lørdag 2. oktober 2010

Day 28: Eating grasshoppers

Drive of the day (map):

Today it is raining - it is actually storming outside. Tropical storm Nicole made us chill in Frederick until check-out time and she also made the drive to Washington DC a little boring and slow. I couldn't do my usual speeding so it took a little longer than expected.

We did, after some skilful driving and a few wrong turns, find out way to the hotel - and were pleasently surprised of the standard of it. Courtyard by Marriot in Washington DC can be recommended.

The rain did stop us from doing much though. A short walk in the early afternoon - and then at night Simon and I left Erlend at the hotel to meet up with an old friend from Cairo, Angelica. We met up at this hip mexican restaurant downtown and I was stupid enough to try to eat grasshopper - it taste like crap - not recommmended...

torsdag 30. september 2010

Day 27: ...of the people, by the people, for the people

Drive of the day (map)


Probably the most famous part of Abraham Lincolns Gettysburg Address - the speach he gave shortly after the three day battle at Gettysburg. And a sentence that is used to define a democracy. On the 27th day of our trip we found ourselves in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.


After yet another eggs and bacon breakfast we left amish territory and headed for Gettysburg. Just a short one hour drive away from Lancaster. At first we got a little disappointed when we walked around the battlefield and saw that the museum and visitor center was closed - but we soon (or at least after 30 minutes) found out that it was the OLD visitor center that was closed... So we drove the short distance to the new center and was not disappointed.


The museum part of the center is ok - nothing special really, but they do have a great movie explaining the cause of the civil war, the war itself and the aftermath. The fact that it was narrated by Morgan Freeman didn't hurt either. After the movie we all saw our first cyclorama. cyclorama is a panoramic painting on the inside of a cylindrical platform, designed to provide a viewer standing in the middle of the cylinder with a 360° view of the painting. The intended effect is to make a viewer, surrounded by the panoramic image, feel as if they were standing in the midst of a historic event or famous place. It was really cool. And the enhance the feeling of being there they use light, sound and even some props in front of the cyclorama. It was really worth the trip itself. What we thought was a modern painting was actually a painting from 1883 - and the artist had used 4 tons of oil paint....


After Gettysburg we didn't really have any plans so we drove to the smallish town of Frederick, Maryland. We checked in at yet another Days Inn, played some basketball, ate and did some shopping...