The second day in DC and I was out. Went out to see Jon Stewart at ‘The rally to restore sanity’ at the National Mall in DC. The grounds stretch from the Capitol to way back to almost the Washington Memorial, and the crowds were packed completely. They had blocked off the side roads from traffic and people were everywhere, even on lampposts, to get a better view. The only reason that I was there was to see Jon Stewart in person; after having seen his performances on the Daily show for so long, I was a big fan now. In the end, I ended up being content with seeing him on the big screen only, as I waded for half an hour through the sea of people over there, and still was only halfway to the front. But nevertheless, it was a good experience, coming out and seeing this huge crowd, all waving creative signs on this beautiful sunny afternoon, and hearing Stewart and Colbert speak, with a few other artists' performances thrown in. The Smithsonian Castle and the lush green patch in the middle of the Mall (which I obviously got to see some other day, albeit only what wasn’t trampled by the crowd on the day of the rally) is a nice place to spend a leisurely walk.
It was almost like a woodstock like atmosphere, well okay, maybe not that wild, but still people were out in huge numbers and enjoying themselves. Some of them even had blankets spread out and were simply looking for a tan on the nice afternoon. The cops must've had a tough time keeping all of this in order, and a lot of them had their bikes parked on the connecting side roads to maintain the flow of traffic.
The office building is smack 3 blocks from the White house, so yours truly decided one evening decided to see if mr. Obama would be available. Surprisingly he wasn’t, so just took a few snaps in front of his house and moved on. It was a bit surprising to see that people were allowed to get so close to the building with so few cops patrolling the place, or they were there but in plainclothes. There were plenty of foreigners having their snaps taken in front of the building, posing around, humph, tourists!
Week 2, and I got roam around a bit more before the winter really settled in. The DC zoo came highly recommended by a few guys and the zoo it was then. A good day once more, bright sunshine allowed me to roam around in a just a thin pullover all over the zoo premises. The attraction, at least for me, wasn’t just few of the animal species I had never seen, but also the brightly colored fauna.
It was almost magical to see green leaves interspersed with a very generous dose of yellow, orange and red all around; guess it’d have been even more amazing to look at in the spring. The first animal species that graced us with its presence was a cheetah.
Let me tell you, it was damn hard to get a decent shot of the gentle beast, it was doing its morning walk, (well it was 10 in the morning but I guess the cookoo clock didn’t work today), and the grass was easily 2 feet tall all around, so I was running around from corner to post chasing the four legged speedster. Guess they don't call it the fastest animal around for nothing! The gazelles in the next enclosure were much more hospitable, or lazy, whatever, as they sat there the entire time getting a nice tan.
I was quite lucky that I reached the Panda area at feeding time. When I reached there, the camera shy couple were way at the back of the enclosure and hidden by the trees. Luckily a zoo employee came out soon enough and called out to the pandas, and tossed them their breakfast. She told me it was ice, mixed with lots of chunks of fruits, and the big fluffy animals enjoyed the meal, sitting on their butts licking the iced dessert/main course. I stood there for 10 minutes admiring the cute animal that I had only seen on television before and its enormous size.
Next up was the small mammal building, and I cannot remember all the names of the monkeys, meerkats and other small creatures, but it was really great to see many different species. The orange furry monkey (That's at least what i call it) was all at attention perched nicely on its bark. Its a bit sad to see them caged up away from their natural habitat, for the pleasure of the beast called human, but maybe it is us who are trapped in a cage, this unending cycle called life or death....but i digress, that's a topic for a much more detailed discussion , and probably one which would require all the parties to have a few shots of hard liquor in them to enjoy.
The amphibian lane included some monitor lizards as well, and it seemed the Iguana was a bit short on manners as it stuck its tongue out to everyone who passed by, dunno if it thinks it’s the lucky one inside the glass cage or whether we are. But it certainly does need to change its acne cream, the protrusions on its face might not be too good when it comes to talking to ladies, unless the opposite ender also has the same problem, in which case i guess its fine.
The king of the jungle really was living life kingsize, with a really big enclosure for him, and 3 lionesses in the same enclosure, well here’s one guy who likes to play the crowd, or the pride in this case. And as if he knew how good a life he had, he was striking a brilliant pose for the shutterbugs, just sitting in a majestic pose under the trees, while the lionesses roamed around on the lower level.
The aquarium section was also quite something, with piranhas, stingrays, octopuses, color changing jellyfish and what not; this one seemed to be a smart one, or a really dumb one, depending on whether that was a enlarged brain or a temporary bump on its head.
One of the really exquisite things that they’ve done here is that they’ve also built up inside a big glass enclosure, an ecosystem resembling almost a rainforest, and there are a lot of plant species that you wouldn’t normally get to see in the climate outside, with vanes rising high, pitcher shaped stems on trees and bright flowers all taking you to a completely different place from the one that you are used to.
The last place that I visited was the snake area. Now they had a nice variety here as well, the vipers with the horns on their heads, or was that the adders, well one of them. And there was the rattler, and the rattle was in fact quite audible even through the glass. The tree green boa was happily stationery in a zenlike position and presented quite a harmless picture, guess that’s how the dinner feels as well. 
There were the usual pythons ad boa constrictors, which were close to 20 feet in length, and a couple of snakes that were also in the process of shedding their skin. Got to see the giant snapping turtles, as well as the Galapogas tortoises, the latter as big as an 8 year old’s toy car. I did not even realize that I had spent close to 7 hours here as I was heading out, and as luck would have it, I chanced upon the Emu enclosure as well. The shy bird was about 30 feet away behind some bushes, and I was thinking of leaving, but just lingered for a few more moments, and the gracious host stepped out and posed quite comfortably right next to me at the fence. I obliged by taking a couple of snaps, thanked the magnanimous gesture and finally called it a tiring, satisfied day.
Awesome post...Amazing pics and a great write up to go with.
ReplyDeleteHave you changed your blog template? The black background is not very pleasing to the eye.