Road trip to South Dakota

What is it about South Dakota, worth driving more then 1000 miles (1600 km) round trip? Well first of all it is an easy enough drive as most of the roads are straight like drawn with a ruler (which is really hard to find in Europe). Secondly I could go on about the beautiful countryside of South Dakota but that is actually only half of the story. There is much more to see then some rolling green hills and small lakes with surrounding forests which reminded me a lot of my hometown back in Germany. The following posts will bring light into the darkness why my roommate Justin and I chose this destination for a jolly road trip up north. So stay tuned to read more about Rocks, Caves and a good old friend from Ireland we met against all odds where the Buffalo roams ;-)

The latest trend

Fast food, Hollywood, Rock and Roll, Starbucks, Coca Cola... the US has always been the trend setter for the rest of the world. That's why I am delighted to show my friends back in Europe the latest trend which might comes to a Autobahn near you sooner then you think: having your pick-up truck and the kitchen appliances in the same color! Which is quite a challenge when you have a 70s-toilet-green-colored car like this guy in the picture. Well done ;-)

The credits for this great picture are going entirely to my flatmate Justin who was quick enough taking this picture while I was steering my car in disbelieve :-P

Goodbye DC

But every good thing has to come to an end and after 4 days my feed were quite thankful for getting back home and under my comfy desk back at work ;-)

I am still amazed how much you can see and do in DC. Especially when you love visiting museums and taking pictures of monuments, like I do.


One of the highlights of my trip was meeting Ann and Dave from Milwaukee. We spend some very nice hours together, drinking beer and talking about Germany (where they went the year before). So I will be very happy to visit them in the next months in Wisconsin and try some of their well known beer there!


For being there only four days I saw lots of things. Starting with all the Memorial day celebrations like the parade or the concert, the war memorials, Arlington cemetery, museums, capitol... and I still haven't seen it all. So I guess I have to come back in one stage ;-)

Museums and Monuments

The museum for the American Indians (funny name for the native Americans I thought) is in a very nice and modern looking building alongside other great museums like the air and space museum or the American history museum. Spending time in all museums in DC is truly a challenge and might take you several weeks.


But even trying to visit all the different monuments will take quite some time. One of the most famous one is the Lincoln Memorial just across the Washington Monument. In the park between them you can find all the different war monuments starting with the famous black wall for the Vietnam War, the Korean War monument to the newest World War II memorial.

But one of the most chilling experiences is the Holocaust museum which is right of the national mall too. It is one of the best museums I saw in DC and is well worth a visit. The end of the exposition is this eternal flame for the victims of the Holocaust.

Me and the VIP

For most of you this might come as a surprise but history studies are showing that on all major events in American history I was there too. You don't believe me? Well, check out the pictures and believe your eyes my friend!
Here you can see me talking to Abraham Lincoln just before his assassination in the theater watching a crappy comedy. Of course Abraham insisted on getting us some drinks and peanuts... and that's when it happened.

Or you can see me here with JF Kennedy, visiting Berlin in the 60s. We had a long conversation on the plane about what he is saying at his speech. Unfortunately he didn't listen to me (once again) and said the famous words... Ich bin ein Berliner... which easily could be mistaken for... I am a donut. No wonder that the crowd was getting hungrier minute after minute with all this talk about food. I should have had a Bratwurst stand there and I would be rich ;-)

Going back a few more years in history again... here you can see me with the civil war general Lee discussing the terms of his surrender. What you can't see is a huge number of fine Tennessean bourbon bottles which helped quite a lot for the negotiations. After that union general Grand signed everything... and bought even our broken washing machine and dryer ;-)


And here is a more recent picture with me a good friend of mine: Georg Clooney . He saw my performance as JFKs first lady and offered me straight away a leading role in his newest movie... Ocean 27. Well, as much as you can have a leading role beside 26 other leading characters though :-)

Of course I refused! I like traveling more then acting I guess :-P

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 ;-)