Day 1 - The lost symbol

Dan Brown's books are my favorite reading. I love the style of Dan Brown: an exciting story with a famous history lesson on top. Personally, I find his best book 'The Lost Symbol' that takes place in the American capital Washington DC. Intriguing how he incorporates one of the legends of Masonry with those beautiful buildings in the city.

After the colonies' independence war against Great Britain and France, the new country that united 13 states, obviously had to have a capital. That city was named after the commander-in-chief of the colonies, also one of the Founding Fathers, and the first president of the United States, General George Washington. It is therefore no coincidence that the city is situated in the vicinity of Mount Vernon, the home of Uncle George.
Washington DC (District of Columbia), or simply DC, is on neutral grounds, in other words, it is not situated in any of the 50 states of the US. This is to prevent a state from having an influence on the capital. That also means that the inhabitants of the capital have no delegation in Congress, that is representing the states. They only vote in the presidential election.
Washington DC is the epicenter of political power, not only of the American, but by expansion of the world. The American president is after all one of the most powerful persons in the world. And that power also translates into powerful buildings. Almost every day we see a television correspondent reporting live, standing in front of the White House or in front of the Capitol. 

Unsurprisingly  therefore, that Washington DC also often forms the backdrop for many feature films and series. What is surprising to me is that 'The Lost Symbol' has not  been filmed yet. Where all other books by Dan Brown  with Professor Langdon were turned into a movie, the filming of this book is temporarily put on hold. Those other movies take place in, among others the Vatican, Rome, Paris, Florence, Venice and Istanbul, undoubtedly the dream of every director and cinematographically the perfect environment, but there are worse locations than Washington DC as background. In anticipation of Ron Howard making the movie and persuading Tom Hanks one last time  to get into the role of professor Langdon, I already scout for the film and look for all those places Dan Brown described so beautifully in his book (and more obviously because there are so many other interesting buildings) and that encourage me to go to DC for a second time, now in the wake of the Lost Symbol.Washington DC is a pleasant city for a tourist. It is a planned city with alphabetical and numbered streets that run north-south and east west. Avenues cross the city diagonally. The city was designed by Pierre L'Enfant,  commissioned by George Washington.The Mall is the green heart of the city, a strip of 1.5 km between the Capitol and the Washington Monument and also the cultural heart of the city. Here you will find the museums of the Smithsonian Institution. John Smithson was an English scientist and philanthropist and also the illegitimate son of the Duke of Northumberland. Although he had never been in the United States, he wanted to leave his entire legacy to an organization to increase and spread knowledge. This organization became the Smithsonian Insitution. 

The first collection was housed in the Smithsonian Castle, a striking Victorian building in red color on the Mall. Meanwhile, the gigantic collection has been moved into various museums and in the Castle are only administrative services left.

The most popular museum and also my top favorite is undoubtedly the National Space and Air Museum. 

Not surprising because the museum houses some true gems. For example, in the huge entrance hall, also called the 'Milestones of flight' room, hangs the 'Spirit of St. Louis', the plane with which Charles Lindbergh performed the first solo flight over the Atlantic Ocean.

But also the command module of Apollo 11, which brought the first people to the moon, can be seen here. 

Speaking of the moon, always wanted to touch a moonstone? Well here is your chance. This moonstone was brought back in 1972 by the crew of the Apollo 17 who landed last on the moon. There is also the Friendship 7 with which John Glenn orbitted around the earth. It is amazingly small. Besides space vehicles, there is also attention paid to the space suits with which our space heroes were shot into the infinite space. There is a space suit that is still under moondust. Have they ever heard that Dash washes whiter than white J? But there is also a space suit that was used by NASA during the space shuttle program. And that comes with a personal story for me. My dad was at the time head of Research & Development at Bell Telephone, who was asked by the ESA to develop an air valve for the space suits. An almost unsightly little thing, but the most important part of the suit, because the valve had to make sure that the astronauts got air during their spacewalk. The result of the project was eventually used by NASA during the shuttle flights.

I remember very well how my dad sat in front of the screen during the first spacewalk that was broadcast live at the time. Nervous, hoping that nothing would go wrong. It worked perfectly. The first spacewalk with his valve was a success story and the highlight in his career and rightly so one of the most beautiful moments in his life.

But there is more to see: the aircraft of the Wright brothers, for example, that managed to stay in the air above the fields of North Carolina.I have always been a bigger fan of American football than of baseball. The fact that I understand more about the rules of football probably has something to do with it 😀. Today, the Washington Nationals play a home game against the Phillies from Philadelphia.

I have a great seat behind the dug-out of the Phillies and with an unobstructed view of the batting plate. It is a game from the Major League, say the first class of American baseball. Since I understand only the main rules of the game, I am here for he ambiance. The game starts a little after 7pm. And to get into it, we start with the culinary highlight of the day: a hot dog, what else? The amazing vibe is created by more than 35,000 fans who are present in the Nationals Park and by the stadium announcer whose enthusiasm is unseen. 

When the first batter of the Nationals, Bryce Harper, hits a homerun at the first ball contact, (something that he repeats one more time), it quickly becomes clear that the game will turn out in favor of the Nationals. The stadium explodes. After the game is suspended for more than half an hour because of the rain, the Nationals finish it four hours after the opening pitch: final score 7-3. Total joy for  the home audience. We see no less than 5 home runs in total. What a spectacular evening in Nationals Park. Let’s play ball ….