Back again!
I'm back from D.C. It's been a rough week. We were there for the NIH-organized endocrine board review course, held in Bethesda, Maryland (short distance from Washington, D.C). While it was a well-organized course with excellent content (though isn't always concordant with our philosophy of care at MC), the days were just long, with the lectures starting at 8 am and ending past 10 pm on some days. I surprised myself by sitting in for most of the lectures, braindead as I was. Most of the attendees are like me, to sit for our 10-hour exam this Thursday. So, this served as a refresher course.
Bethesda is a nice city/suburb. The hotel was in a happening area, with many restaurants (even a Malaysian restaurant!) and pubs. The subway station was just nearby. So, on a day when lectures didn't end as late, I took the subway to downtown Washington, D.C. to look at some sights. Because time was limited (and it was nighttime) I didn't visit the Smithsonian. Rather, I walked around the monuments.
The Washington monument is a staggering 169-meter obelisk made of granite, marble and sandstone. Was never been able to appreciate its majesty seeing it on TV; this is so tall that you see you from miles away. In this picture, the Capitol building is seen in the background.
There is a huge, soccer field-sized reflecting pool between the monument and the Lincoln Memorial, which makes for amazing night-time long-exposure pictures (using a tripod). Really, I came all the way here, ALONE, at night, to take these shots. The night almost ended in tragedy when my camera batteries (even the spares) died on me. I uttered words that would even make Madonna blush. Thankfully, I was able to find a giftstore a block away, and resurrected my dead camera.
This was the Lincoln Memorial, situated at the opposite end of the reflecting pool. The Lincoln statue is huge; you get the idea looking at the ant-sized people standing on the stairs in comparison.
Beside the monument lies the recently dedicated WWII memorial fountain. The effects the lights and water gave was nothing short of spectacular. And although it was late, and even rained for a few minutes, the entire park was crawling around with tourists, all awed by the amazing sights.
I'm glad the pictures turned out ok. That's one nice thing about digital cameras; you can take as many as you want just in case some didn't turn out well. I took about 70 that night!
There is a huge, soccer field-sized reflecting pool between the monument and the Lincoln Memorial, which makes for amazing night-time long-exposure pictures (using a tripod). Really, I came all the way here, ALONE, at night, to take these shots. The night almost ended in tragedy when my camera batteries (even the spares) died on me. I uttered words that would even make Madonna blush. Thankfully, I was able to find a giftstore a block away, and resurrected my dead camera. 
This was the Lincoln Memorial, situated at the opposite end of the reflecting pool. The Lincoln statue is huge; you get the idea looking at the ant-sized people standing on the stairs in comparison. 
Beside the monument lies the recently dedicated WWII memorial fountain. The effects the lights and water gave was nothing short of spectacular. And although it was late, and even rained for a few minutes, the entire park was crawling around with tourists, all awed by the amazing sights. 
I'm glad the pictures turned out ok. That's one nice thing about digital cameras; you can take as many as you want just in case some didn't turn out well. I took about 70 that night!Anyways. I'm back in Minnesota now. Back to the grind. 5 more days till my exams, so I don't expect to blog much (unless I needed to vent/cuss).
Wish me luck!
posted by vagus at 11:32 PM
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