Annapolis, Archives and Tchaikovsky

Pia, Mistress Pat and Ella

Since last we wrote, we have been on several other excursions in and around Washington. Last weekend we went to Annapolis for the day. Annapolis is the state capital of Maryland and is about 45 minutes east of Washington DC, on Chesapeake Bay. It was established in the late 16th century and still retains much of its old world charm. We were lucky enough to be the only people on a walking tour of the town, which lasted for 2 1/2 hours. We were a bit concerned about how the girls would cope, but they managed just fine, sometimes walking as Pia and Ella, and sometimes scurrying around as squirrels. Our guide, Mistress Pat, dressed in her 16th century outfit, took us through many of the sights of Annapolis. The layout of the town is based around 2 big circles, one with a church it in, the other with the State House. All the streets are then linked to these 2 circles.

We saw the State House, with its domed roof, upon which sits an enormous acorn, much to the girls delight. The State House is very impressive and is still in use today. It was here that George Washington resigned his commission as Commander in Chief of the Continental Army and the girls stood on the same spot from which he did this.

Annapolis is also the home of the US Naval Academy. There we saw the crypt of John Paul Jones ( an American Naval hero) which reminded us a lot of the tomb of Napoleon in Les Invalides in Paris. We later found out that Jones' crypt had in fact been based on Napoleon's. The weekend we were there was the first weekend that the new intakes of the Naval Academy were allowed out with their parents, so there were plenty of crisp, white uniforms walking around the town as well.

On Monday, James took the girls to the National Archives to see the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. At first they were a little puzzled as to why they were being taken to see a few bits of paper, but they ended up having a great time in the Kids Learning Center. There, they did puzzles of George Washington, word searches and coloured in replicas of the murals that line the walls of the Rotunda. Their favourite was the one with George Washington in it. He seems to have captured their imagination and Ella now walks around saying, "He is a hero in my heart."!! Now, they have their own copies of the Declaration of Independence for their scrapbooks.

Yesterday, the girls and I went back to the Natural History Museum, where we saw the Bold and the Beautiful! The bold was the enormous orange knee tarantula. Her name was Miss Juliette and we were there for her feeding time. Yesterday, her diet consisted of a live cricket. She appeared to be asleep in the corner of her cage, but once the cricket was dropped in and started hopping around, quick as a flash, she pounced on it and held it to her mouth while she injected venom into it. This process takes hours apparently, so we did not hang around to see it actually being eaten! We then moved on to the Beautiful - the butterfly enclosure. Here, we were surrounded by hundreds of the most beautiful butterflies that flew all around you. We watched them eat the cut up fruit that was laid out and were able to get close enough to see their straw-like tongues uncurl as they drank nectar from the flowers. It definitely made a nice change from watching Miss Juliette eat!

Finally, last night we went to a concert held at the foot of the Washington Monument.

The US Army Band was playing Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, complete with cannons from the US Army (the girls did find the cannons a bit scary!) The 1812 Overture was the finale, so before that they played tunes from Superman, Disney movies as well as many US military songs. James thought it was a fine display of American Patriotism!And as the evening went on, the backdrop of the Washington Monument became more and more stunning. It was a gorgeous evening.

The US Army band

We are looking forward to Saturday when we have been invited to an election day breakfast at the Australian Ambassador's residence. Hopefully this will provide some excitement to what seems to have been an otherwise boring election campaign! We 'll let you know how the breakfast goes....