Alien in New York

Hi all!

I know it's been a while, but it turned out that spending a huge amount of time on producing words here is not what I would love to do on a regular basis, thus, I kind of abandoned this blog (sadly). But now, out of the blue, I want to share a part of our trip that touched my heart. It does not mean that this blog has revived from the ashes. More likely, it means that I'll try to maintain it in a new less time-consuming manner.

The experience that I want to share with you is a 4-day stay in Santa Monica, CA which was a final stop of our 2-week vacation. Santa Monica and Venice are almost indistinguishable so I prefer to think about them as about one place. People who watch Californication may know the place as a lot of the scenes from the series take place there. For the teaser, here is the Californication opening. Almost all of the places from it will appear later in this post.

We arrived to our airbnb apartment at about 8 pm and were not patient to see the ocean as it was only 6 streets away. No photos were taken then, as it was too late, but, no surprise, the beach way still there next morning:

These beach -is-there signs are really popular.
The locals know what people are looking for.

The beach is huge! But despite its size it is nice and clean.
Either people are conscientious enough, or public services that clean
it properly... or both. Anyway, it looks amazing.

Some military stuff going on.

Some pelican-like birds flying around.

By the afternoon water leaves a 20 meter strip of sand where you
can wander around if you do not want to get wet.

On the other side of the sand strip there is an Ocean Frontwalk. The part of it that is in Venice is not just a road, it is a place where you can find many creative people and their works, buy some souvenirs or just listen to some local band playing. It is also definitely a go-to place for people-watching.
It starts with its famous sign:

Historically, this place was called Venice of America and was supposed to remind people of the original Venice in Italy (you'll see later why). But then the last part of the name was dropped and now it is simply Venice, LA, CA.

Really doubt that someone still rides it

Since medical marijuana is legal in CA, just for $30 bucks you can find a reason to get a prescription for it. There also were real doctors there, only there robes were green, but due to huge NO PHOTOS sign I prefer to respect their privacy and not to post the full picture.

Being there I finally realized what people mean by "beach culture" (at least to some extent). For me, a beach is just a place where I can cool in water and grill on the sun. For the locals it seems to be their life! And they can name a hundred of other ways to use it: surf, bike, jog or walk along, do yoga, play volley, just sit and watch the waves or the sunset,

Skate

Go to gym

and many-many others. It seems like these people do not need Broadway musicals, jazz-clubs or comedy clubs. They have their always awesome weather and magnificent nature, so why stay indoors while you can enjoy your life outdoors? Don't get me wrong, they still have all those things, it just feels that the priorities are different there.

Possibly due to such relaxing outdoor, warm and close-to-nature lifestyle people seem to be more creative there. LA is probably the world capital of street art. You might have noticed some of the works already, but here are more:

Let's leave the beach for a moment and dive a bit deeper into Venice:

Abbot Kinney Blvd, Venice CA

This one is just a pharmacy.

Venice Canals, man-made canals that were supposed to remind you of Venice. I really doubt, that it is the case, but it is fine. They create a unique atmosphere of the place just as fine:

Just some bird.

If you are a yacht fan, you can see a bunch of them in Marina del Ray.
Not too far from Venice.

By the way, unlike New York, this area is full of nice old cars:

The last place I want to lead you to is the northern part of the Broadwalk and the famous Santa Monica Pier:

Bike and walk roads

Gosh, I love those palms!

Really cute houses

The sunset on the ocean is amazingly beautiful!

Santa Monica turned out to be the birthplace of fitness.

The famous pier and mountains at the background

The pier is old and wooden and, therefore, smells like old MSU dorm, but it has it own style. It is also the end of historic Route 66:

Unfortunately, I do not have any good quality pictures of the pier itself, so I'll show you what I have:

This sign you can see in the final moments of Californication

Well, that is basically it. To sum up, this trip has revealed another America to us. A bit shaggy, burned with sun and erased by salt and sand it is mindbogglingly cute, cozy and charming. A place where people do not rush anywhere, but take their time - it is all going to stay the same tomorrow, there is not reason to hurry. A place where people do not hide at home, but feel more comfortable outdoors, exposed to salty breeze and sun. A place where the atmosphere is so creative that you almost want to sit down and do something of your own (even if you are completely talantless).

I might be totally wrong in everything I have just said, but that is how I will remember the place. At least till our next visit. Also, I can easily imagine us living there and, if we have a chance one day, we will definitely give it a try.

P.S. Anticipating a request to compare it with NYC or Hoboken, I'd say that you cannot compare apples to oranges. These places are completely different in terms of people, culture, weather, culture and lifestyle. None of them is better, they are both awesome and, considering where to live you should choose the one that you feel you belong to.

Before we begin let me warn you that this message is not about Washington D.C. in general, it is more about the National Mall and the downtown.

Since Monday, the 21st of January was a national holiday, Martin Luther King's day, we had 3 days of work and decided to visit some city that is not far from us. Those are Philadelphia (2 hours by bus), Boston and D.C (both 4 hours away). The weather was a decisive factor and we chose the capital.

For the curious, the tickets were $116 for 2 both ends ($29 each) and a 3-star hotel room was $200 for two nights, which is not the cheapest we could choose but the proximity to the city convinced us that it was worth it. Add food, entertainment, transportation and other expenses to this and you will end up with a total trip price of $500.

Most (if not all) of the transportation companies are private, therefore, they have to compete for the customer. Honestly, they are mostly the same: they all offer power outlets, free WiFi, clean bathrooms. They differ in leg room, pick up strategy, ticket return policies and other minor things. By that time we had already made one bus trip to Pittsburgh (which, to my shame, I haven't found time to describe) by Greyhound whose buses depart from the Port Authority terminal which is always overcrowded and therefore not the most pleasant place on earth. This time we chose Washington Deluxe which picks you up on the 33rd street which is much better for us due to proximity to the PATH station.

Our bus

Travelling by bus in the US is fun. At least is has been so far. You just seat and watch some stuff on your laptop or just surf the internet. Buses are comfortable and smooth. And so are roads. As a result, a bus trip is almost like a plane trip but with lower speed - just N hours of constant movement.

Speaking about the views, these things are everywhere:

For the slow, this is a water tower

At about 2 p.m. we arrived at the Union station. The station itself is an architectural sight but unfortunately it was being renovated:

There is a safety net to prevent something from falling down
and hurting people

The station from the outside conveys the atmosphere of the city:
neat and tidy, powerful and extremely patriotic.

The city greeted us with sunny weather and the United Capitol view making us realize where we were from the very beginning:

Gorgeous parks, sun and mighty architecture.
That is all Washington is about.

But don't be fooled by the sun. It was about -3'C and a freezing blustery wind which made it feel like -20'C. Anyway we boldly decided that is was not a problem and went sightseeing.

The National Mall Architecture

If you get bored with the architecture, just scroll down to something more interesting.

First, the map:

To my surprise, I was staggered by the architecture, so let me kick off with it. I am no traveler, but I have seen things. I can see the Empire State building and the new World Trade Center from my office and my bedroom. But they do not amaze me as what I have seen in D.C.

The Supreme Court. Every step sparkles as if it was made of pressed sugar!

There are so many amazing buildings in Washington that I composed a personal list of top three. The Court gets a deserved bronze.

The Library of Congress

The Library is open for public so we took a look inside. After a thorough examination by security, of cause.

Really nice interior

Inside there is Jefferson's personal library, reading hall and other historical things. While this was no doubt extremely interesting we decided that we do not have enough time to explore it.

The next building was my personal rating winner:

The United States Capitol

We wanted to attend a free guided tour inside it but had some food with us and, since it was our first day, decided to do it later. On the day 3, we tried it again, but had some aerosol on us and didn't succeed again. We'l definitely do it next time!

On our way home we came across some less-known state buildings.

FBI

Having left our luggage we continued our journey, even despite the fact that it was dark outside.

The next on the list was the White House and its ensemble:

Cute house, I must confess

On our way home we saw some people call the buzzer and get inside the territory. No extra police, no blinkers, no security - just some president's friends decided to pay him a visit.

The square in front of the House is occupied with tourists, a couple of police cars and this guy:

It would have been a great surprise if we hadn't seen something like this.

The guy protests against some nuclear weapons or something like this. I don't really care. The text is written in different languages including Ukranian:

Is it really Ukranian?

To the left there is one of the building of one of the most powerful and frightening organizations in the world, the US Treasury:

Looks boring

To the right my silver medalist and a real pearl of the White House ensemble:

President Eisenhower Executive Office

Reminds me of some Saint-Petersburg castle

Right behind the ensemble is another symbolic building, the Washington Monument and a relatively new World War II Monument opened by Clinton and Bush:

Both in one picture.
And yes, I know that the picture quality is crap.

Between WWII memorial and Lincoln Memoral there is an astonishingly long Reflecting Pool. Unfortunately, it was under reconstruction:

Such a pity...

Generally, a great deal of monuments in D.C. dedicated either to some president or to some war. The picture above is special because it covers both categories. You have surely seen most of them in Hollywood films, so let's just list them.

Presidents:

Lincoln

Roosevelt

Jefferson

The next guy wasn't a president, but since it was his birthday, I decided to put him into this category.

Martin Luther King

Wars:

Korean War

Vietnam War.
Looks like a picture from some Hollywood movie

Again, it s not really a war memorial, but let it be here:

9/11 Memorial

Smithsonian Museums

Smithsonian Museums are a group of museums sponsored by the US government and, therefore, are all free of charge. The museums buildings are pieces of art themselves:

Smithsonian Castle.
Museums information center is located here

Museum of Natural History

Hirshhorn Museum (Art)

We have already seen various art museums and natural history museums and didn't want to waste time gazing at some "piece of modern art". Taking this into account, we chose the Air and Space Museum as the only one to attend and were right. It covers the history of aviation and space travelling with lots of real planes, plane parts, spaceships parts and alike:

A piece of some soviet-american space station

Just planes. Lots of planes

A drone

Another museum we have visited was National Postal Museum. We were not going to, but we had about 20 minutes to kill before bus departure and since it is free and located next to the station we decided to visit it. That's when we regretted that we hadn't had more time, because it was awesome:

Mailboxes of different countries

Some enlarged stamps examples

Arlington Cemetery

On the other side of Potomac river Arlington Cemetery, the most famous and respected of US cemeteries, is located.

Americans do not really have a lot of history, but they deeply respect what they have. That is why you are always reminded not to be carried away by the beauty of this place too much and respect it. After all it, is a place where their heroes are buried:

Honestly, I do not know much about American history (but I promise, I will!), but still there are some recognizable figures:

The Kennedys

Space operations casualties. Shuttle Columbia is on the right

By the way, I love American cemeteries so much that I am really close to reconsidering my burn-me-after-my-death-and-throw-away-my-ashes policy. There are no dull tables, fences and benches, no sweets and glasses covered by a slice of bread. I think of them more as of parks with some stone installations.

Identically neat tombstones

Pierre Charles L'Enfant Gravesite

We were happy to see the change of the guard before the tomb of the Unknown. The way they march and move is completely different from Kremlin guards, but it is still extremely precise and solemn.

Everybody stands to pay respect to the Memorial and its guard

Pentagon is located next to the cemetery but it is forbidden to take pictures of it.

Interesting stuff

There are lots of other places to visit and pictures to show you, but I hope I have given you a general impression that Washington is a city of historical places of interest. Wherever you go you come across some museum, memorial, monument or other piece of architecture. As always, I tried to catch sight of some details that might be curious:

1) The names of the streets around the National Mall never let you forget that you are in the capital:

2) If there were no trains in the underground you could easily mistake if for a bunker. Who knows, maybe, they are.

Every station looks completely the same

3) I have never seen so many homeless people in my entire life. Every park and the streets around the National Mall are occupied by them. But as opposed to Moscow hobos, DC hobos are sober, not at all stinky and extremely polite. I didn't feel any danger or disgust passing them at all. Even when they ask for money they say it starting with 'Excuse me, sir' with a smile on a face, they are deeply grateful when you help and always wish you yo have a good day.

Let's play a 'find a hobo' game:

There are just 2 of them here. In reality, there were 3 or 4.

To help them persevere during winter season some organizations provide them with blankets. You can see them everywhere just lying on the sidewalk:

They look like Russian Railroad blankets, don't they?

4) On Martin Luther King's day we headed to the White House hoping to see some kind of celebrations but what we found was even better. A demonstration!

About 500 people

As it turned out those were Cambodians protesting against human rights violations in their country and asking President Obama to interfere.

Looks familiar doesn't it? Work of Department of State again?

Seems like things are really bad in Cambodia

"They would have been dispersed if they were in Russia", we thought. But to my surprise there were no extra security measures taken, just a regular police car. Generally, the police work is organized impeccably. First you are surprised that the most important state organizations are hardly secured, and only later you realize that several cars just circulate around the Mall, some policemen just walk around, others ride bicycles or horses. Safe and not annoying. Good job!

5) Just a funny ad

NSA

Final notes

Washington is absolutely fantastic! We have brought a great deal of positive emotions and satisfied curiosity from this city. As well as more then 500 photos taken during just 3 days. If you like walking in a pleasant and calming environment of endless grass lawns, trees and ponds occupied by squirrels and ducks and view dozens of gorgeous historical places in a short time - it is perfect for you. Despite a huge number of tourists it is tidy and soothing. Lots of descriptive signs, maps and routes make it extremely tourists-friendly. Therefore, we both agreed that we will no doubt come back to this beautiful city in spring or summer when all this natural masterpiece blossoms and smells sweet. Moreover, we still have unfinished business here - we haven't been inside the Capitol and the White House.

P.S. As you can see this is a ridiculously long message, but still it is not long enough to share everything with you. There were many more beautiful places we have been to like, e.g. Botanical Garden that I haven't put into this message, thus, feel free to use this link to view more pictures.