We are in the city of suits, sunnies and SUVs. Ok...well not quite I guess. We are in the city where there is a whole lot of people in dark suits, mirrored sunnies, and black vans with number plates reflecting that they are vehicles of the Washington Government. We were told by a tour guide that these are the Secret Service otherwise known as the Men in Black. This conjured up images of aliens and the like, and I started to wonder again if they walk amongst us. I decided that there was evidence of this in Toowoomba, Australia. Not so much here....lol.
The Secret Service are scattered on the routes in and out of the White House whilst trained snipers line the perimeter. There are a large amount of them out today as there is obviously something happening in or around the White House. There are marquees set up on the south lawn in front of the White House. There are also areas fenced off in the park across the road from it with signs saying that the area is closed off for a legal event. (Am not sure how many would be cordoned off for an ILLEGAL event, however we are in the USA. Just saying....) The Presidents Day public holiday is this coming Monday (the second long weekend since our arrival in the US) so am not sure if that has something to do with it. Military Aircraft appear to be doing test runs around the city and we have seen full Colonels wearing flight suits and carrying weapons walking amid the general population. This may be every day practice....I don't know.....but I feel as though something is up!
Of course, me being me, I am also on high alert.....and every time I see a group of people congregating, I quickly jump to the assumption that the President is doing a walk around....and start snapping away in order to get the "good shot". The results so far have been fruitful. I have photo's of 2 gay Frenchman, 3 oblivious Italian's, a handful of Yanks....and 500 bus loads of Asian tourists. I am sure that Mr Obama has photo bombed at least one of them. Hmmmm...maybe not.
We seem to be having continued bad luck with national monuments. When we were here in 2012, the Statue of Liberty was closed thanks to Hurricane Sandy. On this trip, water transport was cancelled due to ice in the Hudson so that was ticked off again. In Washington, the Washington Memorial is closed due to damage it sustained during an earthquake in 2011 (fortunately the thing is so damned big it can be seen from anywhere), the reflection pool at the Lincoln Memorial is empty, and several areas in front of the White House is fenced off so we cannot get as close as we would like. The news states this morning, that the 911 Memorial at the World Trade Centre in New York has been closed off as well due to ice falling, so I am glad that we got to see that one at least before we left.
We still could take a lot of photos of the White House though, albeit from a large distance. We could see Mr President walking around his front yard. There was no way of proving that it was not him carrying the pitchfork and shovel around with the other gardeners. That is my story and I am sticking to it!
The Secret Service are scattered on the routes in and out of the White House whilst trained snipers line the perimeter. There are a large amount of them out today as there is obviously something happening in or around the White House. There are marquees set up on the south lawn in front of the White House. There are also areas fenced off in the park across the road from it with signs saying that the area is closed off for a legal event. (Am not sure how many would be cordoned off for an ILLEGAL event, however we are in the USA. Just saying....) The Presidents Day public holiday is this coming Monday (the second long weekend since our arrival in the US) so am not sure if that has something to do with it. Military Aircraft appear to be doing test runs around the city and we have seen full Colonels wearing flight suits and carrying weapons walking amid the general population. This may be every day practice....I don't know.....but I feel as though something is up!
Of course, me being me, I am also on high alert.....and every time I see a group of people congregating, I quickly jump to the assumption that the President is doing a walk around....and start snapping away in order to get the "good shot". The results so far have been fruitful. I have photo's of 2 gay Frenchman, 3 oblivious Italian's, a handful of Yanks....and 500 bus loads of Asian tourists. I am sure that Mr Obama has photo bombed at least one of them. Hmmmm...maybe not.
We seem to be having continued bad luck with national monuments. When we were here in 2012, the Statue of Liberty was closed thanks to Hurricane Sandy. On this trip, water transport was cancelled due to ice in the Hudson so that was ticked off again. In Washington, the Washington Memorial is closed due to damage it sustained during an earthquake in 2011 (fortunately the thing is so damned big it can be seen from anywhere), the reflection pool at the Lincoln Memorial is empty, and several areas in front of the White House is fenced off so we cannot get as close as we would like. The news states this morning, that the 911 Memorial at the World Trade Centre in New York has been closed off as well due to ice falling, so I am glad that we got to see that one at least before we left.
We still could take a lot of photos of the White House though, albeit from a large distance. We could see Mr President walking around his front yard. There was no way of proving that it was not him carrying the pitchfork and shovel around with the other gardeners. That is my story and I am sticking to it!
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