native American version of a carnival.

Interesting enough this is something like a dance and song singing contest where different native American families (and groups) are meeting up and fighting in different competitions; some of them with very funny names like the 'chicken dance' which has nothing to do with what we in Europe would connect with it (well, you remember the 80s 'chicken song' with its specific funny dance... something like the Macarena just more silly I guess)


But this tradition is great fun to see and listen to. All the different costumes and dances, the different songs and rhythms... and of course the different food! A very nice tradition to have in a such fast moving country like the US.

Different Taste 8

My favorite section of this blog is back... as you all know in 'different taste' I am exploring the different sodas (ehem... soft drinks) and candies (ehem sweets) in the name of science. This time it was a blast of the past with Sierra Mist's Undercover Orange. This is an orange Fanta-like drink which is... undercover and clear! Which reminds me of one of my favorit drinks of my youth: Cristal Pepsi! This clear Pepsi was quite popular in Europe in the early 90s and you might remember it too. In the States they took it of the shelves after a few months and most of my friends here don't remember it at all. A pity.

Let's hope that Undercover Orange (with a nice special agent ad on the radio) has better luck with its crystal clear taste ;-)

Chocolate Festival

A chocolate festival in Denver... oh my... in a country with Hershey's "so called chocolate" my dreams finally came true! The whole downtown Expo center filled with the finest Coloradan chocolate? And Willy Wonka and Denise Nickerson completing the spectacle with their appearance!
Who is Denise? Well... the girl from the 70 s 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' movie... I am disappointed that you asked ;-)


Also count Choco, who seems to be a well known character with his own cereal products, was there too. Funny is that he was impersonated by a well known news anchor of the channel two news over here. I really wondered how much they had to pay him to get into that funny suit. The lack of TV cameras proved to me that he didn't want to get remembered for his performance though ;-)


But this day wasn't about the 'stars ' on the stage. No, it was all about the chocolate... and plenty of it. After sampling for half a day you really felt the hard work and I also felt with the judges of the various chocolate competitions :o)

Next year I'll be back... you can count on that Count Choco :-)

Primaries update 2

Wow... who had guessed that the primaries are continuing like that? It is only one more month to go and still non of the candidates has the required numbers of delegates to get elected at the Democrats convention here in Denver in August!
In the meantime both campaigns are producing large numbers of T-shirts, banners, badges and all that... keeping the tumbling American economy going ;-)

What might seems quite confusing and a bit annoying for European eye (can you not decide now for crying out loud)... for the American media it seems to be something like a 10 month long football match to report about... even though most of my American friends seem to be sick of all that too.

In my humble opinion there is only one winner of all these ongoing Democrats primaries... McCain from the Republicans. While Hillary and Obama are fighting to the blood for their nomination McCain can enjoy traveling the country and is getting his position strengthened for the "real" election... oh well... but what do I know? I am not even allowed to vote here anyway... thankfully :o)

Cinco de Mayo Festival

Fun, fun, fun at the weekend! We had 'Cinco de Mayo' street festival which is the Mexican independence day downtown Denver. Normally this day is celebrated at the 5th of May (thus the 'cinco de mayo') but as it is not a weekend day we have celebrated it already. America is moving fast, man :-)


Speaking with a Mexican friend of mine who was living over there for most of her life it is interesting to hear that this day is much bigger celebrated over in the States then it is over in Mexico itself. Most of the Mexican federal states doesn't even have a holiday for it.
I wonder now if they celebrate the American Independence Day bigger over in Mexico in turn of the not celebrated Cinco de Mayo...

But that seems to be the beauty of America... every ethnic group seems to have their very own festival over here... Germans have their Oktoberfest, Irish their St. Paddy's Day, Mexicans their Mayo Festival, Chinese their Dragon Boat race and so on. In America it is always a good reason for a celebration and plenty of beer... just try to avoid the light beers and go for the ethnic beers too... Oktoberfest-beer, Guinness, Corona, Tiger beer... ;-)

Blizzard fun... in May

When I moved over here I heard so many stories about the Coloradan weather. Or maybe I just picked the things I wanted to hear? Like 300 days of sunshine and those are really amazing, don't get me wrong. Or the fantastic snow up the Rockies which makes skiing so much more fun then being stuck on some other mountain. But the blizzards are still confusing for me...

... especially those like we had today! Yesterday night I came back from a party at around 11 o'clock at night. It was a very pleasant spring night and I didn't even have a jacket with me. Fast forward 8 hours and not only am I stuck in the rush hour traffic but also in a (small) blizzard on the first of May!

Anyhow... the weather in Colorado is never boring and I really enjoy every minute of it. But I really prefer sunshine without snow for a change :o)